Leslie Neilson, serious actor or comic genius? Well, both actually!

With the sad news of Leslie Nielson's death, I thought I should pay tribute to a man who has brought laughter to millions. Someone who had a long established career of serious acting...

Which he threw down the toilet to appear in a comedy film, Airplane.

But what an icon he became. So many moments of that film and his other spoofs are now classics. Many more famous, or should I say infamous, than the originals they parodied!   

No?

Tell me, do you actually remember anything from the Airport films? And that means without doing a Google search! I'll wait...

Exactly! I rest my case!

The seventies were a period where practically every film was a Disaster movie. Hollywood seemed to think that everybody wanted to see the same movie (What's changed there?!?). Chruning them out with only the slightest variations in cosmetic details. Such as setting (airport, cruise ship, tower block... substitute you idea here).

But basically they all had the same plot and characters.

The authority figure who knows he's heading for the scrap heap, 

The hero who will be battling some major trauma from his past. Which you just know he must overcome, if he's to become the hero again!  Sullen and antisocial with a distinct death wish.

The hero's love interest who will begin by despising him but eventually realise he is "The ONE". There will be some point when all but the bare minimum of her clothes fall/are torn off.
And....Cue Cupid Stunts (sorry for poor quality of video but Kenny illustrates the point so well!)


The couple who are heading for divorce but really love each other. The crisis will help them to realise that they "Have each other" (pass me the sick bucket)


Hero's best friend who may or may not make it to the end of the film!

The comic light relief!
  
The cute child/animal that will be in peril but saved from certain death.

And other various characters created with all the dimensions of cardboard!

Following the release of Airplane, film makers no longer take that particular genre of film seriously! I suspect the viewing public had come to that conclusion years before!



Now,  what other Cliche characters are there? If you can think of any, please describe them in the comments section. Try to use no more than 2 lines! They are "cardboard" characters after all!

RIP Leslie, you'll be missed!