Like the 1980 comedy classic "Airplane!", the first of the "Naked Gun" movies is a gem. It isn't an excellent film like "Airplane!" was, but it sure is an improvement over "Airplane II" which stalled the Zucker/Abrams films for almost a decade. A major part of "Airplane!", but other than flashbacks, absent from "Airplane II", Leslie Nielsen is back, this time in the lead and repeating his role of Lt. Frank Drebbin from the brief TV series "Police Squad". His squad team is new for the movies, and it includes a very funny George Kennedy and the accident prone O.J. Simpson whose mishaps will create hysterical laughs more for his personal life than for the funny way his basically decent character is abused.
The opening shows many long deceased world leaders being confronted by Nielsen in a very funny way, and from there comes in the opening credits, basically the same from the T.V. series, only with the title changed, and missing the special guest star credit that was a gag in every episode. (My personal favorites were Florence Henderson doing a Wesson commercial and being confronted by a disgruntled fan and Abraham Lincoln reacting to a shooter while at Ford's Theater.) The theme of the credits would remain a part of the series and were often some of the funniest bits in the show, including a bit of T&A (for those who like that sort of thing) and sometimes even a celebrity cameo that parodied their real life.
There's a great villain, played by real-life good guy Ricardo Montalban, and a gorgeous heroine, played by the angelic looking Priscilla Presley. Sexual innuendos provide laughs, and even if they could now be considered bad taste (particularly Nielsen ending out on a ledge of Montalban's condo complex, accidentally assaulting one of his neighbors with a concrete phallic symbol), you would have to be rather prissy to be offended by it all. Jeanette Charles, who more than just slightly resembles Queen Elizabeth II, is the victim of an assassination attempt, first seen in an encounter with Nielsen that puts her in an embarrassing "position", and later at a baseball game where she finds herself rather "inconvenienced" by passing sodas and hot dogs down the line in the royal box. The wonderfully imperious Nancy Marchand is hysterically funny as the mayor of L.A. (female and white, quite the opposite of L.A.'s then mayor Tom Bradley), and I longed for her in the next two movies where other imperious women replaced her in similar parts.
This is a film that you must see at least every couple of years, not only for the gags that you've forgotten, but for those you may have missed along the way on previous viewings. Certainly, this is what was considered a "popcorn" film back when the movie theaters were loaded with those (and not overwhelmed with noisy special effects), but it is definitely a crowd pleaser. Back in the time of its release, it probably was a film that guys dragged their girlfriends to (revenge for being dragged to chick flicks), but sometime tells me that even the ladies in the crowd could laugh at the delicious un-p.c. themes of the story, which slight at best and predictable, always keep you on your feet. The conclusion with the villain getting their come-uppance is delightfully disgusting, and of course, the best is saved for O.J. who could only scream "It Hertz!" as he takes lump after lump. Oh if only justice had been served that way during the trial of the century, but fortunately the "Naked Gun" movies allow us to laugh at him, as well as with him, because no matter how much he is hated now, you can't help but agree that he was a good sport.
The opening shows many long deceased world leaders being confronted by Nielsen in a very funny way, and from there comes in the opening credits, basically the same from the T.V. series, only with the title changed, and missing the special guest star credit that was a gag in every episode. (My personal favorites were Florence Henderson doing a Wesson commercial and being confronted by a disgruntled fan and Abraham Lincoln reacting to a shooter while at Ford's Theater.) The theme of the credits would remain a part of the series and were often some of the funniest bits in the show, including a bit of T&A (for those who like that sort of thing) and sometimes even a celebrity cameo that parodied their real life.
There's a great villain, played by real-life good guy Ricardo Montalban, and a gorgeous heroine, played by the angelic looking Priscilla Presley. Sexual innuendos provide laughs, and even if they could now be considered bad taste (particularly Nielsen ending out on a ledge of Montalban's condo complex, accidentally assaulting one of his neighbors with a concrete phallic symbol), you would have to be rather prissy to be offended by it all. Jeanette Charles, who more than just slightly resembles Queen Elizabeth II, is the victim of an assassination attempt, first seen in an encounter with Nielsen that puts her in an embarrassing "position", and later at a baseball game where she finds herself rather "inconvenienced" by passing sodas and hot dogs down the line in the royal box. The wonderfully imperious Nancy Marchand is hysterically funny as the mayor of L.A. (female and white, quite the opposite of L.A.'s then mayor Tom Bradley), and I longed for her in the next two movies where other imperious women replaced her in similar parts.
This is a film that you must see at least every couple of years, not only for the gags that you've forgotten, but for those you may have missed along the way on previous viewings. Certainly, this is what was considered a "popcorn" film back when the movie theaters were loaded with those (and not overwhelmed with noisy special effects), but it is definitely a crowd pleaser. Back in the time of its release, it probably was a film that guys dragged their girlfriends to (revenge for being dragged to chick flicks), but sometime tells me that even the ladies in the crowd could laugh at the delicious un-p.c. themes of the story, which slight at best and predictable, always keep you on your feet. The conclusion with the villain getting their come-uppance is delightfully disgusting, and of course, the best is saved for O.J. who could only scream "It Hertz!" as he takes lump after lump. Oh if only justice had been served that way during the trial of the century, but fortunately the "Naked Gun" movies allow us to laugh at him, as well as with him, because no matter how much he is hated now, you can't help but agree that he was a good sport.