ZAZ #3: The Naked Gun

After Top Secret!, our trio tried their had at a more conventional comedy, as opposed to their zany parodies they're known for, with 1986's Ruthless People.  It's charming with a great cast, but it feels a bit dated and you can tell they weren't playing to their strengths.  Apparently, so could they, because in 1988, they came home.  And so we conclude our little history of Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker with their final triumph, 1988's The Naked Gun.  But I'm not just going to cover that film today; I'm gonna do the whole trilogy.  As you'll see, some critical changes took place between these films, both in how they've been issued on disc, and more so in terms of the films and their creators themselves.  This is where the story really begins to change, and in some senses at least, comes to a sad end.

Update 8/11/20 - 12/9/24: Okay, we may still be waiting on the sequels, but we now get the original Naked Gun in 4k, sold separately or as part of their 6-ddisc boxed set 'ZAZ: The Collection!'

The full title of the first film is actually The Naked Gun: From the Files Of Police Squad, because yes, this is a follow-up to their short-lived 1982 television show Police Squad!  A strange thing to make a big budget feature film based on a series that had been cancelled after just four episodes six years ago (though it should give heart to devotees who keep a candle burning for We Are Men).  And it is a bigger budget version, more locations, stunts, bigger set pieces.  Sometimes it works in their favor, allowing them to execute ideas they may've had to shelve at ABC.  But other times it feels like they're just showing off, and it might be throwing them a bit off the mark.  An ideal example is the very opening, the pre-credits sequence, which starts out in Beirut, and has Leslie Nielson, back as Lt. Frank Drebin, infiltrate a meeting of enemy world leaders, including Idi Amin, Gorbachev and Khadafi, and beating them all up before jumping out of a window.  On its own, it's a harmless wink at the audience to sort of say "we're off the leash now;" but it feels way outside of The Naked Gun's beat and ultimately, every time go far off in other directions, they seem to wind up further away from the funniest material they've really got a bead on.

Being "from the files of Police Squad," doesn't just mean Drebin is back, however.  It means a lot of the same material is back.  You can understand why they felt it was a well to freely dip into at first... a third of the Police Squads didn't even initially make it to air, and none of them got good ratings.  So these were quality jokes that didn't have a chance to play before a proper audience, right?  But as the series has gone on to such a successful life on home video, and you can now just as easily watch Police Squad on DVD or blu as The Naked Gun, it starts to feel more like cheap rehashing.  The third Naked Gun even cheekily owned up to it, giving the film the tagline "mostly all new jokes."  Still, the pacing and humor of the film is on fire, and at the end of the day, The Naked Gun is still plays excellently no matter how well you've committed Police Squad to memory.  The principle that if you keep the jokes coming fast enough, it doesn't matter if some fall flat really does hold true, and some of the recurring material works as a running gag, or at least triggers nostalgic memories, like a favorite cast member coming back for another bow.

And Drebin isn't the only cast member returning.  Fellow Police Squad members Ed Williams and Tiny Ron as Al are back; and while it's a damn shame to lose Alan North and Peter Lupus, George Kennedy and OJ Simpson turn out to be their ideal replacements.  Ricardo Montalban had a cameo in the original series but returns now as a classic television-style villain, and Priscilla Presley joins the family for the entire trilogy.  Despite any issues, this is still a ripping success that will have you laughing just as hard if you were a Police Squad! lover eager for its big time comeback on the silver screen or an innocent newcomer fresh off the streets.

It was a big hit theatrically, and even bigger on television and home video, which ultimately lead to The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear raking in even more at the box office than the first, despite not actually being as good.  The sequels are still pretty darn good though, mind you, with a terrific cast and premise locked into place and plenty more Police Squad! jokes to mine.  You've got some great new villains including Robert Goulet, Fred Ward and The Willies' Kathleen Freeman.  I've always had it in my head that there was a steady decline with the films, but actually rewatching them all this latest time back to back, I think the second one dips the most, and the third one perks back up a bit.  The plot's just as silly and continues to stray off the original Police Squad! mark with parodies and subplots that don't feel as carefully thought through or tied to the original aesthetic.  Presley is given an extended Thelma & Louise saga that spins it wheels until they finally give up on it.  But it just feels like it has more clever jokes at a consistent rate, with some inspired material when Nielsen goes undercover in prison, and plenty of film/ Academy Awards bits where the trio was probably able to draw from their own experience in the industry.  Or, a third of the trio anyway.

