In this world are hundreds of objects which are
fantastic by themselves. Yet, by
combining some of these objects together, the whole ends up being more
extraordinary than its parts.
There are lots of examples of this out there. Peanut butter and chocolate mixed together
creates the work of art known as the peanut butter cup. Vanilla ice cream is a tasty enough treat
made all the better by hot fudge. And
for some people, a simple glass of orange juice gets a kick by adding a tiny
splash of vodka.
(Of course, one person’s tiny splash might equate
to half a bottle, but that’s their choice.)
Today’s blog subject is a movie that is one of my
favourites. The reason why is because it
takes two subjects that I absolutely love, and combined them together into an
unexpected and hilarious box office smash.
I have always loved stories, books, movies, and
songs that have an aura of mystery and action.
From murder mysteries to crime dramas to secret missions, all of these
grab my attention. In fact, when I was a
teenager, I once contemplated studying law or becoming a private
investigator.
And then I saw my first autopsy on CSI and it
sickened me off the profession for good.
Even though I know that they don’t really DO autopsies on CSI, it still
makes me wince.
Regardless, I always loved a good mystery,
especially if the case is especially tough to solve, and if it has a lot of
dramatic car chases or action sequences.
On a completely unrelated note, I’m also a huge
fan of parody. I liked watching Saturday
Night Live or MAD-TV, I’m notorious for changing around song lyrics around the
holidays in something I like to refer to as “The Bastardization of Christmas
Past”, and I love watching people doing improv.
I love parody so much that I even did a blog entry
on the subject, which you can read HERE, if you wish.
So, given what I have said about combinations
being blended together, you can imagine where I’m going with this, right?
Today we’re going to look back at a movie that
successfully combined an action-filled detective story with the fine art of
parody. It’s a movie that was released
on December 2, 1988, and spawned a couple of sequels in 1991 and 1994. The movie was made on a twelve million dollar
budget and ended up making over six times that at the box office. And with the movie boasting such star power
as Leslie Nielsen, Priscilla Presley, Ricardo Montalban, George Kennedy, and
O.J. Simpson (well, before his infamous murder trial in the mid-1990s anyway),
it was destined for success.
I’m sure by now, you’ve guessed what the movie is,
but let’s watch the intro anyway.
Yes, we’re going to take a look back at the 1988
film, “Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad”.
But do you know where the name came from...the
Police Squad portion of it, at least?
Well, the story behind that came six years prior,
in 1982. That spring, ABC debuted a new
television program called “Police Squad”.
It was created by the team of Jerry and David Zucker, and Jim Abrahams
(who also worked on the successful 1980 motion picture “Airplane!”), and like
the movie, Leslie Nielsen was one of the stars.
The show itself was a spoof of police dramas, and incorporated dozens of
sight gags, slapstick comedy, and wordplay.
The show was critically acclaimed, but for whatever reason, ABC pulled
the plug on the series after only a half dozen episodes had aired. Despite this, the show gained a cult
following, and it was this following that garnered interest in the Naked Gun
movie.
Neilsen reprised the role he played on the Police
Drama series, Lt. Frank Drebin, a detective who unbeknownst to him causes a
whole lot of mayhem and unfortunate circumstances for innocent bystanders
during his investigations. Despite this,
he always managed to put the right person behind bars.
And certainly, as the film begins, we see Frank
Drebin in action right away, successfully dismantling an anti-American summit
held by such figures as Fidel Castro, Mikhail Gorbachev, Ayatollah Khomeini,
and Idi Amin, amongst others. I could
describe what happens, but I think a video is worth a thousand words in this
case.
Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Officer Nordberg
(Simpson) is at a harbour, investigating a heroin operation on a nearby
barge. The head of the organization is
the dangerous Vincent Ludwig (Montalban), and once Ludwig’s cronies get wind of
Nordberg’s presence, they shoot him over and over, with Nordberg eventually
falling overboard.
Miraculously, Nordberg survives the multiple
bullet wounds, and ends up in hospital.
