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Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti was asked to select his favorite movie then sit down for an conversation about his choice at a screening in February for Zócalo Public Square. Even Zócalo was surprised that Garcetti chose "Airplane!," the 1980 spoof that starred Robert Hays and Leslie Nielsen.
"When Zócalo and KCRW asked Mayor Eric Garcetti to screen his favorite movie, we thought he'd pick some egg-heady documentary, or maybe one of those old black-and-white films with subtitles that we're all supposed to see," Zócalo writes. "It turns out, however, that our mayor selected Airplane!, the 1980 classic Leslie Nielsen comedy about an ill-fated journey from Los Angeles to Chicago featuring food poisoning gags, an inflatable doll, and Lakers great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar playing the role of a pilot. After the screening, Mayor Garcetti sits down with KCRW's Madeleine Brand to talk about why he chose Airplane!, what the movie means to him, and his definition of funny." The event will be at the Million Dollar Theatre on Broadway on Feb. 26.
Example of dialogue from "Airplane!," from Jim Abrahams and the Zucker brothers, David and Jerry, the team behind the "Naked Gun" movies and "Police Squad":
We have clearance, Clarence.
Roger, Roger
What's our vector, Victor?
Some classic scenes:
