Original artwork, not a still
Joey, have you ever been to a Turkish prison?
— Airplane! ‧ 1980
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
Captain Oveur's questions to a child are the film's boldest running gag: a calm, authoritative voice asks the most unsuitable thing at the most casual moment. The prison question works because it lands straight after a medical emergency, as if the two were related. It became shorthand for the Airplane! school of deadpan non sequitur.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for Airplane!Show the scene
In Airplane!, young Joey Hammen is visiting the cockpit, where he has just recognised co-pilot Roger Murdock as the basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Captain Oveur is happy to have a child there and keeps asking him strangely inappropriate questions, such as whether he likes movies about gladiators. After a stewardess reports a sick passenger and Oveur tells her to find a doctor, he turns back to the boy and asks whether he has ever been in a Turkish prison.
Sources (3)
- Springfield! Springfield! script: Airplane!Cockpit scenes with Joey and KareemReference checked
- Wikipedia: Airplane!CastReference checked
- Airplane! (1980) transcriptThe cockpit visitReference checked
Context reviewed