But, Nordberg’s situation goes from bad to worse, as the police suspect
that Nordberg was secretly involved in Ludwig’s drug trafficking scheme. Drebin agrees to try and clear Nordberg’s
name, but his commanding officer Captain Ed Hocken (Kennedy) gives Drebin twenty-four
hours to accomplish this task. Drebin is
assisted by a police force scientist named Ted Olsen (Ed Williams), and Olsen
gives Drebin a weapon in the form of a cufflink. If pressed correctly, the cufflink could
shoot a miniature tranquilizer dart that would temporarily knock an assailant
out cold for a few hours. Remember this
for later...it makes an appearance within the last 20 minutes of the
movie...though you’ll have to see it for yourself, as I never reveal movie
endings.
But, Drebin soon realizes that the road to proving
Nordberg’s innocence (which actually seems quite ironic given what would
eventually happen to the person who played Nordberg) is not going to be
easy. You see, Ludwig had his own secret
weapon. And that secret weapon was named
Pahpsmeir (Raye Birk). Pahpsmeir
happened to be a little bit of an inventor himself, and he has invented a
beeper which could also be used as a mind-control device. One click of the beeper, and the unsuspecting
victim could be told to do ANYTHING with post-hypnotic suggestions. Ludwig also learns that Pahpsmeir invented
the device as an aid in Ludwig’s plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II by
making someone else do the deed under hypnosis.
TRIVIA: This part of the plot was based from the 1977
film, “Telefon”.
An attempt is made on Drebin’s life shortly after
Drebin meets with Ludwig, accidentally revealing that Nordberg survived the
shooting. He manages to take control of
a doctor at the hospital where Nordberg is recovering, and attempts to kill
Nordberg at the hospital. Luckily (or
unluckily depending on your perspective), Drebin foils the plan, and ends up in
a “dramatic” car chase.
However, Drebin ended up with another
problem. He ended up falling head over
heels in love with Ludwig’s assistant, Jane Spencer (Presley). Jane is unaware of Ludwig’s criminal past,
and once she discovers the truth, she firmly aligns with Drebin, and shares
everything with him...in more ways than one.
Well, at least you can say that they were
responsible...much more so than some people that I’ve known in my lifetime at
least. J
So, here’s our situation. Ludwig is the head of a drug trafficking
operation. He has joined forces with
Pahpsmeir, a man who has invented a device that can turn people into trained
assassins with the press of a button.
Pahpsmeir’s goal is to assassinate the Queen of England, but Ludwig
seems to want to use it to get rid of Nordberg.
Meanwhile, Drebin is trying to prove that Nordberg was framed by Ludwig
and his henchmen, but is finding that danger lurks everywhere. To complicate matters, he has fallen in love
with Jane.
It all comes to a head when some of Frank’s poor
choices lead him to nothing but trouble.
It’s bad enough that he accidentally sets Ludwig’s office ablaze. But when he believes that Ludwig is going to
kill Queen Elizabeth II at a reception, Frank causes an international scandal,
which ultimately leads to him being removed from Police Squad.
So when Jane comes to Frank with the information
that the assassination attempt on the Queen is set to happen at a California
Angels baseball game, and that the assassin is rumoured to be one of the
players in the game, Drebin is left with a tough choice. Does he sit back and do nothing and let the
Queen take a bullet? Or does he risk
getting arrested, and go to the game to protect the Queen and foil Ludwig’s
plans once and for all?
And with that, I’m going to close the case file on
this film, which I believe to be a perfect balance of two genres that I
enjoy. Combining the thrill of action
and the suspense of mystery to the farcical nature of parody was a tough feat
for any director. Luckily, David and
Jerry Zucker, and Jim Abrahams did a fantastic job with it.
Sadly, Leslie Nielsen passed away in November
2010, so with his passing, the Naked Gun series officially comes to an
end. But, I’ve only tackled the first
film. Maybe next year, I’ll revisit the
series and talk about the sequel...
...hmmm...actually, it was called 2 ½, wasn’t
it? What would it be called then? A halfquel?
A sequel-half? A Sequalf?
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