Police Academy (1984)

When the critically disliked audience favorite Police Academy hit theaters, no one expected it to kick off a flimsy franchise that would go on for so long it would become an infamous mockery of the very idea of sequels, in the same league as the Friday the 13th movies. Featuring a motley bunch of one-note character actors, though not yet future mainstay Bobcat Goldthwait, Police Academy managed to spin sophomoric gold from the misfits' underdog attempts at surviving training and their sadistic instructors. Although the setup is at the intelligence level of many other T & A comedies, it clicked for viewers, perhaps because they were already lapping up such similar offerings. What probably brought in that 80 million dollars, and encouraged studio heads to keep greenlighting moronic sequels until the end of time, were such memorable elements as Michael Winslow, who became a limited celebrity based on his uncanny ability to reproduce all variety of realistic noises. Watching him perfectly mimic the whinnying of a horse and the computerized blips of Pac Man still inspires grins today. The film also made familiar faces out of David Graf and footballer Bubba Smith, as the pricelessly monikered Eugene Tackleberry and Moses Hightower, respectively. Steve Guttenberg and Kim Cattrall are the amiable types necessary to preside over this brood and keep the film moving forward on autopilot. Although its classic scenes probably resonate as such only to early teenagers, there's no denying the historical significance of a brainless comedy able to persevere through ten years of new installments and the unreserved disdain of any critic who got near it. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide