The Naked Gun is one of those movies that sound lame on paper. But when actually viewed on a screen, it works perfectly. One of those "You have to be there" situations, if you will. The humor contained in the film is unsubtle, corny, predictable and often hilarious. An example:

Cop: (Looking up woman's skirt) Nice Beaver!

Woman: (Handing Cop a stuffed beaver to be shelved) Thanks! I had it stuffed last week!

That's the type of humor to be found in The Naked Gun: humor that is sophomoric, obvious, Non-PC and funny enough to leave you in stitches.

The Zucker Brothers, the team that gave us Airplane and Top Secret, produced the Naked Gun. For the lead role in Naked Gun, they bring in Leslie Nielsen who played a doctor in Airplane. Nielsen was an excellent choice for the role of bumbling cop Frank Drebin. His character is a moron. But Nielsen's made a career out of playing them.

The plot (which spoofs many classic detective movies as well as certain elements of Film Noir) centers around a plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth (strange that they didn't think to assassinate the King Of Spain) by a villainous businessman named Vincent Ludwig (Ricardo Montalban). Cop Nordberg (A pre-trial OJ Simpson) stumbles on to Ludwig's side business and winds up in the hospital. That gets Drebin on to the case and before long, he's bumbling in and out of various escapades which include (among others): causing much property damage, getting photographed on top of the Queen at a dinner reception, impersonating an Opera star at a baseball game and doing all body searches of the entire California Angels baseball team to the tune of Randy Newman's "I Love LA". I won't list any more of the humorous sequences, as they're better appreciated on the big screen.

Of course in a film like this, there are bound to be some jokes that don't quite hit the mark. And there are a few of those here. Some of the more slapstick based numbers are a little too obvious. What's surprising is the fact that the majority of them do. The film works well in satirizing elements from both cop films (watch for the shrewish DA who denounces Drebin for accidentally gunning down actors in a "Shakespeare in the park production of Julius Caesar") and Film Noir (Priscilla Presley as the seductive woman for whom Drebin falls).

The performances in The Naked Gun are all good for this kind of material. Nielsen is hilarious as the bumbling, klutzy, numbskulled Drebin. Montalban does a good job of bringing over some of the classic big screen villainy from his Star Trek role (as Khan) to play Vincent Ludwig). George Kennedy spoofs the stock "straight man" roles he portrays in other films by more or less repeating it here, he plays the always by the book Ed Hocken, compared to the more rule-bending Drebin. And Simpson, yes Simpson. While the Juice is more or less here in simply an extended cameo, his few scenes are hilarious (in a Three Stooges sort of way).

If you're looking for highbrow satire of the H L Mencken variety, you'll need to look elsewhere. But if you're just looking for some quick, gut-busting laughs, dig into the files of Police Squad and pull out this Naked Gun.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: VHS