Los Angeles Lt. Frank Drebin goes to Washington, D.C. to be honored for shooting his 1,000th drug dealer. Never was the nation, or the world, in such serious jeopardy.
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One of my early memories as a child was the huge poster in the local video shop window of The Naked Gun with a picture of a rather old looking, grey haired James Bond-esque character on the front. I more vividly remember my mum taking the extreme micky out of the fact that I pronounced it the "_knackered_" gun. Little did I know that my Dad would later drill the trilogy of the films into my upbringing as well as the classic that everyone knows from the same writers (Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker), 'Airplane'.
Naked Gun derived from the short lived TV series Police Squad, which became more cult than successful in the United States. Its main character, Frank Drebin, (Leslie Neilson) is a cop with a knack of getting to the bad guys but not really with any conviction of meaning to. In the first film he stops a plot to kill the Queen whilst falling in love with the villain's assistant Jane Spencer (Prescilla Pressley)
The most obvious assumption from this film would be if you like the other films that these guys have made then you would love any of the Naked Gun films, and I would be a huge advocate of that. Whereas many critics make the lazy claim that the first Naked Gun is the definitive and the other two are unnecessary sequels I would talk for hours in defence, certainly of this - 2 1/2 - the smell of fear.
Basic Plot
Time has moved on since the first film to the extent that Frank Drebin has split up with loved one Jane Spencer though they are reunited when Jane, who is present during an explosion at her work, the Meinheimer research institute. It is clear from this moment on that Frank's feelings coming flooding back only to find out that she is know under the charms of the films bad guy, Quentin Hatsberg (Robert Goulet).
With Jane unaware Hatsberg has kidnapped Dr Meinheimer and replaced him with an exact double, Earl Hacker, who is being paid to take his place at the impending function with President Bush where instead of endorsing environmental fuels he will promote the use of fossil and nuclear ones with damaging consequences.
Gags
Writing a review for a film I find is always harder than for a CD where you want to tell people every detail of what to expect. Here I am conscious that I don't want to give too much away otherwise it won't be worth watching. The films main feature is the endless supply of gags, not too dissimilar to the 'every line is a gag' type humour that was found on the untouchable 'Airplane'. Franks character maintains the humour through all of his scenes due to his unfortunate knack of being undone by others. For example, when Frank is on a case and a lead takes them to the local sex shop he comments on how these places are the equivalent of the scum of the earth, only for a worker to come out the back and notify Frank of one of his recent orders has now arrived. Just before when Frank recognises the link and says what would they want at a red light district, captain Ed Hocken replies "_sex_" to which Frank replies "_not right now Ed, we have work to do_". Now your either going to find that type of gag funny or not.
===Subtle===
What I love about the Naked Gun trilogy, and the many examples in 2 ½ is the subtle humour that you only get by watching the film time and time again. In fact I had seen the film god knows how many times and kept noticing new things but this trebled when I watched the commentary which points out various things. Things such as when Frank goes to a local bar to drown his sorrows, it's the pictures of the world's disasters that are on the walls. Pictures such as the titanic going down and then you notice that the music in the background is just the most depressing lyrics to the most depressing blues music in the world; "_that's why im just screwed_".
===The Spoofs===
Probably the most famous scene from the whole film is the spoof scene from ghost, i.e. the one with the clay making/love making thing going on. Ironically the film ghost was done by Jerry Zucker himself so the spoof is of his own work. It is a classic parody scene where Frank appears to have the body of a body builder and has the ability, whilst involved romantically with Jane, to make an ash tray out of the clay (among other things)
For me one of the funniest part of the film is where one of Hatsberg's men (Hector Savage) is sent to take care of Frank and he ends up in Jane's bathroom where she is, unaware of his presence, and taking a shower. Like a number of people Jane begins to sing in the shower, this scene has her softly singing the old classic "the way we were". Savage, gun in hand, decides to duet with Jane at this most unlikely time, quietly then booming out his vocals to which both Jane and Frank, in the other room, are alerted. One of those many moments in the film where you can almost predict what is happening but is one of the films biggest strengths; that you're compelled to watch the inevitable.
===Visual===
Not as much as in Airplane but still plenty of examples of visual humour appear here often. Such as when Frank stops Jane from slapping him in the face by catching both her hands, another hand comes up to slap in the middle. The character of Nordberg, as discussed in more detail below also has his fair share of visual humour due to his character signature being getting hurt/injured at almost every opportunity.
At the beginning of the film as Jane weeps into a tissue that is then rung out into a bucket full of tears and as stated above the whole Ghost spoof scene lends itself to huge amounts of visual humour. I think the film's strength is that there is a great blend of both visual and audio humour.
===Actors===
The scripts are obviously very strong but I believe it takes strong acting to pull the film off. Leslie Neilson is now known as a world famous comic actor but that's not how his career started off, neither was George Kennedy, who plays Frank's partner in crime, Ed Hocken. Neilson puts in a performance worthy of being alongside his role as the doctor in Airplane, Robert Goulet is a very convincing villain as Quentin Hatsberg but for me it's the impressive Prescilla Pressley reprising her role as Jane that plays a significant role in the film being a success. Probably best known as an actress for her five year stint in Dallas here she plays Jane Spencer as straight laced as in her serious acting roles. This makes it to be more humorous and better for the film, exactly how she had been asked by the writers to play it.
