The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! is a 1988 American comedy film that is the first in a
The Naked GunThe Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! is a 1988 American comedy film that is the first in a The Naked Gun series of films starring Leslie Nielsen, Priscilla Presley, George Kennedy, and O. J. Simpson...
series of films starring
Leslie NielsenLeslie William Nielsen, OC was a Canadian and naturalized American actor and comedian. Nielsen appeared in more than one hundred films and 1,500 television programs over the span of his career, portraying more than 220 characters...
,
Priscilla PresleyPriscilla Presley is an American actress and businesswoman. She is the ex-wife of singer Elvis Presley, and the mother of singer-songwriter Lisa Marie Presley....
, George Kennedy, and
O. J. SimpsonOrenthal James "O. J." Simpson , nicknamed "The Juice", is a retired American collegiate and professional football player, football broadcaster, and actor...
. The three films (the other two being
The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of FearThe Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear is a 1991 comedy film starring Leslie Nielsen as the comically bumbling Police Lt. Frank Drebin of Police Squad!. Priscilla Presley plays the role of Jane, with O.J. Simpson as Nordberg and George Kennedy as police captain Ed Hocken...
, and
Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult) chronicle the adventures of Nielsen's character, the bumbling police Lieutenant Frank Drebin.
The film series is based on the character created by Nielsen in the television series
Police Squad!Police Squad! is a television comedy series first broadcast in 1982, created by Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker and starring Leslie Nielsen. A spoof of police procedurals, the series was packed with ZAZ's usual sight gags, wordplay and non sequiturs...
. The core creative team behind
Police Squad! and the movie series includes the team of
David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry ZuckerZucker, Abrahams and Zucker are an American comedy filmmaking trio consisting of Jim Abrahams and brothers David and Jerry Zucker who specializes in slapstick comedy films during the 1980s and the early 1990s...
as well as
Pat ProftPatrick "Pat" Proft is an American comedy writer and actor.Proft was born in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, the son of Marguerite and Bob Proft. He began his career at Dudley Riggs' Brave New Workshop in Minneapolis. In the mid-1970s, he began writing for television and films...
in varying combinations.
The films feature fast-paced
slapstickSlapstick is a type of comedy involving exaggerated violence and activities which may exceed the boundaries of common sense.- Origins :The phrase comes from the batacchio or bataccio — called the 'slap stick' in English — a club-like object composed of two wooden slats used in Commedia dell'arte...
comedy, including a lot of visual and verbal
punThe pun, also called paronomasia, is a form of word play which suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings of words, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use and abuse of homophonic,...
s and gags.
Plot
The film begins in
BeirutBeirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
,
LebanonLebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
, where a group of anti-American leaders including
Ayatollah KhomeiniGrand Ayatollah Sayyed Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini was an Iranian religious leader and politician, and leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution which saw the overthrow of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran...
,
Mikhail GorbachevMikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
,
Yasser ArafatMohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini , popularly known as Yasser Arafat or by his kunya Abu Ammar , was a Palestinian leader and a Laureate of the Nobel Prize. He was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization , President of the Palestinian National Authority...
,
Muammar al-GaddafiMuammar Muhammad Abu Minyar Gaddafi or "September 1942" 20 October 2011), commonly known as Muammar Gaddafi or Colonel Gaddafi, was the official ruler of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then the "Brother Leader" of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 to 2011.He seized power in a...
,
Fidel CastroFidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
, and
Idi AminIdi Amin Dada was a military leader and President of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. Amin joined the British colonial regiment, the King's African Rifles in 1946. Eventually he held the rank of Major General in the post-colonial Ugandan Army and became its Commander before seizing power in the military...
meet to plan the ultimate terrorist act against the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The man who is later shown to be Pahpshmir is also present. Frank Drebin (
Leslie NielsenLeslie William Nielsen, OC was a Canadian and naturalized American actor and comedian. Nielsen appeared in more than one hundred films and 1,500 television programs over the span of his career, portraying more than 220 characters...
) has been posing undercover as a waiter; he beats up all the attendees, revealing that Gorbachev is an imposter and various other shocking facts about them in the process, and warns them that they will never attack America as long as he is on the job. In
Los AngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, Officer Nordberg (O.J. Simpson) unsuccessfully attempts to bust a
heroin drug operation at the docks organized by Vincent Ludwig (
Ricardo MontalbanRicardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán y Merino, KSG was a Mexican radio, television, theatre and film actor. He had a career spanning six decades and many notable roles...
