Joey, do you like movies about gladiators?

It’s not every day that I get all Proustian about 80s American comedies, but whenever I hear an Airplane! reference, I’m taken back to the time when my dad bought the first family video recorder. Kerchunk, kerchunk, whirr, whirr, play. Ah, happy days.

It’s one of my favourite comedies – a brilliant mixture of parody, sight gags and wordplay that’s simply irresistible. So I was a bit sad to hear about the death of Peter ‘Captain Oveur’ Graves (he died after brunch – I reckon he had the fish). The completely deadpan delivery of old-school Hollywood actors like him, Leslie Nielsen and Lloyd Bridges really made Airplane! (well, that and lines like “Surely you can’t be serious.”  “I am serious… and don’t call me Shirley”).

So here are some cobbled-together scenes (not by me) from Airplane! starring the late, lamented Mr Graves.

Oveur. And out.

Tags: Airplane!, Oveur, Peter Graves, Shirley