Hacker Cinema
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
1988 · Film · 86 min
Part of The Naked Gun Collection
Directed by David Zucker
When the bumbling Lieutenant Frank Drebin investigates events following the shooting of his partner, he stumbles upon an attempt to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II.
9 positive8 neutralfrom 17 commenters
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18 comments on Hacker News
Was somewhat famously parodied in a naked gun movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6NJspRcfYM
The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/nov/26/jim-abrahams-airplane-naked-gun
The Hollywood Reporter: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/jim-abrahams-dead-airplane-naked-gun-hot-shots-1236071689/
Rolling Stone: https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-news/jim-abrahams-airplane-hot-shots-filmmaker-dead-1235182245/
The submitted seems to present misleading information about Police Squad!: all six episodes of the first series were released (see e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_Squad! ). (The obituary from Variety says that the set will be enriched though: «Paramount is releasing a sequel [of The Naked Gun] in 2025, starring Liam Neeson as Frank Drebin Jr., directed by Akiva Schaffer and with a story by Seth MacFarlane».)
Edit: HN member Toomuchtodo suggests to consolidate the obituary information above with the general information on Jim Abrahams, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Abrahams
My uncle was the head of the projection department at Paramount Pictures for a long time, and he knew I liked Star Trek growing up. When we went to visit once, he gave me a VHS tape of Forbidden Planet, only saying I'd like the part that showed them decelerating, which used the same film technique as the transporter on the original Star Trek. Of course, I think I wore out that VHS tape by watching it, and especially enjoyed Leslie Nielsen's performance, who at the time was starring in the Naked Gun pictures. Anyway, Forbidden Planet is an absolute gem and holds a special place in my heart.
I understand Robby had a presence in other features too.
It seems like culturally, we’ve mostly gotten over the difference between fact and fictional idiocy. The movie Naked Gun had a plot against the Queen, for example, and we don’t have any reservations.
Sometime in the 90s, there was some clever new method to generate media that was right between fact and fiction, that led to Jerry Springer and other shows, where you had to make up your own mind whether it was real or fake. Cops, MTV reality shows, celebrity entertainers, Judge Judy, etc.
It’s all totally fake. Now we have AI which is really just repeating back stuff it’s prompted and we’re wondering if psychos are going to really go insane. This could be so much worse than reality TV.
Oh man, Leslie Nielsen movies, specifically the Naked Gun series, are my favorite of all time. They are nothing but clever double entendres the whole time. Each time I watch them, I find something new it seems.
Aside note: since they have been less available to some, it is possible that some may have missed the Police Squad! (ZAZ 1982) series or The Kentucky Fried Movie (Landis 1977). I must recommend to those who only know the prominent works (Airplane!, Naked Gun etc.) to find and try the preparatory works.
Are you talking about the Scary Movie 4 that made even more money than his previous Scary Movie 3, to the extend that he was allowed to direct Scary Movie 5?
I won't argue these movies are as good as Airplane! or the Naked Gun series but as someone who basically only watch comedies, he has a point, it's a sad state of affair you get in America, and by extension the Western world.
What recent (non-animated) funny movie or show have you seen that is not "feel good" or filled with sexual jokes?
Mad was great before it became Mad Magazine.
The first 23 issues were insane stream-of-consciousness comic books. Anything you liked about the the tv show Police Squad or the movies Airplane!, The Naked Gun, etc., was basically just early Mad. Will Eisner, Harvey Kurtzman, Basil Wolverton at his manic best. Legends.
The stuff you're talking about, the pure gags, the Spy vs. Spy... some of it was great, most of it was mediocre, but the main thing it did was let them make every magazine a digest. You could have a mix of new content and old every month.
I vividly remember buying a copy of Mad Magazine in the early 90's that included one of their moronic movie spoofs. You know, carnival-style big head caricatures, everybody just has a new name that's a poop joke?