), and is shot numerous times by Ludwig's henchmen. After being briefed on the case by his colleague and friend Captain Ed Hocken (George Kennedy), Frank visits Nordberg in the hospital. The near-comatose Nordberg can provide only a few cryptic clues, including a picture of Ludwig's ship on which the deal had been organized. Frank then meets with wacky police scientist Ted Olsen (Ed Williams), who has invented a cufflink that shoots out a tiny dart which renders the victim unconscious, promptly testing it on Hocken. While discussing Nordberg's case, it is revealed that the police force suspects Nordberg to be corrupt and involved in drug dealings. Hocken gives Drebin 24 hours to clear Nordberg's name.
Pahpshmir meets with Ludwig, who announces that he will assassinate
Queen Elizabeth IIElizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
(
Jeannette CharlesJeannette Charles is a look-alike actress of Queen Elizabeth II.Jeannette Charles appeared as an actress in repertory theatre in her twenties but initially had difficulty obtaining Equity membership as a look-alike of the Queen...
) for $20 million. With his
beeperA pager is a simple personal telecommunications device for short messages. A one-way numeric pager can only receive a message consisting of a few digits, typically a phone number that the user is then requested to call...
used as an acoustic trigger, Ludwig demonstrates that he has a way of turning anyone into an unknowing assassin via
post-hypnotic suggestionA Post-hypnotic suggestion is a behavior or thinking pattern that presumably will manifest after a subject has come out of the so-called "hypnotic state" .According to a psychologist at the University of New South Wales:...
. Later, Drebin visits Ludwig in his office and inadvertently lets slip the information that Nordberg is still alive, which results in an assassination attempt by a hypnotized physician. Frank chases the assassin in a commandeered teen driving school car until the luckless fugitive crashes the car into a gasoline truck, a
U.S. ArmyThe United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
missile transporter, and - riding astride the missile - a fireworks factory. As Drebin works on the case, he meets and falls in love with Ludwig's assistant Jane Spencer (
Priscilla PresleyPriscilla Presley is an American actress and businesswoman. She is the ex-wife of singer Elvis Presley, and the mother of singer-songwriter Lisa Marie Presley....
). It is eventually revealed that she knows nothing about Ludwig's plot, and after Jane learns of her employer's villainy, she helps Frank with his investigation. However, things go awry as Frank breaks into Ludwig's office to get crucial information. In the process of finding that information, Frank ends up setting a fire that eventually destroys Ludwig's office. Later, to make things worse, after Frank accidentally sees Ludwig appear to make an outright assassination attempt on the Queen at a reception, Frank ends up causing more trouble and is removed from Police Squad.
During the Queen's visit to a
California AngelsThe Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are a professional baseball team based in Anaheim, California, United States. The Angels are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The "Angels" name originates from the city in which the team started, Los Angeles...
baseballBaseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
game, Jane tells Frank that one of the team's players will conduct the assassination. While hiding from his fellow policemen, who are now under orders to arrest him, Frank first attempts to disguise himself as the opera singer Enrico Pallazzo, brutally singing the
U.S. national anthem"The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States of America. The lyrics come from "Defence of Fort McHenry", a poem written in 1814 by the 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet, Francis Scott Key, after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British Royal Navy ships...
along the way, and manages to secure the position of the home plate umpire and begins calling the game while simultaneously frisking all players for weapons. Finally, realizing that he is running out of time, Frank goes to great lengths to delay the game, ultimately resorting to interfering with the play to the ire of the managers of the Mariners and the Angels. Ludwig activates his 'sleeper', the right-fielder for the Angels (played by
Reggie JacksonReginald Martinez "Reggie" Jackson , nicknamed "Mr. October" for his clutch hitting in the postseason with the New York Yankees, is a former American Major League Baseball right fielder. During a 21-year baseball career, he played from 1967-1987 for four different teams. Jackson currently serves as...
). Jane alerts Frank, who chases after the hypnotized assassin. He catches and tackles him, inadvertently triggering a
bench-clearing brawlA bench-clearing brawl, sometimes known as a basebrawl or a rhubarb, is a form of ritualistic fighting that occurs in sports, most notably baseball and ice hockey, in which every player on both teams leave their dugouts, bullpens, or benches and charge the playing area in order to fight one...
between the Angels and their opponent, the
Seattle MarinersThe Seattle Mariners are a professional baseball team based in Seattle, Washington. Enfranchised in , the Mariners are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Safeco Field has been the Mariners' home ballpark since July...
, while Ludwig takes Jane to the top of the stadium at gunpoint. During the brawl, Jackson emerges from the pile and points his gun at the Queen. However, Frank fires one of Ted's cufflink darts to incapacitate Jackson, but hits a fat woman in the upper mezzanine instead. Still, Frank manages to save the Queen's life, because the dazed fat woman falls on top of Jackson, knocking him out.
Frank then moves through the crowd to the top of the stadium, where Ludwig holds Jane hostage. Frank shot Ludwig with the other cufflink dart, causing Ludwig to stagger and fall several stories over the stadium's railing. The
USC marching bandThe Spirit of Troy, also known as the University of Southern California Trojan Marching Band , self-described as "The Greatest Marching Band in the History of the Universe," represents USC at various collegiate sports, broadcast, popular music recording, and national public appearance functions.The...
tromps over Ludwig's steamroller-flattened body, triggering his beeper and thus activating Jane's own post-hypnotic suggestion, which compels her to kill Frank with Ludwig's gun. Frank uses his reverse psychology to try and break Jane's hypnotized state by openly professing his feelings for her, and gives her an engagement ring, after which Jane is freed from Ludwig's hypnosis and accepts Frank's marriage proposal. Frank's speech is broadcast on the stadium screen, causing the teams and the audience to burst into tears, fall into each other's arms and make up. Afterwards, Frank and Jane meet Mayor Barkley (
Nancy MarchandNancy Marchand was an American actress, whose career encompassed both stage and screen. She appeared in various theatre productions throughout the early 1950s, before being offered roles on film and television....
), who reinstates Frank back to Police Squad, and Nordberg congratulated him. The latter, while still wheelchair-bound, seems much better until Frank accidentally pats Nordberg on the back, sending him toppling down the aisle and up over the railing of the stadium's upper deck.
Cast
- Leslie Nielsen
Leslie William Nielsen, OC was a Canadian and naturalized American actor and comedian. Nielsen appeared in more than one hundred films and 1,500 television programs over the span of his career, portraying more than 220 characters...
as Lt. Frank Drebin
- Priscilla Presley
Priscilla Presley is an American actress and businesswoman. She is the ex-wife of singer Elvis Presley, and the mother of singer-songwriter Lisa Marie Presley....
as Jane Spencer
- Ricardo Montalbán
Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán y Merino, KSG was a Mexican radio, television, theatre and film actor. He had a career spanning six decades and many notable roles...
as Vincent Ludwig
- George Kennedy as Capt. Ed Hocken
- O. J. Simpson
Orenthal James "O. J." Simpson , nicknamed "The Juice", is a retired American collegiate and professional football player, football broadcaster, and actor...
as Det. Nordberg
- Susan Beaubian as Wilma Nordberg
- Nancy Marchand
Nancy Marchand was an American actress, whose career encompassed both stage and screen. She appeared in various theatre productions throughout the early 1950s, before being offered roles on film and television....
as Mayor Barkley
- Raye Birk
Raye Birk is an American film and television actor famous for playing the role of Papshmir in the first and last of the Naked Gun movies. He was the main villain in Naked Gun 33: The Final Insult...
as Pahpshmir
- Jeannette Charles
Jeannette Charles is a look-alike actress of Queen Elizabeth II.Jeannette Charles appeared as an actress in repertory theatre in her twenties but initially had difficulty obtaining Equity membership as a look-alike of the Queen...
as HM Queen Elizabeth IIElizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
- Ed Williams as Ted Olsen
- Tiny Ron as Al, Tall Lab Tech
- "Weird Al" Yankovic
Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic is an American singer-songwriter, music producer, accordionist, actor, comedian, writer, satirist, and parodist. Yankovic is known for his humorous songs that make light of popular culture and that often parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts...
as Himself
- Leslie Maier as Herself
- Winifred Freedman
Winifred Freedman is an American actress and singer primarily known for her roles in television.She is perhaps best known for playing Annette Mastorelli, Chachi Arcola's cousin and bass guitar playing bandmate in Joanie Loves Chachi, the short-lived spin-off of Happy Days...