The chemistry between Neilson with Pressley is awesome, but equally is the cop team of Ed and Frank. Frank's congratulations to Ed of his wife's pregnancy is counteracted by Ed's response of "and if I catch the guy who did it"; played superbly. It was a shock to me to find out that both George Kennedy and Leslie Neilson had spent years before the 80s carving out, or at least trying to, careers as serious actors.
It's not just the main characters played by actors that carry the film, far from it. Despite being the most guilty man ever to get off a trial (did I just say that?), the acting skills of OJ Simpson as Nordberg are surprisingly appropriate. In a repeat performance of the first film where Nordberg gets hurt in just about every scene he is in, there is no exception during the follow up film. In fact the film definitely goes about in the same vain as the first one; the motto of "_if it's not broke, don't fix it_" kind of film. The same can be said for Weird Al Yankovic's mandatory appearance, this time as a police station thug. The inclusion of English Actor Richard Griffiths is another inspired choice. Best known to UK people as 'that bloke off Pie in the Sky' though some dicky bird has recently informed me his stock has raised significantly since appearing in a recent Harry Potter film! Ill take their word for it.
Good Points
As previously commented it's the scripts and acting that make the film, essential to any comedy flick. Parts of the scripts are so stupid that it's difficult not to laugh. When Frank tries to pretend he is over Jane in the beginning he shouts across a crowded restaurant "_I haven't had this much sex since I was a boy scout leader…at the time I was dating a lot_".
Bad Points
This is undoubtedly one of my favourite comedy films of all time; hence the lengthy review though I will say this isn't everyone's cup of tea. I remember recommending this to a friend who I then watched it with and she never laughed once and actually seemed irritated by the endless supply of what she thought were very predictable, and stupid, gags. Watching Nordberg address the public, like an experienced cop would do in a difficult situation, calming stating "_If we just stay calm no one is going to be harmed by the big explosive bomb that's going to go off any minute_"; cue chaos, but also cue another huge deep breath of '_is that the best they can come up with_' from my so called friend, whilst I sink back into my armchair. So here the message is, read the selective examples I have given here and if they tickle your fancy then this film is gonna be for you, if you have a similar reaction to my friend then perhaps this is one for you to miss.
===Extra Info===
I am reviewing this film as an individual format though I do own the trilogy box set too. Within the trilogy, which below I give more information on the potential costs of, each film comes complete with absolutely hilarious commentary. I know that most films have the mandatory directors commentary, which only the die hards tend to watch but here it is well worth watching and acts as an almost bonus film. With the film having so much attention to detail it is an excellent chance to hear about how it all came together, the mistakes, and the extras used, the scripts etc. They also speak of the actors they worked with, their strengths, their stories as well as the banter that goes along with it that makes it extra funny in addition to the feature film itself.
Individually you can usually pick this film up for a modest £5 with most online retailers, probably even dirt cheaper from a used buyer on ebay or amazon. Yet collectively you can get the real bargain of having the trilogy for only £7.99 from play.com. For those who go onto love the trilogy there is also Police Squad available on DVD for the same price for those hoards of people who missed its original viewings.
Other films by the same makers
As mentioned throughout this review, Airplane (and its much disappointing sequel) is by the same makers of this classic comedy film. Of the same style of films Top Secret, starring a relative unknown at the time, Val Kilmer, was another successful comedy film. More recently (post 2000) their work has been on films such as Rat Race, which starred a host of comic actors like Rowan Atkinson and John Cleese, as well as new heroes of comedy like Seth Green. Their success has become full circle with the massive success of Scary Movie 3 and 4, which rejuvenated the spoof series so much so that their skills are being used again for the impending release of Scary Movie 5.
Overall
I think this film is often underrated due to the unprecedented success of its predecessor and the 80's classic Airplane. I think that its lazy journalism to write off this film. It is just as bit funny, if not more, than the first film and has some classic moments in it. I think that the third film was perhaps too far for the writers but this film shows the writers very much at the peak of their powers as this film stands up against its 1991 release; I still find it funny watching it for the thousandth time. So as the tag line goes; Frank Drebin is back, just accept it!
Squad!television series. This time, Drebin uncovers a plot--led by supervillain Robert Goulet!--to sabotage America's energy policy. The jokes don't stick as well as tho...
Squad!television series. This time, Drebin uncovers a plot--led by supervillain Robert Goulet!--to sabotage America's energy policy. The jokes don't stick as well as tho...
Production Year: 2000 - Comedy - Director: William Dear - Original Language: English - Classification: Universal - Starring: Leslie Nielsen, Max Morrow, Tommy Davidson, Steve Eckholdt, Robyn Lively
![Naked Gun 2.5 - Smell Of Fear Th [1991]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/65512596.jpg)
