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The Naked Gun (1988)

The Naked Gun
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Directed by David Zucker.
We know we're in a 1988 film when we're invited to laugh at O.J. Simpson in an opening slapstick sequence. We can also pinpoint the year of production when hard-nosed cop Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen), during a scuffle with the world's leading dictators, wipes the wine-colored birthmark off the head of Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev. Those wacky ZAZ boys -- David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker -- serve up a feature-length spin-off of their cult favorite TV show Police Squad!. Seeking vengeance when his partner (Simpson) is shot full of holes by drug dealers, dead-pan and dead-brained Lt. Frank Drebin searches for the Mister Big behind it all. Drebin suspects above-reproach shipping magnate Vincent Ludwig (Ricardo Montalban), but he can't prove a thing. Bumped from the force by the mayor (Nancy Marchand), Drebin, with the unexpected assistance of Ludwig's ex-girlfriend (Priscilla Presley), manages to nab the bad guy at a baseball game, where Reggie Jackson has been programmed to assassinate Queen Elizabeth. MGM mogul Irving Thalberg once reportedly told the Marx Brothers, "You can't build jokes on top of jokes." The producers of Naked Gun prove otherwise; indeed, one could develop writer's cramp just listing the gags in the film's first 20 minutes. Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad was followed by two lesser but still hilarious sequels, Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear (1991) and Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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SpoutBlogSpoutBlog 10 Movies That Made ‘Get Smart’ ...
by SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com
hasn't rated it.
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 "The best time for a Get Smart movie would have been the late ’60s, when the original television series was still on the air. In fact, there was a theatrical Get Smart film in the works during the run of the show, but it was canceled when the theatrical release of Munster, Go Home! bombed at the box office. Many years later, in 1980, a Get Smart feature titled The Nude Bomb was released to theaters, but it also performed poorly. Now we’re getting a remake version starring Steve Carell in the role that was so iconically defined by the late Don Adams. Will it do the show justice? Reportedly the budget was $80 million, a significant amount of which was probably put towards pointless effects. But the best thing Warner Bros. could have done with that money is to give a large amount to series creators Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, who probably even today could churn out a better script than Failure to Launch scribes Tom J. Astle and Matt Ember. Despite its lack of original Get Smart talent, ... " [More]
SpoutBlogSpoutBlog Russians Like Spoof Movies Too
by SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com
hasn't rated it.
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 "Remember the Cold War, when we were led to believe that Americans and Russians are so different from each other? Turns out that all that time we could have just made peace in a movie theater, watching spoofs like The Naked Gun and Airplane! together. Well, I guess the Russians could have only grown to love these kinds of comedies in the last 16 years, since the fall of the Soviet Union. But in any event, this trailer for the new film Hitler Kaput! shows that senses of humor are currently equal on both hemispheres. Even if our own latest parody, Superhero Movie, performed rather poorly at the box office over the weekend. Presently, there are no plans for Hitler Kaput! to be distributed in the U.S. (it opens in Russia on April 10), but were it not for the language barrier, it would easily be popular here. Seeming like a cross between the classic Zucker Bros. spy movie parody Top Secret! and any post-Scary Movie spoof film, it looks just dumb enough to appeal to the masses. Perhaps it ... " [More]
usesoapusesoap Is parody on life support?
by usesoap in usesoap Blog
liked it.
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 "Cinematic parody as it once was is dead. And after much searching and researching, I have found the murderer of this under-appreciated sub-genre of filmmaking. It’s Waldo. Oh sure, the bespectacled, striped-ski-cap-sporting little geek likes to appear anonymous, but I am positive he is to blame for the current slate of “Movie” movies: “Epic Movie,” ”Date Movie” and, most recently, “Superhero Movie.” If he’s not guilty, ask yourself this, why is he always hiding? You see, it is my assertion that the latest generation of filmgoers was weaned on Waldo in their youths. At an early age, they were trained to snoop and search page after page for the skinny little dweeb, and they approach these films much the same way. “Hey, there’s Borat!” “Oh, that’s a reference to ‘Pirates of the Caribbean.’” They do not concern themselves with narrative, character development, plot, rationalit ... " [More]
RisseladaRisselada movie year countdown #60 - 1947 ...
by Risselada in Risselada Blog
loved it.
