🎬 July Laughs & Legends: Four Iconic Films Airing on OETA Movie Club
This July, OETA Movie Club delivers an irresistible mix of satire, spirit, crime, and chaos. Join us every Saturday night at 9 p.m. for a new lineup of unforgettable classics—each packed with signature performances, sharp wit, and timeless style. With encore airings the following Friday nights, you have twice the chance to settle in and enjoy.
Airplane! (1980)
📅 Airs Saturday, July 5 at 9 p.m. | Encore Friday, July 11 at 11 p.m.
Starring:Leslie Nielsen, Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty
There’s never been a film quite like Airplane! A full-throttle parody that redefined comedy for a generation, it takes every possible disaster-movie trope and crashes it into pure absurdity. Leslie Nielsen’s now-legendary deadpan delivery helped launch a new era of slapstick satire, while Robert Hays and Julie Hagerty somehow hold steady amid the chaos. It’s rapid-fire, ridiculous, and relentlessly funny.
🎬 Fun Facts
- The feuding airport announcers were voiced by the real-life married couple who did actual announcements at LAX—right down to the red and white zone rules!
- The directors cast serious actors like Leslie Nielsen and Lloyd Bridges to play it straight, making their deadpan delivery all the more hilarious.
- Aeromexico was the only airline brave enough to show Airplane! as in-flight entertainment.
- The iconic “slap line” scene was improvised by actress Lee Bryant, and yes, Leslie Nielsen really slapped her (accidentally) in the second take.
- “Stayin’ Alive” was sped up 10% for the dance scene, after getting special permission from The Bee Gees.
- Leslie Nielsen’s role as the deadpan doctor launched his second career in comedy, even though the studio originally wanted Dom DeLuise.
- The movie earned back its entire production budget in just two days.
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar once got asked to sit in the cockpit on a European flight, just so the crew could say they flew with Roger Murdoch.
- After the film’s release, real pilots wrote to say they’d nearly crashed through terminal windows, just like the movie’s infamous 747 scene.
- To sell the movie, the directors pitched it as “Animal House on a plane,” even though that wasn’t remotely true.
- Peter Graves originally called the script “disgusting crap,” but eventually took the role after his family convinced him it was hilarious.
Scrooged (1988)
📅 Airs Saturday, July 12 at 9 p.m. | Encore Friday, July 18 at 11 p.m.
Starring:Bill Murray, Karen Allen, Bobcat Goldthwait
Bill Murray is magnetic in this wildly inventive riff on A Christmas Carol. He plays Frank Cross, a smug TV executive whose life gets turned upside down one fateful Christmas Eve. What begins with snark and cynicism slowly unravels into something strangely hopeful. With dark humor and a dash of redemption, Scrooged is a holiday movie that hits harder than tinsel and cocoa ever could.
🎬 Fun Facts
- Bill Murray’s fall leaving the restaurant was totally unscripted, he slipped on wet stairs (after splashing the waiter), and the surprised waiter’s reaction is 100% real.
- Bill Murray and director Richard Donner reportedly clashed constantly on set, with Murray joking that Donner kept telling him to act louder because “he was deaf.”
- Carol Kane’s grab of Bill Murray’s lip was so rough it tore him up bad enough to pause filming for days.
- The street musician insulted by Bill Murray? That’s Paul Shaffer, joined by legends Miles Davis, David Sanborn, and Larry Carlton.
- When Frank elbows his secretary in the face, it’s no act, Bill Murray really caught her by surprise with that hit!
Catch Me If You Can (2002)
📅 Airs Saturday, July 19 at 9 p.m. | Encore Friday, July 25 at 11 p.m.
Starring:Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Christopher Walken
Few films are as effortlessly stylish as Steven Spielberg’s Catch Me If You Can. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Frank Abagnale Jr., a charming teenage con artist who outruns the FBI, and adulthood, with dazzling finesse. Tom Hanks grounds the cat-and-mouse pursuit with warmth and precision, while Christopher Walken brings quiet heartbreak to one of his most understated roles. This is prestige entertainment with a wink and a swagger.
🎬 Fun Facts
- Steven Spielberg didn’t think Tom Hanks would go for a supporting role, until Hanks told him, “A good part is a good part, no matter the size.”
- While the FBI did chase Abagnale, they definitely didn’t exchange Christmas cards, he quipped, “Why would I do that? I didn’t want the FBI to know where I was!”
- The real FBI agent who inspired Carl Hanratty was Joe Shea, and Hanks nailed him so perfectly that Abagnale said watching Hanks was like watching Shea himself.
- The movie’s opening “To Tell the Truth” scene is based on a real episode, where none of the panelists figured out who the real Frank Abagnale, Jr. was.
- Frank Abagnale, Jr. initially doubted DiCaprio could play him, he didn’t think Leo was “suave” enough… until he saw the final cut.
- The film made use of an impressive 157 locations across North America to pull off all of Frank’s globe-trotting escapades.
- According to Abagnale, all the touching backstory about his con-man dad is fiction, in reality, his dad was his first victim, tricked with stolen credit cards.
- Look closely at the blackboard Hanratty writes on, it has a hidden note: “Steven and Tom’s 4th project,” referencing their earlier collaborations.
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966)
📅 Airs Saturday, July 26 at 9 p.m. | Encore Friday, August 1 at 11 p.m.
Starring:Zero Mostel, Phil Silvers, Michael Crawford
If you like your history with a side of slapstick, look no further. This riotous adaptation of the Broadway hit delivers farce at its finest, with Roman togas, mistaken identities, and vaudevillian charm. Zero Mostel and Phil Silvers dominate the screen with big performances that somehow never feel over the top. It’s fast, frantic, and still laugh-out-loud funny nearly 60 years later.
🎬 Fun Facts
- Though often doubled due to illness, Buster Keaton shocked everyone by improvising a fall into a tree branch, sending himself flat on his back and the crew into panic.
- This film was Buster Keaton’s final bow—, he passed away shortly after filming, on February 1, 1966, at age 70.
- Zero Mostel agreed to reprise his Broadway role only if he could approve the director, his dream list included Orson Welles and Chaplin, but Richard Lester got the nod.
- Real fruits and veggies were used on set and left to rot in the sun, so many flies swarmed the shoot that they got their own shoutout in the closing credits.
- Michael Crawford did most of his own stunts, enduring a hilarious and relentless stream of pratfalls throughout the film.
- Because movie musicals were falling out of favor in the late ’60s, many songs were cut, including Zero Mostel’s big number “Free,” originally set to follow his tumble from a tree.
- Character names like Pseudolus and Miles Gloriosus are straight out of ancient Roman comedies by Plautus, the master of slapstick over 2,000 years ago.
- On set, stars Zero Mostel, Phil Silvers, Jack Gilford, and Buster Keaton were affectionately nicknamed “The Forum Quorum.”
Why Watch on OETA?
OETA Movie Club airs every Saturday night at 9 p.m. with encores Fridays at 11 p.m. Watch beloved films commercial-free, complete with insights from film experts and fascinating trivia that enrich the viewing experience.
Stay tuned all summer long for more classic movie nights you won’t want to miss.
🎥📺 Streaming info and schedule updates atOETA.tv/schedule