Airplane! fans should run, don't walk, to their nearest video store and grab a copy of Zero Hour! You see, Airplane! isn't a spoof of later disaster films like Airport, oh no. It's an almost scene-for-scene recreation of this little gem, though Airplane! adds in a few extra sequences here and there, mainly to bring the film up to date. If you've seen Airplane!, you know the story: Passengers and two pilots on a commercial flight get deathly ill from tainted airplane food (here it's "the fish"), leaving passenger Ted Styiker (Dana Andrews) to land the plane with support from the ground, talking him down. Too bad he's still shell shocked from World War II, complete with flashbacks. Think he'll bring 'em down alive?

I have no frame of reference for how good a film this might be in the absence of Airplane!, but watching it now is a real treat. Hearing lines like "Looks like I picked the wrong week to give up smoking!" (delivered by a perfectly spoof-worthy Sterling Hayden) are almost musical to hear. Spoof classicity aside, the film is actually well-paced, fun to watch, and genuinely tense at times. It's a hit!

The film is also part of a three-disc Cult Camp Classics set, which includes the equally fun Skyjacked (with Charlton Heston) and Hot Rods to Hell.