The Naked Gun
Eight years after the success of their movie Airplane!, the Zucker brothers (Jerry and David) and Jim Abrahams inspired and spawned a series of dumb parody comedies with The Naked Gun.
Inspired by the short-lived "Police Squad" TV series (only six episodes were ever made), The Naked Gun stars Leslie Nielson as bumbling Lieutenant Frank Drebin. While investigating the attempted murder of Officer Nordberg (O.J. Simpson), Drebin literally stumbles upon a plot to murder Queen Elizabeth II during her upcoming trip to Los Angeles. Vincent Ludwig (Ricardo Montalban) is the Chair of the Queen's Reception, but also the mastermind behind assassinating the Queen through sensory-induced hypnosis. Drebin must stop Ludwig and save the Queen. This leads to a hilarious finale at an Angels-Mariners game.
The best thing about The Naked Gun is Leslie Nielson. Maybe I'm a bit biased (he attended high school in my hometown) but for my money he is the funniest man alive. If Jim Carrey is the master of facial expression, then Leslie Nielson is the master of the deadpan delivery, uttering silly and often inappropriate lines with complete seriousness. A great example of this occurs when he is helping console Nordberg's wife Wilma in the hospital.
Ed: Don't worry Wilma. Your husband is going to be all right. Don't you worry about anything. Just think positive. Never let a doubt enter your mind.
Frank: He's right Wilma, but I wouldn't wait until the last minute to fill out those organ donor cards.
Wilma: Ahhhh!
Ed: What I'm trying to say is that, Wilma, as soon as Nordberg is better, he's welcome back on Police Squad.
Frank: Unless he's a drooling vegetable, but I think that's only common sense.
The humor is often slapstick and depends heavily on placing Drebin in ridiculous situations. The highlights include having Drebin urinate while still wearing the mike from a press conference, tackling the queen into the missionary position during a perceived assassination attempt (a definite classic), and going undercover as an umpire at a major league baseball game. Surprisingly, Nielson proves adept at the physical skills required to make this humor work.
Another surprise in this film is Priscilla Presley. Besides looking damn good for an older woman, she proves to be more than a suitable match for Drebin as Jane Spensor. Her response to Drebin's "Nice beaver!!" comment is a definite topper. Another great scene is the music video of Jane and Drebin's daylong date that includes accidentially clotheslining another couple while running on the beach. You'll definitely want to hit the rewind button for that.
One disturbing thing about this movie is watching a pre-killer (allegedly) O.J. Simpson as Officer Nordberg. Each time Nordberg was the victim of some painful assault I wanted to shout out "Take that O.J. you wife-murdering bastard." Too bad it wasn't real violence being inflicted upon him.
Overall, The Naked Gun ranks alongside Airplane as one of the most gut-busting movies ever made. It is a shame that the sequels Naked Gun 2 1/2 and 33 1/3 did not measure up to the original. Like most of the The Naked Gun's imitators they were somewhat funny, but are simply not in the same league as the original. The Naked Gun is the standard by which all dumb comedies are measured.
Send any comments/ feedback to the author.
Lots of laughs go well with whatever you're drinking, but I would stick to cheap, watered-down beer for the baseball finale.
Although the image of Frank Drebin mounting the Queen in the missionary position might be a tad inappropriate, if your respective other doesn't find it funny, they probably don't have a pulse. Better hope that they don't agree with the movie's version of safe sex, though.
Buy this movie from Amazon.com
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