The Naked Gun DVD
Paramount Home Video
Rated: PG-13
Genre: Comedy
Length: 85 minutes
Director: David Zucker
Year: (1988)
Britt Gillette's The Naked Gun DVD Review
Writer/Director team David Zucker and Jim Abrahams (producers of cult comedy classics Airplane! and Top Secret) team up once again to bring audiences The Naked Gun (a full-length film based on their earlier collaboration Police Squad, a short-lived television series also starring Leslie Nielsen). With a plot and scene sequences that are far more believable than its two sequels, The Naked Gun is simply one of the best comedies ever produced for the big screen.
The Naked Gun follows the exploits of Lt. Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen), a longtime member of Police Squad, a special division of Los Angeles County law enforcement. Fresh off his return from a much needed vacation to Beirut, Capt. Ed Hocken (George Kennedy) informs Frank that his partner and best friend Nordberg (O.J. Simpson) was shot and left in critical condition. Frank and Ed visit Nordberg in the hospital where they try to get some information on the shooter. Unsuccessful, they promise Nordberg's wife Wilma (Susan Beaubian) that they will not rest for one second until they catch the man who did this to her husband (then they go off to grab a bite to eat).
Frank and Ed's search for the shooter eventually leads them to the office of Vincent Ludwig (Ricardo Montalban), owner of I Love U a Panamanian ship from the harbor where Nordberg was shot. Ludwig directs his Secretary, Jane Spencer (Priscilla Presley), to give Lt. Drebin whatever files he's looking for as well as to "get to know him and find out what he knows".
Jane and Frank strike up a relationship and things are going great until Frank finds out that Ludwig is involved in a plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth when she visits Los Angeles on her American tour. Frank breaks it off with Jane when he believes Ludwig put her up to it. But when Jane reveals Ludwig's plot is to have one of the ballplayers kill the Queen during the 7th inning stretch of the Angels/Mariners playoff game, she reconciles with Frank and two set off with the rest of Police Squad to foil Ludwig's plan.
At the baseball game, Frank goes undercover as the home plate umpire so that he can get close to and pat down all the players. But desperate to avoid the third out of the 7th inning, Frank's umpiring causes inter-umpire argument during which Reggie Jackson grabs a gun from underneath second base. When Frank tackles him, he causes a bench-clearing brawl that envelopes the whole stadium. Having defeated Ludwig's plan (after which Ludwig falls to his death), Frank asks Jane to marry him. Everyone in the stadium reconciles their differences, and they all live happily ever after…
Loaded with some of the best comedy sequences in cinema history (such as Frank's break-in of Ludwig's office and the stadium scenes), The Naked Gun is a continuous 85 minutes of outright hilarity. If you love comedy, this is a must-see film that ranks in the top ten of anybody's list of favorites…
Britt Gillette
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Posted on 10 December 2004