I can sort of remember when Police Academy was originally released in 1984 even though it many years later before I actually saw the movie. I just watched the movie again and I still enjoyed it.

The newly elected mayor decided to lower the requirements to enroll in the police academy which caused a flood of new recruits, many of whom really weren't suited for the job. Carey Mahoney had been in trouble with the police several times for mostly minor things. After his latest arrest, Captain Reed came up with a unique idea. Mahoney either had to enroll at the police academy and not drop out or he would have to go to jail. Mahoney decided to go to the academy and took Larvelle Jones, a man he met at the police station, with him. Mahoney planned to get kicked out as soon as possible.

The Chief of Police was not happy about the quality of many of the new recruits but he didn’t want Commandant Lassard to kick all of them out. Instead, the Chief wanted the recruits to be strongly encouraged to quit. Mahoney and Jones ended up with a group of recruits that seemed to be considered the worst of the group that was being taught by Lt. Harris and Sgt. Callahan. Mahoney quickly started doing things to annoy Harris and seemed to become the leader for his group. Mahoney kept trying to get kicked out while also pursuing Karen Thompson, another recruit.

Because of what the mayor did, there was a huge new class of recruits. Police Academy only followed on one group of the recruits. Within that group, only a few of them were even identified by name with some of them seeming to get more attention than others. Mahoney managed to become sort of a leader to the ones who were focused on and he was friends with all of them and did things to help some of them even while dealing with being singled out by Harris and trying to get kicked out. Several other recruits were shown in the backgrounds of scenes along with some other instructors without any of them being more than background characters. I don’t think the movie would have worked if a larger group of recruits had been focused on. The movie was successful enough to cause six sequels to be made over the years, some better than others.

The plot for Police Academy was very straightforward and really didn’t have much in the way of surprises. I believe there were a few things that happened that I didn’t expect the first time I saw the movie. The movie was mostly focused on Mahoney and his attempts to get kicked out of the academy while making new friends and slowly changing his outlook on a few things. That did make the movie mostly predictable overall, but I still feel it is entertaining and worth watching. Most things happened after Mahoney arrived at the academy and several things connected to their training were shown. I have no idea if the training was accurate in any way or not.

There was a good amount of humor used throughout Police Academy. Most of the humor was provided by Mahoney, usually through things he did to Harris. Mahoney came up with some unique things to do to Harris. Copeland and Blanks were two recruits that Harris took under his wing and gave them the ability to make the others do things. Harris was using them to try to force some of the others out. Mahoney did some things to Copeland and Blanks that were very funny, especially causing them to end up at a gay biker bar. The way they looked when they realized where they were was hilarious. Eugene Tackleberry was very aggressive and liked to use force. He turned up at the academy already loaded down with his own personal arsenal. The extreme way that Tackleberry acted did add some humor. Some viewers will more than likely find the movie too silly. A bit of action was included later in the movie as well as a bit of non graphic violence. I don’t remember hearing much in the way of swearing.

Police Academy had a few sexual situations throughout the movie. George, one of the recruits, was a ladies man who arrived at the academy with a car ful of women. He came up with a way to sneak into the women’s dorm and it was made clear that he was having sex with several women even though it wasn’t actually shown. There really was only one sex scene and it was rather unique because of where it happened and how not much was shown even though it was very clear what was happening. Sexual remarks were made at different times by different characters. Some of the men were shown without their shirts and some topless women were briefly shown as well. That was it for nudity. The sexual things did cause the movie to be rated R. This really isn’t a movie for children even though there isn’t anything offensive in the movie.

There was a large group of characters in Police Academy, so none of them were fully developed. Mahoney probably received the most attention. He was a nice guy even though he’d done some wrong things before. He was very carefree most of the time and didn’t take much serious. This part really launched the career of Steve Guttenberg and made him famous. Karen Thompson was a wealthy, attractive young woman who decided that she wanted to be a police officer. There really wasn’t a good reason for why she wanted to do that, but she handled the training well. Kim Cattrell was fine in the part.

Moses Hightower was a very tall, intimidating looking man who didn’t say a lot. He tended to remain calm, but he could act impulsively if he was provoked. Bubba Smith really didn’t have to do a whole lot since Hightower didn’t say much. Tackleberry had been an aggressive security guard before going to the academy. He believed in using excessive force at all times and did seem slightly unstable. David Graf was fine in the part. Leslie Barbara was an overweight man who was frequently tormented by others. It was important to him to get through training. All that was shared about George was that he was interested in sleeping with as many women as he could. He did change a bit once he had an encounter with one woman in particular.

Larvelle Jones could make all sorts of sound effects and he’d been arrested for doing it. That was how he and Mahoney met. Jones used his talent to help out in a few situations. Michael Winslow was fine in the part. Laverne Hooks was a somewhat shy, quiet woman who was very timid during most of the training. She did get more assertive when it was called for. Marion Brooks was fine in the part. Douglas Fackler was an accident prone man whose wife didn’t want him to join the police force. Ted Ross had a small part as Captain Ross, the man who came up with the idea to send Mahoney to the academy. Blanks and Copeland were the two recruits that Harris had doing some of his dirty work. The two men really enjoyed pushing others around.

Harris and Callahan were the only instructors who were shown doing anything. They were tough on the recruits and they both seemed to treat the training almost like basic training at times. Callahan was a bit nicer than Harris. He was just a big mouth who liked throwing his authority around and frequently was using a megaphone to yell at people. I guess he would be considered the villain of the movie. G.W. Bailey was really good in the part. Commandant Lassard, the man in charge of the academy, really wasn’t shown that much. He seemed to be a bit clueless about some things but was nice enough. He seemed to be a bit more fun than Harris. None of the acting was really great, but it wasn’t horrible either.

Main Cast

G.W. Bailey - Lt. Harris
Kim Cattrell - Karen Thompson
Leslie Easterbrook - Sgt. Callahan
George Gaynes - Commandant Lassard
David Graf - Eugene Tackleberry
Steve Guttenberg - Carey Mahoney
Bruce Mahler - Douglas Fackler
Marion Ramsey - Laverne Hooks
Andrew Rubin - George Martin
Bubba Smith - Moses Hightower
Scott Thomson - Chad Copeland
Brant Van Hoffman - Kyle Blanks
Michael Winslow - Larvelle Jones

Hugh Wilson - Director

I have seen Police Academy many times over the years. It has been on television every time I’ve seen it. This last time, I found it on one of the HBO channels that I get. An edited version has also turned up on different television stations over the years. I know the movie was released on DVD a few years ago. I think the DVD is still available, but I could be wrong about that. I don’t know what kind of extras are included on it.

Police Academy is rather silly overall, but it is a fun, entertaining movie that I still enjoy. People in the mood for a decent mindless comedy should give it a chance.

This is another movie I would give three and a half stars to if I had the option. Since I don’t, I rounded up to four.

Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment ~ Police Academy 3: Back in Training ~

Recommended: Yes