REVIEW COLLECTION: The “Naked Gun” Series

(Courtesy Rotten Tomatoes) 

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988) 

When the TV series Police Squad! was cancelled after four of the six filmed episodes originally aired in 1982, the ZAZ trio (David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker) wrote and/or directed two more films together: the wacky spy parody Top Secret! (which marked the screen debut of Val Kilmer) and the dark comedy Ruthless People (starring Danny Devito and Bette Midler). They then decided to pursue solo careers. But not before collaborating on their final screenplay (along with frequent collaborator Pat Proft). When the Police Squad! series premiered on home video around this time, viewers started to pick up on its unique brand of deadpan, visual, and verbal comedy. Hence, a feature-length version of this very short-lived TV series—and solely directed by David—was born. 

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! also allowed Leslie Nielsen to reprise his role as the incompetent Lt. Frank Drebin. Aside from Dr. Rumack in Airplane!, this is the role that Nielsen is most remembered for. Plus, he was only one of the original cast members to cross over from the TV show into this zany comedy. (Two others were Ed Williams, as lab doctor Ted Olson, and Tiny Ron, as the tall, unseen officer Al.) Other characters, however, were replaced, like Oscar-winner George Kennedy (of Cool Hand Luke and the Airport franchise) as fellow detective Ed Hocken (originally played by Alan North). The plot here concerns Frank trying to solve a case involving one of his fellow officers in the hospital and stumbling upon a villainous (and ridiculous) plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II, not to mention mind control (courtesy Star Trek veteran Ricardo Montalban), and a love interest for Frank in Priscilla Presley. 

A few trademarks of the show also carried over to the big screen, like the opening credits featuring a P.O.V. from a police car siren (complete with theme music by composer Ira Newborn), but in numerous, absurd locations and not just conventional city streets. Ditto Nielsen’s absurdly dry narration. There are callbacks to elements, gags and/or dialogue from the original series in select scenes, while the zany and irreverent humor is amped up. The filmmakers even played with the end credits, highlighting extras who said specific dialogue (“It’s Enrico Palazzo”), or those credited as “People Who Acted In the Movie” or “People Who Didn’t Have Lines (But We Like Them Anyway).” 

Make no mistake, The Naked Gun is hilarious. In one of the film’s most subversive and outrageous scenes, Frank intercepts what turns out to be a student driver for a high-speed chase. What makes it even funnier is how the driving instructor plays it so straight, on par with Nielsen’s brilliant comic timing and acting abilities, even when it involves crazy fireworks. (“Nothing to see here!”) Other highlights include a mishap involving a microphone and a trip to the men’s room during a press conference, a confused cash exchange during a police interrogation, a baseball stadium intrusion (where Frank poses as an opera singer and an umpire), a fish tank and an unbreakable pen, an office teardown, and (the piéce de resistánce) Frank doing cartwheels in his apartment, which cracks me up every time. 

That being said, the movie is full of visual and verbal innuendos. In other words, sexual gags that certainly couldn’t be done on television, including stuffed animals, naked statues, and a panicked, cleavage-bearing resident. At least one such inappropriate scene wouldn’t get past the PG-13 rating today, while another truly bizarre moment involves “safe sex”. Really? There’s also an unfunny suicidal reference or two; gross-out moments involving expired food, a severed finger, and baseball spitting; some comical deaths a la Monty Python; and an opening sequence full of outdated stereotypes. On the more appropriate side, if Airplane! brought out the comedic side of the previously serious Nielsen, then this 84-minute Police Squad flick cemented his status as a naturally funny screen presence moving forward. And to think he was in his early-60s when he pulled this off. 

The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear (1991) 

When Paramount released the long-awaited sequel, The Godfather Part III, in theaters in December of 1990, it was preceded by a teaser for an upcoming comedy “from the brother of the director of Ghost.” You see, Jerry Zucker made his solo directorial debut with that supernatural thriller-romance, while his brother David lampooned that film’s famous pottery scene in a follow-up to The Naked Gun, with Leslie Nielsen and (now red-haired) Priscilla Presley sending up Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore, respectively. The final movie, humorously titled The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear, goes even further with this sequence than the teaser did, with obvious subliminal imagery that exceeds a particularly bizarre moment from its predecessor. 

And there are other moments like that throughout this comical farce, advertised as “a sequel so big, they had to add another half.” These include an opening credit shot in a hospital room delivery, an investigation at a sex shop, and a large birthmark on a man’s rear end. Frank Drebin is portrayed as a little more bumbling this time, with Nielsen apparently starting to do what some critics described as camera mugging. (At least that’s my impression.) As for the plot, Frank reunites with former love interest Jane (Presley) while investigating a villainous scheme involving a solar power plant, a wealthy businessman (played by actor-singer Robert Goulet), and a British scientist (Richard Griffiths). 

