6. "I Am Serious. And Don't Call Me Shirley" Airplane! (1980)
Airplane! (1980) is filled with witty one-liners, but theres one that soars above the rest. Its one of the most memorable lines in cinematic history, capturing the pun-filled humour of this absurd satire. Seriously. Ive heard this line so often that Im sick of it or maybe its just the fish I had for dinner. After the pilots fall ill, the doctor tries to find someone whos both able to fly the plane and hasnt eaten the fish. Luckily, they find Ted, an ex-pilot of the air farce air force, I mean. But Ted gets the same impression as the audience, recognizing how absurd the situation is. After hes asked to fly the plane, Ted tells the doctor, Surely you cant be serious. The doctor offers the famous comeback line, and now its impossible to begin a sentence with surely in our everyday lives. There really are a hundred lines I could have used from this film. Its a non-stop back and forth with no layovers. Airplane! is a parody of disaster films, but its anything but a disaster. And this comeback lines is one of the jokes that really gave it wings.