Airplane! :: James Hong :: Blade Runner

James Hong also gets me from Airplane! to my next movie, Blade Runner.

Blade Runner is great science fiction. Dystopian future. Androids. Action. Philosophical introspection on what truly makes us human. What was really interesting for me is that I literally watched Blade Runner and the series finale of Battlestar Galactica in the same weekend - both shows dealing with many of the same issues... and both starring Edward J. Olmos.

I'm not going to get into the debate over whether Harrison Ford's character Deckard is a replicant or not. I personally think he's human. But I can see both sides, especially depending on which version of the film you watch. The original U.S. theatrical release makes it fairly clear that he's human. The 1990's "Director's Cut" and the more recent "Final Cut" make it more ambiguous. Buy the 4-disc Collector's Edition and you can watch four different versions of the film and decide for yourself.

The other thing to really pay attention to with Blade Runner is the effects. Today, we see massive futuristic cities on the screen, and it's all done with computers (see the Star Wars prequels). But Blade Runner was made in 1982 with real models, sets, matte paintings, and all the other conventional tricks... and it still stands up really well against modern CGI effects. Ridley Scott really knew his shit back in the day (couple Blade Runner with the film he released three years earlier, Alien, and you've got a sci-fi one-two punch that may be unrivaled). But I still can't forgive him for crap like Gladiator and Hannibal.

Chinatown :: James Hong :: Airplane!

Another great character actor, James Hong, gets me from Chinatown (Evelyn's butler) to Airplane! (suicidal Japanese general).  Looking at his resume, Hong seems to have been the go-to actor for the token Asian role in every film or TV show of the past four decades.  All in the Family, The Rockford Files, Starsky and Hutch, Charlie's Angels, Taxi, St. Elsewhere, The A-Team, Big Trouble in Little China, The Golden Child, Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise, Miami Vice, Tango & Cash, MacGyver, Wayne's World 2... and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Where do you start with a movie like Airplane!?   (And yes, I'll be including the exclamation mark every time).  It stands alongside Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, and Shaun of the Dead (all films I own and will be discussing later on this blog) as one of the greatest parody films of all time. Airplane! re-launched the career of Leslie Nielsen as comedic actor, giving us the Naked Gun series of films.  Airplane! showed us Mrs. Cleaver speaking jive, Lloyd Bridges sniffing glue, Kareem Abdul-Jabar threatening a small child, an inflatable co-pilot receiving oral service from Julie Hagerty, and two Girl Scouts beating the holy hell out of each other in a bar fight.

And it has some of the most quotable lines of any film, ever:

• We have clearance, Clarence.  Roger, Roger.  What's our vector, Victor?
• The white zone is for immediate loading and unloading of passengers only. There is no stopping in the red zone. 
• "The fog's getting thicker."  "And Leon's getting laaaaarrrrger!"
• "A hospital?  What is it?"  "It's a big building with patients, but that's not important right now."
• Joey, do you like movies about gladiators?
• Oh, it's a big pretty white plane with red stripes, curtains in the windows and wheels and it looks like a big Tylenol. 
• "Johnny, what can you make out of this?"  "This? Why, I can make a hat or a brooch or a pterodactyl..."
• Oh stewardess! I speak jive.
• Do you know what it's like to fall in the mud and get kicked... in the head... with an iron boot? Of course you don't, no one does. It never happens. Sorry, Ted, that's a dumb question... skip that.
• Wait a minute. I know you. You're Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. You play basketball for the Los Angeles Lakers.
• I just want to tell you both good luck. We're all counting on you. 
• I am serious.  And don't call me Shirley.

I can't think of much more to add right now.  Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue.