Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Ronfitch wrote:FWIW ... there once was a pretty great end named Elroy, who played for the Rams. Hall of Fame great. From Wisconsin. Toward the end of his playing career, after appearing in two movies, in 1957 he appeared in a third, "Zero Hour!"

As far as Bubba Smith, his acting career consisted of beer commercials and playing bodyguard types--given his massive size.

Ronfitch wrote:FWIW ... there once was a pretty great end named Elroy, who played for the Rams. Hall of Fame great. From Wisconsin. Toward the end of his playing career, after appearing in two movies, in 1957 he appeared in a third, "Zero Hour!"

You may have never seen "ZeroHour!" but you likely know the plot and even some of the dialogue.

"ZeroHour!" is an airplane disaster movie in which the pilot (played by Hirsh) becomes ill - along with the co-pilot and many passengers - after eating tainted fish served in the in-flight meal. With the plane on autopilot, the search is on to find a passenger with flying experience. On the flight is Ted Stryker, a combat pilot stricken with guild from a fateful decision he made in WWII that resulted in the deaths of members of his squadron. Styker's WWII commander is summoned to the control tower in Vancouver to talk Ted through landing the plane.

In the late '70s, the Zucker brothers and Jim Abrahams - from Wisconsin - used "ZeroHour!" as the basis for "Airplane!" and lifted a fair amount of dialogue from the original.

Roger, Roger.

ChrisBabcock wrote:

As far as Bubba Smith, his acting career consisted of beer commercials and playing bodyguard types--given his massive size.

He played Hightower in the Police Academy movies.

rhickok1109 wrote:

Ronfitch wrote:FWIW ... there once was a pretty great end named Elroy, who played for the Rams. Hall of Fame great. From Wisconsin. Toward the end of his playing career, after appearing in two movies, in 1957 he appeared in a third, "Zero Hour!"

You may have never seen "ZeroHour!" but you likely know the plot and even some of the dialogue.

"ZeroHour!" is an airplane disaster movie in which the pilot (played by Hirsh) becomes ill - along with the co-pilot and many passengers - after eating tainted fish served in the in-flight meal. With the plane on autopilot, the search is on to find a passenger with flying experience. On the flight is Ted Stryker, a combat pilot stricken with guild from a fateful decision he made in WWII that resulted in the deaths of members of his squadron. Styker's WWII commander is summoned to the control tower in Vancouver to talk Ted through landing the plane.

In the late '70s, the Zucker brothers and Jim Abrahams - from Wisconsin - used "ZeroHour!" as the basis for "Airplane!" and lifted a fair amount of dialogue from the original.

Roger, Roger.

This Youtube video shows side-by-side comparisons of scenes from the two movies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-v2BHNBVCs

Incidentally, Hirsch starred in a movie called "Unchained," which is very forgettable...but the theme song, "Unchained Melody," lived on long after the movie.

Rupert Patrick wrote:

rhickok1109 wrote:

Ronfitch wrote:FWIW ... there once was a pretty great end named Elroy, who played for the Rams. Hall of Fame great. From Wisconsin. Toward the end of his playing career, after appearing in two movies, in 1957 he appeared in a third, "Zero Hour!"

You may have never seen "ZeroHour!" but you likely know the plot and even some of the dialogue.

"ZeroHour!" is an airplane disaster movie in which the pilot (played by Hirsh) becomes ill - along with the co-pilot and many passengers - after eating tainted fish served in the in-flight meal. With the plane on autopilot, the search is on to find a passenger with flying experience. On the flight is Ted Stryker, a combat pilot stricken with guild from a fateful decision he made in WWII that resulted in the deaths of members of his squadron. Styker's WWII commander is summoned to the control tower in Vancouver to talk Ted through landing the plane.

In the late '70s, the Zucker brothers and Jim Abrahams - from Wisconsin - used "ZeroHour!" as the basis for "Airplane!" and lifted a fair amount of dialogue from the original.

Roger, Roger.

This Youtube video shows side-by-side comparisons of scenes from the two movies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-v2BHNBVCs

Incidentally, Hirsch starred in a movie called "Unchained," which is very forgettable...but the theme song, "Unchained Melody," lived on long after the movie.

The movie "Airplane!" also used the same soundtrack as "Zero Hour". But "Airplane!" spoofed all of the disaster films of the 70's, and a lot of other films. When they first wrote the script for "Airplane!", Pete Rose was the co-pilot, not Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, as Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker were huge baseball fans and wanted Pete Rose in the movie. But they were filming the movie during baseball season and Rose was not available, so they had to recast the role and Kareem became the co-pilot.