In 1992, that spoof was of the movie Love Story, released in 1970. Half the jokes in the Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions at that time were about key parties and leisure suits.
That's why you perceived it as "old hippie humor from people who didn't understand social currents that arose since the 1960s, like video games and hip-hop... and didn't want to."
They were just reprinting old content with a little new stuff sprinkled in.
>Not that the story should be the main appeal of a parody, just that there must be a good story for the jokes to serve. Although “Airplane!” was a joke- and gag-heavy enterprise, the film had an obvious story with three distinct acts, along with a main character who had a clear arc. “Top Secret!”, though, had major narrative and character issues.
It seems like modern style parodies seem to ignore this point entirely but it is exactly why Airplane and Hot Shots and Naked Gun worked. I can’t think of a single spoof that has worked so effectively since the 90s.
My partner really hated the Naked Gun films. She said they were stupid and not funny, although she loves Top Secret. One day, she got out of the shower about 10 minutes after I'd started one, and laughed at it. She asked what it was, but I would only tell her if she watched all of it.
She loved it. Every second of it. She nearly wet herself laughing at the statue. When we got to the end, she again asked what it was called, and I told her. She glared at me, called me a bastard, and asked if we could watch the sequel.
You won, Leslie Neilsen, you won.
There is something special to these classical movies.
The naked gun with the queen of england is my all time favorite, for all comedies. The baseball match is unforgettabble!
That's today's shows in general. Lots of build up to something the writers either haven't an idea how to resolve yet or just over hyped.
As photography and CGI improved, writing went down the toilet. Mainly because it's not necessary to make money. Most viewers are happy enough for bad plots, so-so acting, dubious congruency and limited dialogs as long as it's visually entertaining.
As usual, the wider your audience, the duller your product has to become to accommodate everyone.
The worst is definitely dubbing. In France you can clearly see that around 2000, producers gave up any effort on looking for decent translator and voice actors. The voices are always the same from one movie to another, the lips don't match, the jokes are lost.
When I watch the 5th element or the naked gun however, I'm amazed at the fantastic work they did to translate the spirit of the lines so beautifully.
Still, sometimes on netflix you got some very nice surprises, provided you watch it in orginal version only. "The good place" and "Dirk gently" really made my day.
> It takes off where "The Naked Gun" left and adds more wordplay.
If you weren't already aware that The Naked Gun started as a TV show called Police Squad! and that it's exactly as great as you'd hope, congratulations because today is the day you get to learn about that.
I used to hate OJ Simpson because of the murders, but he was funny in the naked gun movies..
You're aiming to high when you reference The Naked gun, Beverly Hills Cop and Bill & Ted. This film references the lower budget fare more than the popular big budget films. Don't think of the films you'd see of the cineplex in the 80s, think of the films you'd either see late night on one of the local UHF TV stations or on VHS, often starring Chuck Norris or some no-name mediocre white martial artist. Also emphasis on Action, not the Comedy (or think of Kung Fury as a comedic take on 80s low budget action films).
I was a backer, but also grew up in the late 70s/80s and this film skewers my childhood movie memories to near perfection.
It is a parody on '80s action comedy. That's exactly how I understood it. Given that films like The Naked Gun themselves are a parody, Kung Fury came out pretty much as it did :)
References here are obviously Knight Rider and the like.
I realise that, but "80s action comedy" isn't really true. 80s action comedies include such gems as The Naked Gun, Beverly Hills Cop and Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.
What's the referent for this movie, if it's "80s action comedy"? I can't think of anything like it, it's more like Duke Nukem frankly.
The Naked Gun: from the Files of Police Squad!, anyone?
The plot of that movie revolved around a professional baseball player psychologically reconditioned to assassinate the Queen of Canada during a game. Oddly enough, neither the Expos nor the Blue Jays were the visiting team.
Interesting that the article only gave an honorable mention for the fistfight where Lt. Drebin rubbed the birthmark off of Gorbachev's head.