Because when I said this where the story begins to change?  Yeah, something happened mid-trilogy, specifically between parts 1 and 2 1/2: the band broke up!  Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker are gone in the 90s, off to pursue their own projects (Jerry finding particular success with 1990's Ghost); and David Zucker is the sole director, sharing writing credit with Police Squad! co-writer Pat Proft.  And for 33 1/3, newcomer Peter Segal is directing, with Zucker and Proft now sharing writing credit with Robert LoCash, who started out as an associate producer on 2 1/2.  You already begin to feel the magic of the trio's earlier masterworks isn't in its perfectly full force here, but it really smacks you in the face if you deign to slog through these guys' future parodies.

The quality really declines after the Naked Gun films, eventually sinking into the state of Epic Movie, Superhero Movie, Disaster Movie muck as we know it today.  Though if you're going to wade into them, I'd recommend Hot Shots! (Jim Abrahams film with Police Squad! co-writer Pat Proft) and Wrongly Accused (Pat Proft's solo effort, as both writer and director) as the best of them, and not coincidentally two of the earliest ones.  Because Jerry got out of it, but Jim and especially David kept their hand in these things all along.  David Zucker wrote and directed the terrible Michael Moore parody/ right wing polemic An American Carol with Bill O'Reilly and, sadly, Leslie Nielson in one of his final roles, then wrote and produced BASEketball in the mid-2000s.  And they've strongly staked their claim in the Scary Movie franchise after it was taken from The Wayans Brothers.  You know, I could still find a sporadic laugh or two in Scary Movie 3, but by the time they got to 5?  I've actually been revisiting all their later era movies, just because I'm fascinated how they could've gone so wrong.

Of course, there's the influx of other writers.  Abrahams brought on two new guys for Mafia!  Zucker and longtime collaborator Robert Weiss only produced Superhero Movie.  And Aaron Seitzer and Jason Friedberg, who made their debut with Spy Hard, which starred and was produced by Leslie Nielson in the 90s, joined forces with Zucker, Proft and Abrahams on the Scary Movie franchise.  But ultimately they took the ball and ran with it on all those Date Movie, Meet the Spartans, Starving Games movies on their own.  You've gotta make sure you're pointing the right fingers in the right directions.

Also, in one of their commentaries, the trio talk about how, on their later films, they steered away from verbal humor in favor of visual gags, because they translated better in foreign markets... but which also probably had an effect in dumbing down these movies.  And I've found a few refreshingly forthcoming interviews with David Zucker where he's fully aware and open about the genre's decline.  In one with Yahoo, he says, "It becomes watered down. I produced Scary Movie 5, [and] that was so watered-down that [it] contributed to ruining the genre, as did all the Friedberg and Seltzer movies. [Parody] has come on hard times."  And this one with MTV clearly nails a major factor I hadn't ever considered: they're no longer in control of what they lampoon: "we made our own movie 35 years, and 30 years ago, and 25 years ago, and 20 years ago. And now, you know, I mean, the studio controls this franchise. And so we were directed to do Paranormal Activity, Black Swan, I think we added Planet of the Apes. And also Mama, and Evil Dead, and Hunger Games, 50 Shades of Grey -- all these things are stated by, demanded by the studio... I didn't want to do Hunger Games, but they insisted Hunger Games had to be in it, so we shot it... And Evil Dead comes out a week before we do! And so we had to spoof the trailer! It's really – there is more insanity in making this movie than there is in the movie."  Wow, okay.  I always wondered just who thought half of Scary Movie 3 should be about 8 Mile.  If the writers are no longer allowed to follow their inspiration or mine where they find their best material, well no wonder.

