Source:The Chick in The Middle- Carol Burnett & Harvey Korman: Disaster 75. |
"Here's a classic spoof of the "Airport" series and other disaster films of the period, with guest stars Ken Berry and Carl Reiner. Carol Burnett also reprises her character of Nora Desmond, parodying Gloria Swanson's role in "Airport 1975" (1974).
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“Here’s Part 2 of “Disaster ’75”. Keep an eye out for a meta-referential Q & A session, a textbook example of meta humor, now commonplace in comedy."
“Highlights of this program with guests Ken Berry and Carl Reiner include: “Disaster ’75” (a parody of “Airport 1975”) with Carol as both the airline stewardess and silent film star Nora Desmond; Ken performs in a late 1800’s barbershop number; and a musical spoof of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”, with Harvey as both host Alistair Cookie and King Claudius, Ken as the title character, and Carl as the ghost of Hamlet’s father. Written by W.B.”
Any guesses to what movie this is a spoof from? I’ll give you a clue: you need to be familiar with movies from the 20th Century and at the very least have heard of the 1970s decade. If that era seems like the Civil War, or old school, or whatever to you, then you’ll have no idea what this is from. And you’ll probably have no interest in this piece.
Carol Burnett, of course is playing off from Airport 1975. I at least believe is the best of the 1970s disaster movies and perhaps the best disaster movie of all-time. Where you have a mid-air collision in it and you have the head stewardess flying the plane for a few hundred miles at least and getting help from the tower in order to do that.
Watching Nancy (played by the great Karen Black) fly and airplane and watching that little beautiful baby cutie fly that huge 747, was all the motivation I needed to see that movie.
I saw it for the first time when I was 18 and it quickly became one of my favorite movies. This movie combines I believe the best of soap opera, with all the side stories, humor and people going through rough times, with how professionals react when they’re put in the worst possible situation possible with hundreds of lives depending on them.
Carol Burnett, not as cute as Karen Black, but who is and she’s a lot funnier and perhaps just as good an actress. And it was great to see her flying a jumbo jet as well. Especially with I don’t know, Carl Reiner (just to throw out a name) talking her through the experience.
The 1970s, was a depressing can’t wait to get to the nearest ledge to jump off of Niagara Falls decade. But the movies were great and the genres and what people were interested in seeing from Hollywood was great. America, was interested in disaster movies, terrorism, cop movies, detective movies, soap operas, especially if the movie was well done with great casts and was also funny. And Airport 1975, was an example of that and perhaps the best movie from that genre in this decade.