As a writer and film enthusiast, I find myself utterly captivated by the extraordinary life of Jim Abrahams. His journey, marked by both triumphs and challenges, serves as a testament to resilience, creativity, and unwavering dedication to helping others.
Jim Abrahams, a writer-director known for his comedic collaborations with brothers Jerry and David Zucker, passed away on Tuesday at the age of 80. Together, they revolutionized the comedy genre with their offbeat productions like “Airplane!”, “Police Squad!” and “The Naked Gun” movies.
Abraham passed away naturally at his Santa Monica residence, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter, according to his son Joseph.
The threesome initially captured the mainstream audience with their humorous work on the movie “Kentucky Fried Movie” (1977), which was directed by John Landis as a precursor to “Animal House”, and they later collaborated on “Top Secret!” (1984) featuring a young Val Kilmer, and “Ruthless People” (1986) that starred Bette Midler and Danny DeVito.
Abrahams, on his own, took the helm of the 1988 movie “Big Business,” featuring Bette Midler and Lily Tomlin, and co-wrote and directed both “Hot Shots!” (1991) and its sequel from 1993, which starred Charlie Sheen.
Characterized by a constant stream of jokes, visual gags, and puns, the humor of Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker (often referred to as ZAZ) was quick, chaotic, and undeniably silly. They were masters of parody, finding the absurdity in everything – the more ridiculous, the funnier.
Nothing demonstrated this better than Airplane! (1980).
In their search for something interesting to watch, they happened upon the 1957 film titled Zero Hour!, a dramatic production in black and white penned by Arthur Hailey. The story revolves around a troubled World War II aviator (Dana Andrews), who must conquer his fear of flying when the passengers on the commercial plane he’s aboard fall sick (due to eating spoiled fish) and it’s up to him to bring the aircraft safely down. Immediately, they recognized the possibilities for a humorous spin on this narrative.
In order to make it even better, “Zero Hour!” was under Paramount’s ownership, eager to approve a ZAZ project following the success of “The Kentucky Fried Movie“. The filmmakers managed to acquire the rights for $2,500, took control of the movie’s storyline and dialogue, and even gave their main character, Ted Striker (portrayed by Robert Hays), the same name as Andrews’ character.
Back in 2012, Michael Eisner, then in charge at Paramount, shared with THR: “I can’t really explain what drove me, but it seems that everyone was producing airplane-themed films back then. Movies like ‘Airport’, adapted from Arthur Hailey’s book, were as common as superhero movies today, and they generally did well.
The film “Airplane!” – with the Abrahams and Zuckers trio handling writing, direction, and production – debuted in June and garnered a staggering $83.5 million on a minimal budget of just $3.5 million. At that point, it ranked as the third highest-grossing comedy on the big screen, surpassed only by “Animal House” and “Smokey and the Bandit”.
In his review for THR, Ron Pennington describes the humor as a clever mix of satire, spoof, burlesque, slapstick, vulgar dialogue, and visual gags that are often crude. The jokes target various subjects such as sex, politics, religion, and almost everything else imaginable. The level of humor isn’t always consistent, but the filmmakers have employed a scattergun method by including numerous elements, resulting in more successful routines than not.
The scene is just as chaotic and unpredictable as the plot itself, but the trio of Abrahams, Zucker, and Zucker have an impressive knack for injecting humor into their visual elements. They strategically place comedic moments to maximize their impact.
Instead of hiring comedians, the team behind ZAZ opted for TV drama actors like Peter Graves, Lloyd Bridges, Robert Stack, and Leslie Nielsen to bring their witty dialogues to life. They believed that the deadpan delivery of these actors, known for their serious roles, would make it more amusing.
In an interview from 2019, Abrahams mentioned that the main challenge was to choose serious actors instead of comedians for the roles. At first, Paramount was hesitant about this approach, not fully grasping our reasoning behind it. However, there was a charming aspect to those four actors portraying themselves in the film, almost as if they were poking fun at their own careers. Essentially, they had already achieved great success, and in the movie, they were taking a lighthearted look back at their past accomplishments.
Nielsen, portraying the level-headed Dr. Rumack on the aircraft, truly immersed himself in the character, delivering the witty one-liners during dialogues like a pro, such as:
Rumack: “Can you fly this plane and land it?”
Striker: “Surely, you can’t be serious.”
Rumack: “I am serious … and don’t call me Shirley.”
After finding it challenging to make another film following “Airplane!”, Abrahams and the Zuckers shifted their focus towards television production in 1982. This led them to create “Police Squad!”, a witty midseason parody of police procedurals for ABC, featuring Nielsen as the daring yet incompetent Detective Frank Drebin.
Though the series was critically acclaimed and scored two Emmy nominations — one for Nielsen and one for ZAZ’s writing, it aired just six episodes before being canceled. But cable reruns brought it a new following, and The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!, directed by David Zucker, made it the big screen in 1988, grossing $78.8 million.
In the comedy, Nielsen once again took on the character of Drebin, joining his fellow officers portrayed by George Kennedy and O.J. Simpson. This movie spawned two sequels: “The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear” (released in 1991) and “The Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult” (released in 1994).
