Dollar Tree Cinema: The Naked Gun

“The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!” (1988)
Starring Leslie Nielsen, Priscilla Presley, O.J. Simpson, Ricardo Montalban
Directed by David Zucker
Written by Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Pat Proft
Rated PG-13

With a new iteration of “The Naked Gun” in theaters starring comedy superstar Liam Neeson, it seemed like the perfect time to finally unwrap the copy of the 1988 original – “The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!” – and watch, or maybe rewatch, it for the first time.

I know, I know, it's a classic. And I feel like I did see it at some point along the way, maybe on network television, which would explain why I did NOT remember the, er, statuesque sequence. I'm not completely sure why I didn't get into these back in the day.

I adore “Hot Shots: Part Deux” and “Robin Hood: Men in Tights,” having watched both more times than I can count – possibly even more than I watched “Police Academy 6: City Under Siege,” which I rented, watched, rewound and watched again repeatedly while home sick from school.* The only Leslie Nielsen comedy I remember seeing in the theater was “Spy Hard,” notable for Weird Al Yankovic, who also has a cameo in this one, singing the 007-style theme and Andy Griffith playing the villain.**

Just looking back at the resumes of the writing team behind “The Naked Gun,” I am finding all sorts of movies I think I would have really enjoyed if I liked the aforementioned over-the-top parodies so much. I can't explain exactly why I didn't seek them out, but I do know when my enjoyment of the genre came to a screeching halt.

“Scream” had led to a mini-renaissance of slasher horror movies, and while it seemed off to satirize a satire, I thought “Scary Movie” looked hilarious. I remember watching it in the theater and being appalled. There were probably some funny jokes, but I just remember it being so overwhelmingly vile. They weren't going to convince me to watch the sequel. Even when David Zucker, Proft and later Abrahams got involved in the series' PG-13 installments, I didn't give it a try, nor did I risk “Superhero Movie,” as the oasis of comic book fare was expanding by that point.

But I always respected the Naked Gun series for, among other things, refusing to bow to sequel numbering conventions. So now's as good a time as any to give it my full attention.

I'm not going to do a spoiler-y recap because this isn't an obscure film about virtual reality dinosaurs or vampires that speak Chinese. Frankly, I'm a little surprised I found it at Dollar Tree.

Maybe it has something to do with Nielsen's most infamous co-star. I remember when O.J. Simpson being in the movie was interesting because he was a famous football player, the first to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a season.

Or maybe it's the aforementioned statue sequence, which is not unsettling for Nielsen's desperate groping of anatomically detailed male and female sculptures but for the unfortunate woman who happened to have her window open as he tries to flee from the escalating disaster he created in the villain's (Montalban) office. I don't believe anybody intended anything but laughs here, but his repeated accidental, um, contact with her just isn't that funny.

That and other scenes give the movie its PG-13 rating and make me glad I didn't suggest watching this with my kids. But most of it seems more based on the humor of the situation than the misplaced belief that vulgarity is the highest form of comedy.

As Lt. Frank Drebin, Nielsen is, of course, the master of deadpan delivery, and Presley is almost cartoonish – in a good way – as the femme-not-exactly-fatale Jane Spencer. Simpson's Nordberg is basically a prop, constantly being brutally injured often by the folks trying to save him. That helps with any ickiness one might feel about his presence, before he had been accused of major crimes, acquitted, found liable in a civil case and sentenced to prison for unrelated actions.

The slapstick humor in most cases feels timeless, from Drebin's Three Stooges combat style in the opening sequence to the distinctive police car driving just about everywhere in the opening credits and Drebin hitting someone or something almost every time he parks his car. In fact, one scene in which his car stops without inducing mayhem caught me off guard. “Hey,” I said to the 37-year-old movie playing on my TV. “What the heck?”

I'm not sure to whom this will be a revelation except for someone like me who claims to enjoy the genre while having overlooked many of its offerings or young people who, if my kids are any indication, won't care much about my movie recommendations anyway, but “The Naked Gun” is hilarious. I laughed out loud many times, as opposed to abbreviating it in text to show something was funny, even if it didn't actually happen.

I hope the new one lives up to it, although the involvement of Seth McFarlane has me a little skeptical. I don't doubt his talent, and perhaps I should give some of his other work another shot, but I didn't even make it through the first episode of “Family Guy” before tapping out. Oh, and I don't like “South Park” either.***

* - Legitimately. I didn't skip school just to watch the movie over and over again. How dare you.

** - Though it was nowhere near as unsettling as his role in the made-for-TV movie “Gramps.”

*** - I know that's not McFarlane. Just getting it all out there.