Rating: PG13
Genre:
Comedy
Theatrical Release: 12/02/1988(USA)
Release Date: 08/15/2000
SubTitles: English
Dubbed: English/French
Sound: 5.1/1
Run Time: 88 Minutes
Flags: Questionable for Children, Adult Humor, Slapstick Violence
Distributor/Studio: Paramount
We know we're in a 1988 film when we're invited to laugh at
O.J. Simpson in an opening slapstick sequence. We can also pinpoint the year of production when hard-nosed cop
Frank Drebin (
Leslie Nielsen), during a scuffle with the world's leading dictators, wipes the wine-colored birthmark off the head of Soviet president
Mikhail Gorbachev. Those wacky ZAZ boys --
David Zucker,
Jim Abrahams, and
Jerry Zucker -- serve up a feature-length spin-off of their cult favorite TV show
Police Squad!. Seeking vengeance when his partner (
Simpson) is shot full of holes by drug dealers, dead-pan and dead-brained
Lt. Frank Drebin searches for the Mister Big behind it all.
Drebin suspects above-reproach shipping magnate
Vincent Ludwig (
Ricardo Montalban), but he can't prove a thing. Bumped from the force by the mayor (
Nancy Marchand),
Drebin, with the unexpected assistance of
Ludwig's ex-girlfriend (
Priscilla Presley), manages to nab the bad guy at a baseball game, where
Reggie Jackson has been programmed to assassinate
Queen Elizabeth.
MGM mogul
Irving Thalberg once reportedly told the
Marx Brothers, "You can't build jokes on top of jokes." The producers of
Naked Gun prove otherwise; indeed, one could develop writer's cramp just listing the gags in the film's first 20 minutes.
Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad was followed by two lesser but still hilarious sequels,
Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear (1991) and
Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994).
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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