THE NAKED GUN 33, 1/3: THE FINAL INSULT
US, 1994, 83 minutes, Colour.
Leslie Nielsen, Priscilla Presley, George Kennedy, O.J.Simpson, Fred Ward, Kathleen Freeman, Anna Nicole Smith, Ellen Greene, Elliot Gould, James Earl Jones, Olympia Dukakis, Raquel Welch, Vanna White, Weird Al Jancovic, Joe Griffasi, Mariel Hemingway, Morgan Fairchild, Shannon Doherty.
Directed by Peter Segal.
Unless your middle name is “fastidious” (or “extremely fastidious”), you will enjoy much of this third episode in the Police Squad trilogy. It is full of puns, humorous non sequiturs, visual gags, parodies, loads of pratfalls… And they keep on coming. Perhaps there is some difficulty in that some sequences go on a bit, somewhat repetitious, and could have been pruned – the prison sequences, and, especially, the Academy Awards and the announcement of the winners (although there are some very funny nominees, especially the musical on Mother Teresa akin to the Sound of Music).
And, of course, it mainly depends on Leslie Nielsen’s presence. After a serious career (including appearing in The Forbidden Planet), in 1988, Nielsen appeared in the first Naked Gun film with his character of Frank Drebbin, hopelessly cruising through his career, accidents, bumbling, misinterpretations… And he continued for the next 20 years as the go to actor for all kinds of spoofs and parodies.
And his associates are, again, George Kennedy and O.J.Simpson. (And, ironically, the film was released the same year as Simpson was charged with the murder of his wife and her companion, the most sensational murder case in American legal history – and media!
Priscilla Presley is Nielsen’s wife, separated, the issue of having children, and an elongated episode full of innuendo as well as being explicit in Frank Drebbin’s visit to a fertility clinic while investigating the nurse (Playboy companion Anna Nicole Smith).
Fred Ward is the villain in prison planning a terrorist attack. And, veteran Kathleen Freeman has a lot of screen time as his tough mother. (And, at the Academy Awards, there are a number of guest stars with Pia Zadora doing a dance number with a literal fall into the orchestra pit, Raquel Welsh in conflict with Frank disguised as Phil Donahue, announces like Elliot Gould, Mariel Hemingway, James Earl Jones, Olympia Dukakis as well as television personalities Vanna White and Weird Al Jancovic.
There are also some amusing parodies of other films, including an elaborate parody of the Chicago station steps from The Untouchables, four prams and babies, Al Capone, shootouts, more and more troops coming in, President Clinton being shielded, even the Pope arriving and being shielded, and it all being a nightmare in Frank’s dreams. There is also a parody of Thelma and Louise and references, especially at the end, to Jurassic Park.
Difficult to know how these films will be received in the years after their release – but, at that time, there were well appreciated and probably stay happily in the memories of the fans of that time. The team writing and directing included David and Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams, Pat Croft, responsible for so many of this kind of comedy, especially the Airplane series.
