The Naked Gun

The Naked Gun series
Region 1 DVD cover for the film series box set
Directed by	David Zucker (1 and 2) Peter Segal (3)
Produced by	David Zucker Jim Abrahams Jerry Zucker Robert K. Weiss
Written by	David Zucker Jim Abrahams Jerry Zucker Pat Proft
Based on	Police Squad! created by Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker
Starring	Leslie Nielsen Priscilla Presley O. J. Simpson George Kennedy Ed Williams
Music by	Ira Newborn
Cinematography	Robert M. Stevens
Edited by	Michael Jablow (1) Christopher Greenbury James R. Symons (2) James R. Symons (3)
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release dates	1988 – 1994
Running time	253 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$65 million
Box office	$216.8 million

The Naked Gun is a series of American crime comedy films created by Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker. All three films are based on their earlier short-lived ABC television series Police Squad!, which was cancelled after six episodes.

Films

From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)

Detective Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen) tries to uncover a plan to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II, who is on a state visit to the USA. The main suspect is Vincent Ludwig, a rich businessman (Ricardo Montalbán), who uses a hypnotic device to turn others into murderers. As with previous ZAZ spoof comedies, the plot was mostly culled from another—more serious—movie. In this case, it was Telefon wherein people were triggered into assassins via hypnotic phone calls (indeed, dialogue in the post-hypnotic suggestion demonstration scene is copied word-for-word from Telefon).

On the case, Drebin falls in love with Ludwig's assistant, Jane Spencer (Priscilla Presley). She knows nothing about Ludwig's plot, and after the pair spend the night together, Jane helps with Frank's investigation.

The Smell of Fear (1991)

Frank discovers that Jane's new boyfriend, Quentin Hapsburg (Robert Goulet), is involved in an evil plan to kidnap Dr. Albert S. Meinheimer (Richard Griffiths), a scientist whom President George H. W. Bush (John Roarke) has chosen to determine a new national energy policy. Hapsburg plans to kidnap the real Dr. Meinheimer and replace him with a lookalike named Earl Hacker (also portrayed by Griffiths) who will endorse an energy policy according to the dictates of the energy lobby.

The Final Insult (1994)

In the third film of the saga, Frank is married to Jane, and he has retired from Police Squad. The film introduces the criminal Rocco Dillon (Fred Ward), who is stuck in prison. He's contacted by Papshmir to be given a target for a bombing. Frank is pulled out of retirement. He goes undercover pretending to be a prisoner named "Nick 'The Slasher' McGurk Jr., III" at the jail where Dillon is being held, and they break out of jail. Outside they are escorted by Dillon's gangster mother (Kathleen Freeman) to his country retreat, where Frank also meets Rocco's voluptuous moll (Anna Nicole Smith). The gang plots to blow up the Academy Awards. When Jane arrives looking for Frank, she is taken hostage.

Reboot

On December 13, 2013, Paramount announced that a reboot of the franchise was in development, with Ed Helms starring as Drebin and Thomas Lennon and Ben Garant co-writing the screenplay.^[1] However, on January 11, 2014, Garant stated that the film will be more of a sequel than a reboot.^[2] In March 2015, David Zucker referred to the film as more of a reboot than a sequel, stating that it won't have same spoofing style as the original series while disagreeing with the choice of Helms as the lead saying "I would want somebody who had never been in a comedy". Zucker was approached by the studio to produce the film.^[3] In August 2015, Helms gave an update on the film stating "You have to make something that a contemporary audience is going to like. We haven’t seen many of those slapstick movies in a while, so I’m not sure what the right angle is on it.", echoing Zucker's comments on the films modern take.^[4]

Release

Reception

Film	Rotten Tomatoes
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad![5]	86%
The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear[6]	58%
Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult[7]	53%
Average ratings	66%

Box office

Film	Release date	Total grossing
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad![8]	December 2, 1988	$78,756,177
The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear[9]	June 28, 1991	$86,930,411
Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult[10]	March 18, 1994	$51,132,598
Film Totals		$216,819,186

Cast of characters

Main characters

• Leslie Nielsen as Sergeant Frank Drebin, Detective Sergeant Lieutenant Police Squad. He is the protagonist of all three films and the former TV series Police Squad!. In the first film, he meets Jane Spencer and they fall in love; in the second film, they resume their romance; in the third film, they are married, and Frank is retired from the force. Frank is a very successful police officer, who seems to solve all crimes by accident, many times causing mayhem and havoc in the process, usually not noticing at all.
• Priscilla Presley as Jane Spencer (Jane Drebin in the third film). In the first film she is Vincent Ludwig's assistant, but knows nothing about his world domination plans. After she spends the night together with Frank, she helps him with his investigation. In the second film, her relationship with Frank is revealed to be over. She has a new boyfriend, Quentin Hapsburg. This is the second time she falls for a man with evil plans. She and Frank make up during the end of the second film. In the third film (in which she is married to Frank, who is retired from the force) the audience learns that she is now a lawyer. At the end of the third film, Jane gives birth to a son, who ironically looks like Nordberg, leading Frank to believe the two had an affair and chases after his colleague. However unbeknownst to him, Ed is escorting Jane to her room, holding her and Frank's real baby.
• O. J. Simpson (Peter Lupus, TV series) as Officer Nordberg, one of Frank's colleagues. He and Frank are partners for about five years, and he is Frank's best friend as stated in the first film. Nordberg always gets himself in very painful situations in all of the films. He finds himself being chased after by a resentful and enraged Frank when he believes that Nordberg had an affair with Jane.
• George Kennedy (Alan North, TV series) as Captain Ed Hocken, Frank's boss. Ed encourages Frank to talk to Jane in the second movie. It is revealed in the first film that he is married to a woman named Ethel, although in the second film he is married to a woman named Edna (and it is stated that he has been for 30 years).
• Ed Williams as Ted Olson, a scientist who works at the lab. In Police Squad!, Ted was always giving a highly suspect or dangerous lesson to a kid, in a parody of Watch Mr. Wizard. This joke was not recycled for the films. Ted does create a couple of new inventions, which include: the Swiss-army shoe, the anti-graffiti wall, and the cufflink dart. He, Frank Drebin, and Al are the only characters who each appeared in both Police Squad! and the Naked Gun films portrayed by the same actor.^[11]
• Ronald "Tiny Ron" Taylor as Al, a very tall colleague of Frank, whose head is always out of frame. Al was a recurring character on Police Squad! but only made a cameo in the first film.

