The Naked Gun
| Year: | 1988 |
| Studio: | Paramount |
| Director: | David Zucker |
| Producer: | Robert K Weiss |
| Writer: | David Zucker/Jerry Zucker/Jim Abrahams/Pat Proft |
| Cast: | Leslie Nielsen, Priscilla Presley, Ricardo Montalban, George Kennedy, OJ Simpson |
From the TV show Police Files, and after a stand-out role as Dr Rumack in the Airplane movies, this was genre stalwart Leslie Nielsen's starring role as Lieutenant Frank Drebin.
Before the wheels fell of the genre and not long after the last successful entry (Top Secret), the Zucker brothers bought Drebin to the big screen with all the comedic flair, sense of the absurd and scatter-gun jokes that made them comedy gods.
The plot is throwaway - an assassin plans to use a brainwashed baseball player to kill Queen Elizabeth when she visits the city. It's all a line on which to pin the countless classic gags.
There are nods to cop film noir; 'cops and women don't mix, it's like eating a spoonful of Drano, sure it'll clean you out, but it'll leave you hollow inside'. There are obscure gags you might not even get; 'after heading back to the office' (while driving backwards) and there are out-and-out verbal zingers ('nice beaver', 'now let's grab a bite to eat', 'I faked every orgasm').
If you loved Flying High/Airplane, the Naked Gun series is the last time the Zuckers got it right, and this is the original and best.
Before the wheels fell of the genre and not long after the last successful entry (Top Secret), the Zucker brothers bought Drebin to the big screen with all the comedic flair, sense of the absurd and scatter-gun jokes that made them comedy gods.
The plot is throwaway - an assassin plans to use a brainwashed baseball player to kill Queen Elizabeth when she visits the city. It's all a line on which to pin the countless classic gags.
There are nods to cop film noir; 'cops and women don't mix, it's like eating a spoonful of Drano, sure it'll clean you out, but it'll leave you hollow inside'. There are obscure gags you might not even get; 'after heading back to the office' (while driving backwards) and there are out-and-out verbal zingers ('nice beaver', 'now let's grab a bite to eat', 'I faked every orgasm').
If you loved Flying High/Airplane, the Naked Gun series is the last time the Zuckers got it right, and this is the original and best.