Airplane! / Y a-t-il un pilote dans l'avion?

Is There a Pilot on the Plane?

I read this article ages ago now about Airplane! and I started devising a post about it but got side-tracked by a few things (work, holidays, other posts, life in general...) and never actually put much thoughts into the whole thing. Until I saw this other article. And I took it as a sign. Fate wants me to write about Airplane! (compulsory "!" thank you very much)

Well, it's going to be a tough task because I have not seen Airplane! in about 20 years. Not joking. I think I lost interest in that sort of films when I reached puberty. Oh yes, it was still highly quotable back then but it's never gonna be as good as "< raspberry > Jog on!" (Hot Fuzz). 

The fact that, 30 years on, people pay hommage to it shows its importance in the spoof film genre: it was one of the first, and probably the most famous. What happened since? Well, Hot Shots! (note the comparable "!"), The Naked Gun, the whole Scary Movie saga, Epic Movie and so on. Yes, it feels like the spoof film genre has had better days and probably should be buried and potentially forgotten.

What makes Airplane! so special? Mmmm... The dialogues, maybe? Just insert your reasons here, I'll pretend I thought about them.

The French title is "Y a-t-il un pilote dans l'avion?" or Is There a Pilot on the Plane? Well, considering all that happens on said plane, it is a legitimate question, but why lengthen the title so much?

It's not just the French who did it, though. The list of mistranslation goes on and on and on with ¿Y dónde está el piloto? (Where is the pilot?) in Chile, ¡Aterriza como puedas! (Land as you may) in Spain or L'aereo più pazzo del mondo (The craziest plane in the world) in Italy. 

I guess that to illustrate a crazy film, people had to come up with crazy titles.

Job done!