as Stephanie
- Joe Grifasi
Joseph G. "Joe" Grifasi is an American character actor of film, stage and television.Grifasi was born in Buffalo, New York, the son of Patricia and Joseph J. Grifasi, a skilled laborer. Grifasi graduated from Bishop Fallon High School, a now defunct Catholic high school in Buffalo. He played...
as Pier 32 Dockman
Major League BaseballMajor League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
players
Reggie JacksonReginald Martinez "Reggie" Jackson , nicknamed "Mr. October" for his clutch hitting in the postseason with the New York Yankees, is a former American Major League Baseball right fielder. During a 21-year baseball career, he played from 1967-1987 for four different teams. Jackson currently serves as...
and
Jay JohnstoneJohn William Johnstone Jr. is an American former professional baseball player, active from 1966 to 1985 for the California Angels, Chicago White Sox, Oakland Athletics, Philadelphia Phillies, New York Yankees, San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Chicago Cubs...
have cameo roles as themselves, as do
umpiresIn baseball, the umpire is the person charged with officiating the game, including beginning and ending the game, enforcing the rules of the game and the grounds, making judgment calls on plays, and handling the disciplinary actions. The term is often shortened to the colloquial form ump...
Joe West,
Doug HarveyHarold Douglas Harvey is a former umpire in Major League Baseball, who worked in the National League from 1962 through 1992. Noted for his authoritative command of baseball rules, he earned the tongue in cheek nickname "God" from players, and was among the last major league umpires who never...
, Hank Robinson, Kenny Kaiser and
Ron LucianoRonald Michael Luciano was an American Major League Baseball umpire from 1969 to 1979 in the American League...
. Professional announcers
Curt GowdyCurtis Edward "Curt" Gowdy was an American sportscaster, well known as the longtime "voice" of the Boston Red Sox and for his coverage of many nationally-televised sporting events, primarily for NBC Sports in the 1960s and 1970s.-Early years:The son of a manager for the Union Pacific railroad,...
,
Jim PalmerJames Alvin "Jim" Palmer , nicknamed "Cakes", is a former Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. He played his entire 20-year baseball career for the Baltimore Orioles . He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in .As of 2008, Palmer and his wife Susan have homes in Palm Beach, Florida, and...
,
Tim McCarverJames Timothy "Tim" McCarver is an American former Major League Baseball catcher, and a current sportscaster in residence for Fox Sports.-Playing career:...
,
Mel AllenMel Allen was an American sportscaster, best known for his long tenure as the primary play-by-play announcer for the New York Yankees. During the peak of his career in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, Allen was arguably the most prominent member of his profession, his voice familiar to millions...
,
Dick EnbergRichard Alan "Dick" Enberg is an American sportscaster. He currently provides play-by-play for telecasts of San Diego Padres baseball on 4SD, following a long career calling various sports for such networks as NBC, CBS, and ESPN...
and
Dick VitaleRichard J. "Dick" Vitale , also known as "Dickie V", is an American basketball sportscaster. A former head coach in the college and professional ranks, he is well-known as a college basketball broadcaster and for the enthusiastic and colorful remarks he makes during games. He is known for his...
appear as play-by-play commentators, as does Dr. Joyce Brothers.
Production
The film was shot at various locations in and around
Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
. The Queen's reception was filmed at the Ambassador Hotel, which closed almost exactly a month after this film opened, so this may have been the last film to feature scenes at the Hotel while it was still in business. The Ambassador is noteworthy for having been the location where
Robert F. KennedyRobert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism and member of the Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F...
was assassinated. Although the film's climax takes place at a
California AngelsThe Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are a professional baseball team based in Anaheim, California, United States. The Angels are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The "Angels" name originates from the city in which the team started, Los Angeles...
home game, the baseball scenes were filmed in Los Angeles, at
Dodger StadiumDodger Stadium, also sometimes called Chavez Ravine, is a stadium in Los Angeles. Located adjacent to Downtown Los Angeles, Dodger Stadium has been the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers team since 1962...
.
Reception
The Naked Gun was both a critical and box office success. In 2000, readers of
Total FilmTotal Film is a British film magazine published 13 times a year by Future Publishing. The magazine was launched in 1997 and offers film, DVD and Blu-ray news, reviews and features...
magazine voted the first
Naked Gun the 39th greatest comedy film of all time. It was voted the 14th best comedy of all time in a
Channel 4Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
poll. It currently holds an 89% "Fresh" rating on movie review aggregator
Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, based on 35 reviews. The film was selected by
The New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
as one of
The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made.
External links