Anyway, let's get back to The Naked Gun movies, which are actually good.  All three were released on DVD by Paramount in 2000.  They've been repackaged, in sets, bundles, etc all through the years since then, but it's always been the same discs.  Personally, I acquired all three in their 2002 Naked Gun DVD Gift Set[left], which just put the three DVDs in their original 2000 art and cases in a 2002 slip-box.  Blu-wise, Paramount issued From the Files of Police Squad in 2011, but didn't get around to the sequels until 2015.  As with the DVDs, they've been reissued and repackaged, together and separately, multiple times, but it's always been the same discs.  This time I just got them individually, because I bought the original before 2015, so by the time the sequels made it out of the gate, there was no point in getting one of those 3-disc collections.  And last winter, Paramount released the original Naked Gun newly scanned in 4k on UHD.  At that point, I kinda knew to hold out, though; and sure enough this winter, the 4k Naked Gun was re-released as part of their 6-disc 'ZAZ: The Collection!', along with Airplane! and Top Secret! making their UHD debuts.

1) 2002 US Paramount DVD top; 2) 2011 US Paramount BD;
3) 2024 US Paramount BD; 4) 2024 US Paramount UHD.

We again see a lot of Paramount sticking to their apparent tradition of framing everything at 1.78:1 (or technically 1.77:1 for the DVDs).  Interestingly, however, you'll notice the blus are zoomed in tighter, losing not a ton, but more than just a sliver, around all four sides.  I said "blus" plural, because yes, like Top Secret!, Paramount has again just stuck the old BD in their new 2024 boxed set.  So the only upgrade there is on the UHD.  At least, though, the blu is a big improvement over the DVD.  Detail like grain had been smoothed away, but the image was still noisy with compression artifacts.  That's naturally cleaned up completely in the HD transfer, and grain is surprisingly well retained for a 2011 BD.  Brightness and black levels are strong, colors are natural; I have to say I'm surprised to find the blu holding up as well as it does.

And now in 2024?  Well, huzzah!  They've finally matted the 4k to correct aspect ratio of 1.85:1, like a real professional movie studio.  This time it's all vertical matting, and no new info on the sides, but still, the AR is the AR, and it's worth getting right.  Fine detail and grain is even better defined and more accurately captured, though I've noticed some shots look a little more processed than the rest.  Overall though, this is a rewarding upgrade, helped of course that it's competing with an old HD transfer, but looking good by any measure and probably the best disc in the set.  Even in areas with motion blur, like Frank's hands in the second set of shots, you can see it accurately broken down to each speck of original grain, not the smeary mess even HD transfers try to get away with in areas like that.

In terms of the audio, even though this DVD dates all the way back to 2000, they've still remixed this film into 5.1.  It's the only English audio option, with a French dub in mono and optional English subtitles.  And it's the only English option on the blu-rays, too (remember the 2011 and 2024 are the same discs), though they do bump it up to DTS-HD.  The French dub and English subs are still there, but they also add Portuguese & Spanish dubs and French, Portuguese & Spanish subs.  The UHD has the same DTS-HD 5.1 (still no original audio), but now has French, German, Italian and Japanese dubs with English, Dutch, French, German, Italian and Japanese subs.  So a couple new foreign language options if anyone cares.

And the sequel?

1) 2002 US Paramount DVD; 2) 2015 US Paramount BD.

Disappointingly, The Smell Of Fear looks like it was taken from a print, which was not the case with the first film.  This one, despite being a newer blu, more contrasty, with heavier blacks and thicker grain.  That goes for both the DVD and blu, though it's more noticeable on the latter, where there's an expectation of finer quality that isn't all there.  Paramount's "everything in 1.78" mandate hasn't changed, though.  Again, the DVD is technically 1.77:1, while the blu is exactly 1.78:1.  This time the BD isn't zoomed in, though, and the slight difference in AR is explained by a little horizontal squish, which the BD corrects, giving us extra slivers along the top and bottom while losing slivers on the sides.  It's a respectable enough transfer given the source, though, I suppose.  Grain is less consistent and blacks look crushed, but that was true on the DVD, too, and again is probably the fault of not having the OCN for a source.  A fresh 4k scan could capture the grain and all better, but assuming the negatives are for whatever reason really unavailable, the movie probably wouldn't look much more attractive than it does now.

