So many sight gags it takes repeated viewing to catch 'em!
Just Bill | Grand Rapids, MI United States | 03/16/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I'm not going to summarize the plot of this movie. Others have already done that. I'm just going to tell you I think it's one of the funniest films I've ever seen.I love this kind of sight gag humor. And nobody does it better than Leslie Neilsen.The Police Squad! videos are priceless TV detective show parodies. It's a pity only a handful of episodes were ever made. They're a blast to watch -- especially the end credits when the actors "freeze" yet everything else in the scene continues to move. Really dumb humor, but it gets me every time. Which is why I love this, the first of the three Naked Gun movies. They feature the same bumbling detective (Neilsen) and the same intrepid team that created the short-lived TV series.I can watch this film and laugh every time. My favorite scenes are the chalk outline floating on the water...the shoe shine guy to which Lt. Drebin palms money for information...and, well, I could name scene after scene.Naked Gun is not for everyone. Not everyone likes the rapid-fire sight gag humor that makes this movie (and The Simpsons) such a joy to behold.But if that kind of humor tickles your funny bone, Naked Gun will cause you to laugh all the way to the store to buy the other two installments."
Great Movie, But I Want The TV Version!
Brett Michael Roberts | Renton, WA USA | 11/07/2001
(3 out of 5 stars)
"The Naked Gun-From The Files Of Police Squad. I don't need to talk about this movie. It's great. It's non-stop laughs. It's a must see. So what's the problem? The problem's not with the movie. It's with this DVD. Don't expect to much from silly Paramount, but has anyone ever watched this on cut TV, like USA, Comedy Central, or ABC? If so, you know the cutting out and editing of scenes for a certain channel tri trims a time slot, so they replace maybe 15 minutes with deleted scenes! And very funny deleted scenes I might add. One is where Frank Drebin is seen at a gym in the shower (of the woman's bathroom). Another is where Ludwig shoots Frank in the catchers's thing (didn't anyone ever notice it deflated?) and one where Frank turns off Nordberg's air at the hospital. All these scenes are outrageous and hilariously funny, but no version except the TV one has these scenes. I'm not going to buy any Naked Gun DVD until the scene's are restored. Same with Naked Gun 2, Airplane!, and Airplane 2.
Don't by this 'till Paramount realizes we want deleted scenes!If you found my review helpful, please be sure to vote for me!"
You'll get gas from laughing so hard!
Becky | 08/10/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I saw this movie at the cinema, and when I walked out of the darkened theatre my sides hurt so much from laughing you would have sworn I was suffering from appendicitis, and I rivalled Niagara Falls in my crying - the tears were just streaming down my face! This inane, farcical comedy has got to be one of the funniest films ever released. It's silly, but the silliness is funny and not pointless. Even the cameo actors are houmourous! Leslie Nielsen is fantastic as the deadpan, very moronic Frank Drebin, a bumbling detective who wouldn't know a criminal from a saint, and George Kennedy and OJ Simpson are perfect foils for his lunacy. (I'm surprised. I said something NICE about OJ Simpson!) And Priscilla Presley has never looked better. She and Leslie Nielsen have a chemistry between them that is lacking in many serious or other comedy movies. What can I say? This movie is great! I order you to stop reading these reviews and go and rent or buy this movie! Believe me, you won't regret it!"
One of the funniest , if not THE funniest movies ever
Ramsis Lion | Long Island, NY USA | 07/27/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This movie probably has the most creative and well done scene of any movie I have ever seen. And that is saying quite a statement.
Naked Gun is based on a short lived television show called Police Squad which was basicaly a spoof of Dragnet and all the old time police dramas. Everything in the tv show was slapstick and sight gags and it was well ahead of it's time. The show was funny in it's own right but some bad scheduling and the fact that you had to watch it all non stop as it was so involved lead to its downfall after a mere 6 episodes.
The Zucker brothers who produced this show and are the men behind the hillarious movie Airplane, decided to revive the short lived TV show, but this time in a movie format. And thus the Naked Gun:From the Files of Police Squad, was born.
