Flight club: The most memorable airplane movies

Sure, maybe it’s a little weird to begin with a plane movie that is a parody of previous plane movies. However, the plane-related disaster movie era has kind of been forgotten, but “Airplane!” remains an iconic comedy. When we think of movies about commercial flights, the one we think of first is this, perhaps the greatest parody film ever made. It's also one of the best films to watch while flying on an airplane, incidentally.

“Get off my plane!” With those words, Harrison Ford’s President James Marshall became an action movie icon. “Air Force One” isn’t the best ‘90s political action flick, but it is a fun one. Terrorists get on the President’s plane, and he’s left to try and thwart them.

You may have never seen “Zero Hour!,” but if you watch it, the film will likely feel familiar. “Airplane!” is primarily a parody of this film. It’s a solid enough ‘50s thriller from a time when movies set on planes weren’t exactly ubiquitous. “Zero Hour!” really helped set the standards, which then also set up the parodies.

Denzel Washington rolls a commercial airliner. It’s wild. This is the first film on this list where a plane is crucial to the plot, but it is not set almost entirely on a plane. There is a lot of this Robert Zemeckis film where Washington is on the ground, using drugs, getting drunk, and dealing with the inquiry into what happened when, again, the dude rolled a commercial plane.

Clint Eastwood directs a Tom Hanks movie wherein Hanks plays a heroic pilot. A pilot named Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, at that. It’s Eastwood, which is to say, straightforward and to the point. However, that isn’t a bad thing. Many people talk highly of “Sully” as the kind of quality adult drama that doesn’t get made all that often anymore.

Here is a “one memorable stretch on a plane in a film not largely about planes” entry. When you think of “Bridesmaids,” what set piece do you think of first? OK, now forget about the Brazilian restaurant experience and think about the second iconic comedy set piece from the beloved Kristen Wiig comedy. It’s when the whole crew is on that plane. Wiig’s character is drugged out. Melissa McCarthy seduces an air marshal. Good times.

Suddenly, in the 1970s, airport movies became a big thing. Specifically, the “Airport” series, of which they made four in the decade. “Airport,” the first film, was a true sensation, and a critical darling. Helen Hayes won an Oscar for the film, and it was nominated for Best Picture as well.

The anthology movie based on the anthology sci-fi show is flawed. Also, the John Landis section is effectively unwatchable for multiple reasons. That being said, George Miller directed an adaptation of one of the quintessential “Twilight Zone” stories, “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet.” John Lithgow plays an airline passenger who sees a gremlin on the wing of the plane, but nobody believes him.

“Nightmare at 20,000 Feet,” the TV episode, helped stoke the rise of the horror story set on a plane. “Red Eye” is a straight-up horror film, or maybe more of a thriller, directed by none other than Wes Craven. The horror master helmed a story where Rachel McAdams’ character finds herself sitting next to Cillian Murphy who, unsurprisingly, turns out to be a menacing man with sinister motives.

Look, in the end, the title delivered more than the movie. “Snakes on the Plane” was a meme that came to life. The film was a shrug, and it was kind of a flop. However, “Snakes on the Plane” still amused people on the internet, and Samuel L. Jackson got to say that one line. as well as give us one of his best on-screen roles.

This may be the only wacky comedy, non-parody version set on a plane. It’s the kind of film where Snoop Dog plays an airplane pilot. Does hilarity ensue? Not so much, and it was a flop. That being said, we definitely remember the ads for it, and the fact that “Soul Plane” exists.

“Con Air” is an out-there ‘90s action film, and one look at the cast would make that clear. When Nicolas Cage, John Cusack, and John Malkovich come together, you know things are probably going to get bonkers. Especially since, you know, this is a movie about a plane full of convicts where things, shall we say, go awry. Check out 20 facts you might not know about the film.

Speaking of planes full of convicts, “U.S. Marshals” is the sequel to “The Fugitive.” It’s not as good, but it makes the decision to one-up the prisoner-escape scene from the classic original. This time, a plane full of convicts, and law enforcement officials, crashes, into the water no less. Here, Wesley Snipes’ not Dr. Richard Kimble is able to make his escape.

There are a few distinct segments of “Dr. Strangelove,” Stanley Kubrick’s indelible war satire. While Peter Sellers is not in the plane portion, it is still quite memorable. Slim Pickens plays Major “King” Kong, who has received an inaccurate message that leads him on a mission to bomb the Soviet Union, which would trigger a civilization-destroying war. Cue Pickens riding a nuke like it’s a bucking bronco.

What about “Non-Stop,” though? Liam Neeson was in his bag as a guy making B-minus/C-plus action flicks and thrillers during the time “Non-Stop” dropped. This time, it’s on a plane. There is actually quite a supporting cast in this film as well behind Neeson, and the film was a big hit.

A psychological thriller that dips into the world of horror, “Flightplan” starts Jodie Foster on a plane with her daughter, and then her daughter disappears. All throughout the plane, Foster runs into people who insist her daughter was never on the plane. What’s going on? How could a person disappear entirely on a plane? That’s the crux of “Flightplan.”

“Final Destination” spawned a lengthy, low-budget horror franchise. It’s built to churn out cheap, satisfying films, as it is about the abstract concept of death coming to kill people who cheat death and to do so in elaborate, ridiculous ways. First, though, death must be cheated. “Final Destination” kicks it all off with Devon Sawa playing a teenager who foresees a plane explosion and convinces his friends to get off the plane.

“View from the Top” doesn’t fully work. It doesn’t seem to land on a tone. However, it’s still remembered as the comedy(?) where Gwyneth Paltrow plays a flight attendant. While it didn’t fully work, it’s the one flight attendant comedy we can think of.

This is the second Wesley Snipes film on the list. He was a massive action star in the ‘90s, whether on a train or a plane. “Passenger 57” is kind of like a smaller-scale “Con Air” without the wilder elements. Snipes plays a guy who has been a soldier, a cop, and a Secret Service agent who just so happens to be on the same flight as…the world’s most infamous terrorist who is being transported for trial? Sure, why not?

“Money Plane” delivered in the ways “Snakes on the Plane” just didn’t. Oh, it’s a bad movie. Nobody was expecting a good movie, though. “Money Plane” delivered what we expected from everything “Money Plane” promised. It’s dumb but fun in its dumb way.

It was the title revealed in a trailer heard around the world. Yes, the movie is called “Plane.” It’s a shrug of an action movie starring Gerald Butler. How could we not include a movie that is called “Plane” on a list of plane films? It may not be good, but it is, in multiple ways, a plane movie.