But while the PQ's a little disappointing compared to the first film, the DVD's AQ is a nice surprise, as here they include both a 5.1 and the original stereo mix, in addition to English subtitles.  Unfortunately, though, it's just the DVD we're talking about, as the blu reverts to just the 5.1 (in DTS-HD).  But they go nuts with the foreign language options, including twenty-one additional subtitle tracks (!) and seven dubs.  I guess that disc space is why we lost the original stereo mix?  Boo.

1) 2002 US Paramount DVD; 2) 2015 US Paramount BD.

The Final Insult looks like it's from the negatives again; and this time they've re-timed the colors nicely, too, pulling out the redness that had seeped into the DVD.  Yes, we still have the usual 1.77:1, 1.78:1 aspect ratios, but this time it's the inverse of the first film: the BD pulls our to reveal more information along all four sides.  It would appear to be the best transfer of the three, except it seems to have been DNR'd, smoothing away some grain and detail and leaving patchy, uneven detail.  Some shots look better than others, and other times, like in the shots above, it just depends where in the frame you look.  Overall, it looks better in motion than in zooming in on stills, but it's definitely a flaw.

The third DVD is the best yet in terms of audio.  It's got the 5.1 and the stereo mix, plus the French dub and English subtitles.  But the blu-ray?  You can probably guess: 5.1 in DTS-HD but bye-bye stereo and hello a bajillion dubs and subs.  ((sigh))

So let's talk extras.  The DVDs weren't quite fully loaded special editions, but they were pretty satisfying thanks to each film getting another Zucker brother audio commentary.  That's "brother" singular because none of them include Jim or Jerry, even though they did work on the first one.  In their stead, we got producer Robert Weiss alongside David, plus Peter Segal and associate producer Michael Ewing on The Final Insult.  But they're no less fun or informative for the lack of the two founders; in fact, the commentaries might bring you more in favor of the sequels after listening.  Each film also included the theatrical trailer; in fact The Smell Of Fear had two.  Now, there was definitely room left to grow.  Besides the series of interviews and documentary featurettes one could imagine, they definitely could've included deleted scenes.  We've already seen some on Top Secret! and Airplane! discs, and there's no question many exist for the Naked Gun series, too.  The commentaries talk about how they shot big, alternate endings for these movies that were swapped out after audience tests (the original apparently ended with some kind of lavish "Take Me Out To the Ball Game" musical number).  And fans on Youtube have already collected a series of fun extra scenes from television broadcast versions of the sequels.  But nope, it's just the commentaries and the trailers.

'ZAZ: The Collection!' doesn't add anything new, either, except for the three exclusive posters and booklet.  It's also worth noting that, like with the other two films, they've only included the commentary on the BD, not the UHD, so you can't listen to the commentary on the new transfer.

That's not the biggest disappointment, though.  The biggest bummer is that while the blu-ray for From the Files of Police Squad carried over the DVD extras, the sequels did not.  They're completely barebones - the commentaries (and trailers) are gone!  😞  So hang onto those DVDs, folks.  But that doesn't mean don't also upgrade.  I mean, the original film is an easy upgrade decision, but even the sequels are worthwhile advancements to HD, and the good news is that the market is flooded with Naked Gun discs, so it's pretty cheap to pick up both DVD and BD copies of the sequels.  Of course, the sequels could certainly stand getting the Paramount Presents or even 4k treatment; and they have been consistent money-makers for them, so there might be reason to hope if their line proves successful and last for a while.  We'll see.

ZAZ 2: Top Secret!

For whatever reason, Jim Abrahams, David and Jerry Zucker's next film wasn't such a hit.  In fact, it was a flop, and I even remember in 1984 when it came out thinking that Top Secret! was a serious let-down.  Most of my friends & family did, too; only one kid I went to school with seemed to really get it and revere it as the film everyone hoped it would be.  And this isn't just localized anecdotal evidence, because it was a surprising flop at the box office, that pushed the trio into more conventional comedy afterwards.  And it's really weird, because looking at today, Top Secret! absolutely holds up as one of the trio's best works.  I even re-watched it with my parents, and they were laughing with it this time just as hard as Airplane!  I don't know why we couldn't see it back then, but whatever the cause, that's probably why it's only available on blu-ray in Australia.

Update 8/9/20 - 5/23/22: Well, it's available in the US now!  It would be pretty egotistical, I suppose, to take credit for that just because of what I wrote here in 2020, but I think I will anyway.  😁  It's good news for those who never imported; but for those who did, is this new release any better?  It couldn't possibly be any worse, right?  In fact, you might think it would be almost exactly the same, but no...

Update 12/7/24: Paramount's taking another crack at it with their 'ZAZ: The Collection!,' a 6-disc set of Abrahams' and the Zuckers' most famous collaborations, including Top Secret!, on BD and UHD.

A then-unknown Val Kilmer got his very first role as the lead, playing a old school pop singer who gets caught up in an international spy conspiracy.  He really hits it out of the park, nailing everything from the dry delivery of the absurd humor to the genuinely impressive musical numbers he has to perform.  As we've come to expect from Abrahams and the Zuckers, there's another strong supporting cast including Omar Sharif, Michael Gough and Peter Cushing; but this time the weight's really on one man's shoulders, and Kilmer carries it expertly.  The film is packed with as many great jokes as any of their best work; I really wonder what put so many people off back in its day.  Perhaps many of the "meta" jokes about the filmmaking itself were ahead of their time?  Or maybe general audiences' unfamiliarity with the Elvis-style star vehicles they were spoofing this time were less familiar, and therefor less resonant, to 80s audiences than the disaster, kung-fu and cop shows of their previous endeavors.  Whatever it was then, in 2020, Top Secret! really due for a rediscovery.

Top Secret! may've been rare on blu, but the market's sure been flooded with DVDs.  Paramount first released it as a widescreen special edition in 2002, and they've repackaged it with alternate covers, double-features, triple features, banners along the top, no banners along the top, ugly "I Love the 80's" slipcovers, boxed sets... but it's always the same disc.  Not until 2020, in Australia, were we finally presented an HD option.  And yes, it's from Via Vision, once again rescuing catalog titles from Paramount's big box of neglect.  But lately, Paramount's been turning a kinder eye to their titles under-represented on home video, including a 2022 blu-ray edition of Top Secret!, though it doesn't seem like they sprung for a new master.  But they simply had to for a 4k Ultra HD release, which is what we got in their new Zaz: The Collection! boxed set.

1) 2002 Paramount DVD; 2) 2020 Via Vision BD; 3) 2022 Paramount BD;
4) 2024 Paramount BD; 5) 2024 Paramount UHD.

Paramount continues to frame a 1.85 film for 16x9 televisions at 1.78:1 on their blus.  The DVD is actually 1.77, with a slight vertical pinch that the BDs correct.  They also pull out ever so slightly to reveal slivers of additional picture along all four edges.  The Via Vision blu does leave something to be desired... it's sharper, but instead of revealing the film grain that the DVD failed to capture, we just see pixelated digital noise.  That DVD really is too soft, though, even by old DVD standards; so it looks like they tried to sharpen the same old master rather than scanning a new one.  Well, the end result is a clear improvement over the DVD, but compared to other BDs, it would score pretty poorly.

And it looks like someone at Paramount has done the best they can to correct all this... shy of actually springing for a new scan and the updated master this film really calls out for.  Their 2022 disc is no fancy, high end edition.  But it's still better than the DVD and even corrects the old BD's most frustrating issues.  Starting small, the framing zooms in ever so slightly, about two pixels on each side, cropping some distortion along the very edges of the Via Vision frame.  You'd never spot it in motion, but it does make screen shots look more professional.  It also cleans up dirt and noise.  That big hair on the frame of the first set of shots has been mostly cleared up.  Everything showing against the smooth wall has been digitally altered, but the bit that's on her eye, which would take more time-consuming personal work to correct, is still there.

1) 2020 Via Vision BD; 2) 2022 Paramount BD.

Most critically, though, the disc doesn't have that over-sharpened digital effect, and a little more original picture information is retained.  It's more than just a better encode; or, if it is down to the encoding, it's a lot better.  Instead of pixelation and overly smoothed areas, we see soft grain.  Soft, because it's still the same old master, but more film-like and natural.  So, overall, it's progress, but would still score rather fair (as opposed to poorly) compared to other BDs.

And in 2024?  Well, those who haven't made the leap to 4k yet will be disappointed to know that the BD in this set is just a copy of the 2022 disc - they didn't use the new transfer.  But the UHD, thank god, does.  And unlike Airplane!, they actually do finally frame the film at 1.85:1.  It's not just vertical matting, either; the UHD unveils noticeably more on the sides.  Beyond that, it's an overall improvement to the 2022, let alone the earlier editions.  Contrast is more natural, edges are better resolved, and you can make out subtle hints of additional detail.  Grain is still a little light, so like with the Airplane! disc, I suspect a little DNR was applied.  But otherwise, it looks great and is clearly the best edition going by far.

Paramount kindly gave us both the original stereo mix plus a new 5.1 with optional English subtitles on their DVD.  Oh and a French dub, too.  And happily, though Via Vision drops the dub, they keep both English tracks, in lossless LPCM and DTS-HD, respectively, as well as the English subs.  And Paramount's newer releases?  Things may look even better at first... both the 2022 and 2024 editions have got the 5.1 in DTS-HD, plus French, German and two Spanish dubs.  They've still got standard English subtitles, plus English HoH, German, French, Japanese and two sets of Spanish subs.  That's a lot, but if you're paying attention, they've dropped the original stereo mix.

Back to the good news: Paramount loaded up their special edition pretty dutifully.  First there's an audio commentary with Abrahams and the Zuckers, plus producers Jon Davison and Hunt Lowry.  It loses steam a few times, but they point out a lot of fun behind-the-scenes information and obscure jokes all with a healthy dose of self-deprecating laughs.  In fact, they're self-deprecating in all their commentaries, but here it's compounded with the fact that they're still clearly wincing from the sting of rejection this film received in 1984, so they're good sports for still supporting this film here.  We also get a look at four of the film's deleted scenes, which just add a little more fun to the pot.  Finally, there are three sets of storyboards and the theatrical trailer.

All of these have been carried over to Via Vision's blu, and it's mostly the same on Paramount's.  The 2022 and 2024 releases both have everything except the storyboards.  But in their place, we get the famous backwards scene played in reverse, so we can see how it was originally performed.  One annoyance, again like the Airplane! UHD, they only include the commentary on the blu-ray discs, so you can't listen to it with the new transfer,  As part of the boxed set, the 2024 edition also includes an exclusive 15-page booklet and three fold-out posters.

So it's not perfect, but the UHD is a sizeable upgrade in terms of PQ.  It's a shame about the stereo track, and I'm sure this isn't the best the film could've possibly looked had it been left to more diligent hands like Vinegar Syndrome or Sony, but there was never much chance of that.  This is still a fine 4k release that should satisfy all but the most strictly perfectionist fans.  And honestly, it's more than I had realistically hoped for this particular film.

ZAZ 1: Airplane!

Speaking of "uplifting activity recently," did you know that this season, among all the mess that's going on around the world, Paramount has started a new Paramount Presents label, giving new, superior blu-ray editions to some of their biggest catalog titles?  And one of the titles we've already gotten is, hey, Jim Abrahams and David & Jerry Zucker's Airplane!  They've given it a new 4k remaster, fancy new packaging and fresh special features.  So let's see just how much better it is.

Update 12/5/24: It's 2024, and we now have 'ZAZ: The Collection!,' a 6-disc set from Paramount that gives us their big three films - including, of course, Airplane! - on BD and UHD!  So let's check it out and see that 2020 remaster on a proper 4k disc, and look to my Top Secret! and Naked Gun pages for coverage of the updates to those films.