I sadly have to mention the elephant in the room. The character of the long-suffering officer Nordburg (portrayed on the TV series by Peter Lupus) was played in the movies by O.J. Simpson. (That’s not a joke.) Years before his infamous murder trial, Simpson was known as a former pro football player and occasional actor. And he was given more screen time in this sequel. In retrospect, it’s hard to know whether we should laugh or not during one rooftop scene involving endless artillery. 

Those elements notwithstanding, Naked Gun 2 1/2 has its moments of slapstick comedy. Standouts include a tango between Nielsen and Presley; a parody of Casablanca; mishaps involving a wheelchair, a tank, zoo animals, and Nordburg; a home invader getting lost in song (and meeting his match with a water hose); an infiltration at a warehouse (code phrase: “I love it”), and officer Ed Hocken (George Kennedy) losing his cool; Frank and company posing as a mariachi band; and a snoozing crowd at a press conference. John Roarke does a spot-on impression of then-U.S. President George H.W. Bush, while First Lady Barbara, unfortunately, is on the receiving end of many physical gags, including Frank’s opening entrance (unbeknownst to him, of course). 

Writers David Zucker and Pat Proft continue their trademarks of puns (including acronyms for crooked businesses), non sequiturs, silly end credits, and callbacks to the original TV series (i.e., “Little Italy,” and a close-range shootout on rooftop). It’s interesting that, around the same time, fellow comedy writer-director Jim Abrahams made both the coming-of-age comedy, Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael (starring Winona Ryder), and his own zany sendup, Hot Shots! (a parody of Top Gun, starring Charlie Sheen). 

Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994) 

A crazy opening scene that not only parodies the famous staircase sequence from Sergei Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin, but more specifically Brian De Palma’s homage to it in The Untouchables. Cut to the trademark police car siren credits, this time set against everything from a pinball machine to the trenches of the Death Star from Star Wars, and even prehistoric times a la Jurassic Park,” but with stop-motion (something that that Spielberg blockbuster almost used). 

Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult marked the directorial debut of Peter Segal (who helmed the comedy classic Tommy Boy the following year). David Zucker backed out of directing this third and final installment in the series, although he is credited as a co-writer (with Pat Proft), co-producer, and has a brilliant cameo in the movie. Even though Segal and Nielsen reportedly didn’t get along, the actor still makes the straight-faced and incompetent Frank Drebin fire on all cylinders. The iconic poster of Frank all tangled up, with bullet holes in his shoes, is the Naked Gun image I remember the most growing up. Ditto clips from the film’s outrageous finale.  

The plot has Frank coming out of retirement to take down a mastermind jailbird (Fred Ward), who, along with his mother (Kathleen Freeman) and girlfriend (Anna Nicole Smith), is planning an explosive event at the Academy Awards, of all places. Meanwhile, Frank’s wife Jane (Priscilla Presley) leaves him a la Thelma & Louise until she realizes what he’s into. The slapstick and scenarios that ensue are more subversive than unpredictable, with many famous faces appearing as themselves (including parody artist-musician “Weird Al” Yankovich, who has shown up in every Naked Gun movie to date), Frank intruding and stalling the ceremony as only he can, and even Presley emulating Sally Field’s famous acceptance speech from 1980s. 

In the last installment, the parody of the pottery scene from Ghost took things a lot further. This third entry proves that the Naked Gun series gets racier, thanks to a lengthy sequence at a fertility clinic, references to prison rape and euthanasia, and, obviously, Smith. In one scene, there’s a particular silhouette that is so inappropriate and unbelievable, you’d wonder how it got passed the ratings board. 

Aside from that, the filmmakers and actors provide lots of other silly humor throughout, including courtroom lawyers and jury members with infants, and a hilarious montage involving a prison break and disposing of tunnel dirt in creative, though not so subtle, ways. (The Shawshank Redemption was released the same year.) Cameos by Ed Boen, as a couples therapist, and R. Lee Ermey, as a prison guard, are an added bonus. Ditto end credits that list “People Who Were Cut Out Of the Movie, But It Wasn’t Their Fault.” This sequel also has one of the series’ funniest lines: “If we’re not animals, then what are we?!?” An inmate’s response: “Homo sapiens?” As for the Oscars finale, talk about going out with a bang. 

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A POST-SCRIPT: Comedic actors, like Robin Williams, Jim Carrey, and Adam Sandler, had successfully transitioned into dramatic film roles. I don't know what's more amazing, however: that, or serious actors who have successfully played comedic roles. Nielsen is just one of many actors who have made such a transition. Subsequent examples include Jeff Bridges (The Big Lebowski, 1998) Ralph Fiennes (The Grand Budapest Hotel, 2014) and Ryan Gosling (Crazy Stupid Love, 2011). Up next: Liam Neeson will be succeeding Nielsen in a new Naked Gun, in theaters August 1.