Jim Abrahams

With David and Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams helped invent a new kind of comedy that's still with us today.

Airplane! (1980) -- Directed with David Zucker and Jerry Zucker. The fact that we still think this is funny even though no one much remembers it as a parody of Airport says something. One of the most important comedy films ever made, creating a new sub-genre (most of the followers badly done) of comedy. Of course, it also (along with The Naked Gun) made sure Leslie Neilson would never get a serious job again, but oh well. (See Ken Finkleman for the sequel, Airplane II: The Sequel.)