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 "This blog entry is part of my “movie year countdown”. To read more about that check out my first Spout filmblog entry.Born to KillI really wanted to see an old Lawrence Tierney film. Sadly my only exposure to him had been his comical role in The Naked Gun and his elderly but hardass role in Reservoir Dogs. Seeing the latter and hearing all of the stories about him from various sources made me want to see him in his younger days!I wasn't sure which movie of his to see, although I was a little hesitant about picking this one because it's directed by Robert Wise. Now I've only seen a few of his movies, and they are ok, but they just seem a little too tame and traditional in style to make me expect any more from him. The Day the Earth Stood Still, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, West Side Story. Criticize me if you want for not loving these, but they do not stand out for me.However Born to Kill is a COMPLETE STANDOUT! And I will give some credit to Wise. ... " [More]
kickstandsupkickstandsup Naked is good...
by kickstandsup in kickstandsup Blog
hasn't rated it.
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 "Leslie Nielsen is one of the funniest people in the world. He does such a great job. The movie is cop spoof and is one laugh after another. It has been around for years. The movie is a carry over from the Police Squad television show and Abrams and Zucker and Zucker created one of the best movies ever. It makes the occasional appearance on the Comedy Channel, but continues to be one of the movies I pull out of the cabinet if I need a good laugh.In fact, I am going to go watch it now.. " [More]
GradysGhostGradysGhost Homage vs. Spoof - Sponsored by ...
by GradysGhost in GradysGhost Blog
liked it.
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 "Have you ever seen Murder By Death? I have. I watched it last night. It's a "dinner-and-a-murder" caper written by Neil Simon. Really, it's almost a spoof of capers, but that's a hard call to make because capers are spoofs of murder mysteries. Or homages. One of the two.Where's the distinction? Where does one cross the line between spoof and homage. Lemme go to the dictionary.My Dictionary tells me that homage (which can be pronounced "hom-ij" or "ohm-azh") is "respect or reverence paid or rendered" and that a spoof is "a mocking imitation of someone or something, usually light and good-humored; lampoon or parody." So the difference is respect?I beg to differ. A spoof can be respectful. Look at The Naked Gun: From the FIles of Police Squad. The Zuckers and Jim Abraham (ZAZ as they have been known to be called) are clearly poking fun at cop movie and TV shows (since Naked Gun started out as Police Squad, a thirty-minute television program that only lasted ... " [More]
RisseladaRisselada Re: Starring You
by Risselada in PulpFiction1975
loved it.
"Most of the time I feel like I'm in a Tsai Ming-Liang movie if they were set in Chicago, whatever that would look like. I also seriously see the world as if I was in Airplane! or The Naked Gun. Absurdities or jokes seem seem to stick out to me everywhere while everyone around me seems oblivious. Although, I can't really explain or even picture it myself, I feel an affinity to The Seventh Seal. I wonder what it would look like if or how that movie could retain it's important qualities but be set in modern times. When I feel overwhelmed by this greedy, instant-gratification obsessed society (which I often do), I feel like I'm in How to Get Ahead in Advertising. As for a movie I'd like to be in. Probably surrounded by interesting characters in something by the Coen Brothers, especially if it's filmed by Roger Deakins, then the scenery would be gorgeous. And heck, being in the Star Wars universe would be pretty sweet too. " [More]
Review by All Movie Guide
All Movie Guide
liked it.
In 1982, the creators of Airplane!, Jim Abrahams and brothers Jerry Zucker and David Zucker, were asked to translate the success of their disaster movie spoof into a weekly television series. The result was the inspired Police Squad!, a dead-on parody of prime-time cop dramas starring a veteran of series TV, the stone-faced Leslie Nielsen. Perhaps their aim was too accurate: viewers didn't respond to the deadpan wit, and the series was cancelled after only six episodes. But the show remained dear to the filmmakers, and six years later they reached a larger audience with the broader, full-length feature The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!. What the film version lacked in sardonic wit, it made up with a rapid-fire onslaught of jokes -- gross-out slapstick, bad puns, and pop culture references happily co-exist, often within the same shot. This brand of humor marked a shift away from the more satirical laughs of Airplane! and Police Squad!, and it would influence a slew of Saturday Night Live-derived features, as well as the no-holds-barred Farrelly brothers comedies. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
Tags: spoof , silly , full-body-condom , concrete-dildo , nice-beaver
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