Hicks: Is it OK to laugh at politically incorrect movies?

In 1980, "Airplane" was the funniest thing my 13-year-old self had ever seen. I wasn't alone.

It may be the most quoted movie ever among men. There's a certain symmetry to a guy saying to another guy, "Surely you can't be serious," and the second guy responding, "I am serious. And don't call me Shirley."

Sometimes, if someone asks how I want my coffee, I want to quote the little girl in "Airplane" who says "Black. Like my men." When the movie came out, it was a hilarious line.

However, 34 years later, it seems weird to think of that as funny. Same for the scenes of the two black men needing Barbara Billingsley to translate their "jive" talk into English. It seemed funny and harmless at the time -- to a 13-year-old white suburbanite.

Julie Hagerty and Robert Hays stare in the 1980 classic "Airplane." (Paramount Pictures) (Paramount Pictures)

Can we still laugh at these films? Actually, it's not much of a choice. I still laugh. I can't help it -- though I feel a little strange doing so now.

Political correctness wasn't a thing when movies such as "Airplane," and "Blazing Saddles" came out. Comedy has obviously changed, and probably for the better. The NFL is discussing making rules about whether the N-word can be used on the field. We've become more sensitive to using words that some find offensive, which is a good thing.

But I can't help feeling a bit strange about laughing at race-based humor in movies made back when society wasn't so sensitive.

Even the stuff on television has changed pretty dramatically. Go to YouTube and look at some of the Dean Martin roasts from the 1970s. Not only was racial humor pretty common, but many of the participants were smoking and drinking on camera -- a giant no-no in 2014.

It seems weird. Celebrities still smoke and drink and some may even tell race-based jokes, but the idea of political correctness has sunk in to the point where it feels almost unsettling to watch these movies and shows and find them funny.

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Hicks: Is it OK to laugh at politically incorrect movies?