James Steven Abrahams hails from Shorewood, Wisconsin, and was born on the 10th of May, 1944. His dad, Norman, practiced law, while his mom, Louise, dedicated her time to academic research.
Growing up, I forged a bond with the Zucker brothers that spanned back to our early years. Our fathers were business associates, we all belonged to the same synagogue, and we attended Shorewood High School together, eventually moving on to the University of Wisconsin at Madison. I graduated college in 1966, followed by David in 1970 and Jerry in 1972.
From the very beginning, back in 1971, I found myself part of a movement that started with the establishment of the Kentucky Fried Theater in Madison – a venture shared by ZAZ and Dick Chudnow. It was a unique blend of improvised sketches, spoofs of commercials, and parodies of television shows, all combined into a multimedia extravaganza that would serve as the foundation for their signature style. They labeled it “comedy judo,” turning audience expectations against them to create laughter.
In my gaming world, during that time, many groups were known for their political satire. Plenty of simple, apparent targets were at their fingertips. Yet, we never found ourselves drawn to that approach. Instead, our natural response was always to watch a movie and chuckle, saying something like, “Aren’t they just absurd?
The success of Kentucky Fried Theater was so compelling that it persuaded the three to recreate the atmosphere in Los Angeles during 1972. Landis attended one of their performances and managed to persuade ZAZ to transform their skits into a screenplay, which he would then direct.
The movie titled “Kentucky Fried Movie” made its debut in cinemas, showcasing a series of skits that included humorous takes on films like “Catholic High School Girls in Trouble”, “Cleopatra Schwartz” and “A Fistful of Yen”. Additionally, it featured comedic spoofs of ads for Household Odors and the United Appeal for the Dead. Throughout the film, a recurring segment starred an anchor delivering headlines such as “I’m not wearing pants … tune in at 11.
In the movie, Donald Sutherland, Henry Gibson, Bill Bixby, Tony Dow, and George Lazenby made brief appearances as cameo roles, while Abrahams and the Zuckers took on multiple character parts throughout the film.
Abrahams jokingly remarked while working on ‘The Kentucky Fried Movie’, ‘One day, I’ll get married. One day, I’ll have children. And one day, I’ll need to explain this to them.’
Following the triumph of “Airplane!”, the trio declined the 1982 sequel, as there was no continuation to “Zero Hour”. Instead, they blended aspects of an Elvis Presley musical and a World War II spy adventure for “Top Secret!”.
As Abrahams and Jerry Zucker explained in a 2014 interview, it exposed their flaws as writers.
After the success of ‘Airplane!’, we thought we could churn out a new one every year or so. However, we didn’t fully grasp the impact of ‘Airplane!’ at that time, I believe. We lacked understanding for the significance of a good story. We found it challenging to come up with a compelling narrative and had many unsuccessful ideas for quite some time.
Moreover, Zucker commented, “We were naturally humorous individuals who lacked the comprehension of movie plot structures.
Instead, Abrahams bounced back with “Hot Shots!”, a bold spoof based on Tom Cruise’s “Top Gun”, which he developed alongside Pat Proft, known for writing the first “Police Academy” film and co-writing two of the “Naked Gun” movies.
Then, with Hot Shots! Part Deux, Abrahams and Proft poked fun at the Rambo movies.
Apart from “Blues Brothers 2000,” Abraham has also been at the helm of films like “Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael” (1990), a coming-of-age story featuring Winona Ryder, and “Jane Austen’s Mafia!” (1998), a comedic take on the Godfather series starring Jay Mohr and Christina Applegate. He also worked in collaboration with Prof and Craig Mazin on the script for “Scary Movie 4,” directed by David Zucker, in 2006.
Beyond Joseph, the survivors also consist of his wife, Nancy Cocuzzo, who he wed in 1976; his other offspring, Jamie and Charlie; as well as his grandkids, Caleb, James, and Isaac.
Back in 1993, when Charlie was just 11 months old, he started experiencing a severe type of epilepsy that proved hard to manage. Consequently, daily seizures became an unfortunate and constant aspect of family life for them.
In an urgent search for respite, the Abrahams transitioned Charlie onto a ketogenic diet rich in fats. In just a few days, his seizures ceased. Within a month, he was free from medication. Five years later, he could consume standard food again, and to this day, his seizures have never resurfaced.
In 1994, the Abrahams, moved by gratitude and a desire to aid others facing similar hardships, established the Charlie Foundation for Ketogenic Therapies as a nonprofit organization. This foundation assists in combatting epilepsy, various neurological disorders, and specific types of cancer. (Additionally, he directed a 1997 ABC television film titled First Do No Harm, which featured Meryl Streep portraying a woman and her son living with epilepsy.)
As a gamer, I can relate when you’re in the heat of battle, your character is on the brink, and every fiber of your being cries out, “Please, let the health bar refill! I promise to be better, to level up faster!” Then, miraculously, the health comes back, and for a moment, you dare to hope – could it be that the game gods heard my plea? And there they were, the game gods, patiently tapping away at their cosmic controllers.
Now that Charlie’s seizures have ceased, it’s my time to fulfill my pledge. I must do whatever I can to aid other families who are still enduring the terror we’ve just emerged from.
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2024-11-26 19:25