Main villains

Character	Film	Fate	Played by:
Vincent Ludwig	From the Files of Police Squad!	Falls from a stadium, then is run over by a bus, a steam roller, and the USC Trojan Marching Band.	Ricardo Montalbán
Quentin Hapsburg	The Smell of Fear	Falls from a great height (due to Ed accidentally pushing him out the window) but bounces off an awning and walks away, only to be mauled to death by a lion.	Robert Goulet
Rocco Dillon	The Final Insult	Falls from a catwalk in a theater, but because he has a cord attached to his ankles, the recoil elevates him and is sent flying away through the roof and into Papshmir's overflying private helicopter, which explodes seconds later (he was holding a ticking bomb).	Fred Ward

Notable cameos

Character	Portrayer	Film	Other Notes
Man fixing a picture up onto the wall of his house[12]	David Zucker	The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!	David Zucker directed the first two films
Driving Instructor[13]	John Houseman	The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!	Final appearance[12]
Baseball Announcer	Dr. Joyce Brothers	The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!	Also made a cameo in Police Squad!
Himself	James Earl Jones	Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult	Also made a cameo in Scary Movie 4

Recurring cameos

Character	Portrayer	Other notes
Papshmir	Raye Birk	Was the only actor to play the same villain twice in the saga, appearing as "Papshmir" in the first and last movie. His name is a play on the pap smear gynecological test.
Himself	"Weird Al" Yankovic	Has appeared in all three films—as himself in the first and last, and cameoing as a holdup man in the second.

Other notable appearances

Bruce Barbour as Leslie Nielsen stunt double and Leslie Hoffman as Jeannette Charles aka Queen Elizabeth stunt double famous slide down the banquet table

In the original film, veteran sports broadcasters Mel Allen, Curt Gowdy, Dick Enberg, Dick Vitale, Tim McCarver, and Jim Palmer are among those in a crowded booth. The baseball game features former Major League players like Jay Johnstone and, as an unexpected assassin, Reggie Jackson, as well as umpire Joe West.

In the second film, Zsa Zsa Gabor has a cameo as herself, slapping the police car siren featured in the intro, a reference to her 1989 arrest. Singer Mel Torme dances with Jane. And veteran character actors Lloyd Bochner, Tim O'Connor and Peter Mark Richman attend the climactic banquet, Bochner spoofing a classic Twilight Zone episode of his called "To Serve Man".

In the third film, at the Academy Awards, a musical number is performed by Pia Zadora and an award presented by Raquel Welch. Others seen at the ceremony include Vanna White, Mary Lou Retton, Florence Henderson, Morgan Fairchild, Shannen Doherty, and Elliott Gould.

References

1. "Ed Helms Firing Up ‘The Naked Gun’ Reboot for Paramount (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. 2013-12-13. Retrieved 2013-12-13.
2. "The Naked Gun Reboot Will be More Sequel Than Remake". ComingSoon.net.
3. Brown, Kat (March 11, 2015). "Naked Gun Reboot 'Won't Be That Kind of Movie' says David Zucker". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
4. Polowy, Kevin (August 5, 2015). "Ed Helms Updates Us on ‘Naked Gun’ Reboot, Answers 'Things We’ve Always Wondered’". Yahoo! Movies. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
5. "The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2009-09-13.
6. "The Naked Gun 2¹⁄₂: The Smell of Fear (1991)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2009-09-13.
7. "The Naked Gun 33¹⁄₃: The Final Insult (1994)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2009-09-13.
8. "BoxofficeMojo". The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!. Retrieved January 19, 2008.
9. "BoxofficeMojo". The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear. Retrieved January 19, 2008.
10. "BoxofficeMojo". The Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult. Retrieved January 19, 2008.
11. In the films, Hocken was portrayed by George Kennedy, and Nordberg by O.J. Simpson, Johnny and Lincoln both did not return in the films and Al only appeared in the first film.
12. "The Internet Movie Database". The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!. Retrieved January 19, 2008.
13. "The Internet Movie Database". John Houseman. Retrieved January 19, 2008.

External links

• The Naked Gun series at AllMovie
• The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! at the Internet Movie Database
• The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! at AllMovie
• The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear at the Internet Movie Database
• The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear at AllMovie
• Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult at the Internet Movie Database
• Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult at AllMovie