You might be surprised to know that Airplane!, as we know it now, was originally intended to play as the centerpiece to another Kentucky Fried Theater-style movie, where it would essentially be a short parody film surrounded by more sketches.  But I think history has shown they made the right choice.  Even though nobody watches Airplane! to get caught up in the drama of a commercial flight in danger of crash landing, having a central narrative to hang everything on does keep the viewer engaged.  With constantly rotating sketches, any joke that falls flat feels like dead air.  Here, the ride is at least smoother until the next bit, that'll hopefully be funnier.  And of course if Airplane! is known for anything, it's known for being packed to the brim with non-stop gags, so it's never a long wait.

Part of what makes Airplane! work so well is that it really nails its target.  It's full of great character actors who were in so many of these dry 70s films as legit straight men, not comic actors.  Veterans like Robert Stack, Peter Graves, James Hong, Barbara Billingsley, Lloyd Bridges... and of course Leslie Nielsen wound up becoming a comedy icon after his pitch perfect performance here.  Then, of course, they packed the film with outrageous cameos and great comics in tiny roles all around them, including David Leisure, Jimmie Walker, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Ethel Merman, plus their own Kentucky Fried people, like Stephen Stucker and, of course, themselves.  What's more, their two leads, Robert Hays and Julie Hagerty, turned out to be brilliant discoveries.  And while I can't of course vouch for the veracity of every line and sight gag in a feature film that's carrying a record number of them, the writing overall holds up surprisingly well, especially compared to the litany of similar films it inspired, even most of those by its own creators.

Paramount initially released Airplane! as a pretty nice, anamorphic widescreen DVD in 2000.  There have been plenty of repackagings and arbitrary reissues over the years, but the next version with an actually updated disc was the 2005 'Don't Call Me Shirley' special edition with additional extras.  In 2011, Paramount put it out on blu, and that's been our sole option until recently.  Again, there have been reissues, double-features and alternate packaging, but it's always been the same old blu.  Until the summer of 2020, thanks to the newish Paramount Presents line, which restored the film in 4k for their 40th Anniversary Edition, available in standard packaging or steelbook.  As you can see in the scan above, I chose the latter.  It lasted four years, until Paramount compelled me to replace it with their proper UHD edition in their 6-disc 'ZAZ: The Collection!' boxed set.

1) 2005 US Paramount DVD; 2) 2011 US Paramount BD; 3) 2020 US Paramount BD;
4) 2024 Paramount BD; 5) 2024 Paramount UHD.

For whatever reason, Paramount perpetually insists on releasing Airplane! in 1.78:1, even though it surely should be matted to 1.85:1.  But oh well, whatever.  It's been that way since the earliest DVD... although with a smidgen of pillar-boxing in the overscan areas, the DVDs have technically been 1.78:1.  But while the framing stays virtually the same (The DVD actually shows slivers more around some of its edges, but a bit less along the top), the picture quality keeps on improving from generation to generation.  It goes without saying that the DVD is softer than the blus, but let's say it anyway, because it really looks fuzzy by comparison.  The BD is sharper and pulls out more detail (look at Graves' hair in the second set of shots, for example) that was washed out of the standard def transfer.  It looks lightly tweaked, perhaps with some kind of unsharpening tool, but honestly, by 2011 standards, it was pretty good, not a blu calling for an upgrade.

But as the age of 4k rolled around, we began to see how much better blus could look, and now it's Airplane!'s turn.  Grain is much more natural even on the new BDs, and the entire experience feels more film-like, as opposed to the waxiness of the DVD and tinniness of the old blu.  And unsurprisingly, the 2024 BD has the exact same transfer as the 2020.  Whatever that digital tinkering they did in 2011 is gone, and the colors are deeper and more authentic.  Black levels, too.  It's just a more attractive, satisfying watch, although I have to say, even on the UHD, grain is patchy and inconsistent.  If it were just on the BD, I might've chalked it up to a mediocre encode, but since it's the same on the BD, I suspect a little DNR.  This would've looked better coming from someplace like Arrow.  Still though, it's the best the film has looked to date.