Lt. Frank Dreben is the focus of the tv show and of this movie, he is a clueless cop (played by Leslie Nielson) who has a habit of hitting things with his car and always makes time for the women. The woman in this case is (Prisila Presley) the assistant to the would be bad guy (Ricardo Montebon) who Frank takes a liking to, after she is sent to spy on him, while the bad guy masters his plan of controling unsuspecting victims to kill people without even knowing they are under a hypnotic spell. Along for the ride is Nordburg (None other then OJ Simpson) , Franks partner who is shot early on by thugs on a drug boat which leads Frank into looking in to the main criminal in the first place. A plan to end the Queen of Englands life is soon unvailed and lets just say its a mad romp from location to location with lots of laughs mixed in.
But the thrill of this movie isn't the story, that is almost secondary and almost a little nonsensical at points. Its the fun situations that Frank seems to get into everywhere he goes. One moment he is in the mid east stopping terrorist, next he is hanging from a building as a fire burns inside and he is chasing a killer doctor in one of the wildest car chases ever. The laughs are so great in this movie that you truly can watch this many times and get just as much enjoyment from the wacky satire and one liners that are thrown at us non stop.
As mentioned above this movie does contain the best scene ever. I won't give it all away but it involves a baseball game that the Queen of England happens to be attenting and Frank Dreben must find out who the unknown killer at the game will be. The whole final scent of this movie is so priceless that I don't know if something this brillient has ever been matched in a movie. I just watched it again with my family and already we were cracking up as if we were seeing it again for the first time.
This is truly a lost art when it comes to comedy. It didn't rely on sick or gross humor but on simple slap stick and straight one liners by people who are taking their roles seriously without being in on the joke that we the viewer are in on. Even the soundtrack is catchy and well done. It's just a very complete and hillarious movie that you will want to watch many times and with many people.
If you want a funny movie, that is short enough not to drag on but funny enough that you will have to pause it to catch your breath, have I got the movie for you. Naked Gun : From the Files of Police Squad. Get it today and you will wonder how you ever got by without it. I can't recomend it enough and you won't be sorry adding this to your movie collection."
Hysterical From Start to Finish
Don A. Frascinella | The City By The Bay, USA | 11/06/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"You'll know this movie is going to be a riot from the openning sequence in which a meeting of the worlds master terrorists - including Castro, the Ayatollah and Gorbachev are folied by inept cop Frank Drebin, played with perfect deadpan expression by Leslie Nielsen, who went on to a second career starring in films like this.Drebin, from Police Squad, must try to stop the assasination of the Queen of England. Drebin is assisted by George Kennedy, a fellow cop and O.J. Simpson as detective Nordberg. Nordberg, especially is the victim of most of Drebin's foul ups and spends most of the movie being beaten or maimed (just desserts!). Ricardo Montalban stars as the construction magnate that is masterminding the dastardly plot.Nielsen's physical humor is the focus of the movie. His systematic destruction of Montalban's apartment is hilarious. But the highlight of the movie is the ending baseball sequence. and is where Nielsen shines. From his impersonation of opera tenor Enrico Polazzo (his butchering of the national anthem is a total classic) to his routine as a moonwalking showboat umpire, Nielsen is at his finest in milking laughs. The baseball game between the Mariners and Angels is the funniest baseball sequence ever filmed and funnier than any of the Major League movies. This segment features real-life baseball announcers including Dick Enberg and the great Mel Allen. When a highlight shows a baseball players head being knocked off by a fly ball, Allen delivers his classic "How About That?" while a stunned Enberg looks on, speechless. And there are real-life ball-players Jay Johnstone and Reggie Jackson, ("I must kill the Queen").Priscilla Presley looks beautiful and shows her ability to do comedy. Although Nielsen looks much too old for her, the scenes between them work, probably due to Nielsen's boundless energy and little boy innocence.The Naked Gun series follwed the Airplane movies in a line of hits for the ZAZ team (not all of them particpated in all of the films). Although the latter two Naked Gun movies were a let-down, Naked Gun shows ZAZ at their best and this movie remains funny.Also worth noting is the TV series that inspired the Naked Gun movies - Police Squad (in color). Look for it at your video store. Underrated and very funny."