THE NAKED GUN: FROM THE FILES OF POLICE SQUAD! (1988) - Movie Review

Director: David Zucker
Starring: Leslie Nielsen, George Kennedy, Priscilla Presley, Ricardo Montalban, O.J. Simpson
Genre: Comedy, Crime
Writer: Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Pat Proft
Runtime: 85 min
Rated: PG-13
Buy This Movie: Blu-ray (Amazon), DVD (Amazon), 4K Ultra HD (Amazon), Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV

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Synopsis:

Starring Leslie Nielsen as super-cop Frank Drebin, who stumbles his way into a sinister scheme involving mind-control to assassinate the Queen of England. Featuring Priscilla Presley, Ricardo Montalban, George Kennedy, O.J. Simpson, a stuffed beaver, two baseball teams and ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic as ‘Weird Al’, it’s a gag-filled comedy from the director of “Airplane!”

Review:

From Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams and David Zucker, the creators of "Airplane!" and "Top Secret!", comes "The Naked Gun", a classic spoof comedy that started out as a TV show titled "Police Squad!". The series was really funny, but never caught on the way the movie did, getting cancelled after only six episodes. Thank God, Abrahams and the Zuckers didn't give up, and in 1988 "The Naked Gun" opened to critical acclaim, grossed a total of $78.7 million, and got two sequels, and a recently announced reboot/remake/sequel.

The television series was intended as a spoof of police procedurals, but the movie goes bigger, taking a swipe at blockbuster action flicks of the 1980s, and even those 1960s and 1970s Manchurian Candidate-style conspiracy thrillers. Leslie Nielsen was great as a secondary character in "Airplane!", but now proves he can successfully hold a spoof all on his own as bumbling cop Frank Drebin. The key to it all is playing the gags straight, and Nielsen does it beautifully, and got stuck doing that for the next 10 to 15 years in increasingly worse movies.

Although I hate the idea of a sequel/remake/reboot to this franchise, I think Liam Neeson could be a great choice for the new installment, in which I hear he plays Frank Drebin Jr. Neeson can certainly be funny, but like I said, the trick is to play it straight. Besides, Nielsen himself was at one point a serious dramatic actor. He even auditioned for "Ben-Hur".

George Kennedy ("Cool Hand Luke"), Priscilla Presley ("Dallas") and Ricardo Montalbán ("Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan") are also great in supporting roles, and like Nielsen, deliver their lines without trying to be funny. O.J. Simpson makes a few brief, but funny appearances. The gags are delivered in rapid succession, and they run the whole gamut, too, from slapstick and sight gags, to wordplay, puns and non sequiturs. Some of them are quite outrageous. They don't all work, but even those that bomb are still fun, if not funny. The hilarious third act takes place during a baseball game at Anaheim Stadium, and it's filled to the brim with cameos from Major League Baseball personalities.

Personally, I like "Airplane!" slightly more than "The Naked Gun". I think it's a much tighter and refined spoof, but don't get me wrong, "The Naked Gun" is definitely worth a Top 5 mention. It still is one of the best of its kind, and absolutely worth a watch.

SCORE: 8/10