One drawback of these new editions, I suppose, is revisionist audio.  The original 2000 DVD gave the film a new 5.1 remix, and part of the benefit of the 'Don't Call Me Shirley' DVD was they inclusion of the original stereo mix, along with the 5.1.  It also had optional English and Spanish subtitles and a French dub.  Well, for whatever reason, the blu-rays and UHD have dumped the stereo track, only giving us the 5.1.  They all bumped it up to DTS-HD, but that's all we get, at least for English.  The 2011 BD also has French, Portuguese and Spanish dubs with English, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles, while the 2020 has a German dub with English, HoH, French, German and Japanese subs.  Now the 2024 BD has German and French dubs with English, German, French and Japanese subs and the UHD has German, Spanish, French and Italian dubs with English, German, Spanish, French, Italian and Japanese subs.  I don't know why the foreign language options are different across every single disc, but there you have it.

Special features complicate matters, too.  The 2000 DVD started with an excellent audio commentary by the Zuckers, Abrahams, and producer Jon Davidson.  It also had the trailer.  The 'Don't Call Me Shirley' edition added a "Long Haul" branching option, where you could watch the film with pop-up videos interviewing the cast and crew.  It was pretty fantastic, talking to nearly everybody, from the biggest stars to the non-professional bit players, as well as showing otherwise unavailable deleted scenes and outtakes.  But "Long Haul" was right, it turns the movie into a 4-hour viewing experience.  It also came in a slip cover and included an option to get your own inflatable Otto autopilot.  And the initial blu just ported all of the extras over in SD to their HD disc.

I was wondering how Paramount Presents would treat the Long Haul footage, and disappointingly but unsurprisingly, they dropped it.  And it's a shame, because it's terrific, although the "haul" was tiresome, especially if you'd just watched the film normally first.  But here's the thing I found.  You could easily just rip the disc (DVD or blu; it's all SD either way), stick the interviews files into an editor like Windows Movie Maker, and it plays wonderfully as a roughly 75-minute documentary.  Even without the context of the feature, and each clip just playing in the order they're found on the disc, it's very enjoyable and coherent.  I ripped it to a blank disc and called it "The Direct Flight."  😉

The "Long Haul" documentary

And I'm especially glad for that DVDR now that the 40th Anniversary Edition let it go.  I've just slipped it into the left-hand side of my nifty new steelbook, because to me it's really essential.  The other extras are great, but don't include all the great material found here.  But, to be fair, I have to point out that the 2020 blu came up with some new special features.  There's a roughly 35 minute Q&A recorded at a screening with Abrahams and the Zuckers, which is good though a bit redundant.  There's also a new, retrospective featurette with Abrahams and the Zuckers, which is nice but completely redundant.  I'm happy to get them, but they don't hold a candle to the "Long Haul."  Also, just a final, niggling disappointment, they dropped the trailer.

And in 2024?  Extras-wise, it's the 2020 edition all over again.  Still no "Long Haul" and no trailer, but they have everything else, including the commentary and 2020 interviews.  Curiously, the commentary isn't on the UHD, just the BD, which is a slight annoyance.  But we do get 3 exclusive fold-out posters [see above] and a booklet, including the Zuckers' fifteen rules of comedy and the lyrics to their original Top Secret! songs.  And you'll be happy to hear that the back sheet with the disc info passes Mike from Grindhouse's "does it fit inside the box" test.  👍

So this is almost all good news.  The new transfer is great and hey, I'm happy to take those new extras even if they're not amazing.  I'm a little disappointed we still didn't get the original audio track, but it's a sweet upgrade either way (especially since it's not like the 2011 BD had it).  I'd just add that, in addition to getting this, you should still hang onto or track down an older edition with the "Long Haul."  The good news there is the market has been flooded with them, so they're easy to find and super cheap.  And I'm pleased to see Paramount continuing to show love to their catalog titles with fancy home video releases, even if they're not strictly perfect.