Midweek Mention...The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!

Naked Gun

Sidey: So we're going to do a midweek mention for a film that I spoiled. I think we all probably really like the naked gun or to give it its full official title. Anyone know what it is

Howie: From

Reegs: The naked gun from the files of police squad.

Sidey: that's right.  which I didn't really know until I started looking at that. To get a few notes down. I just thought it was the naked gun. That's a 1988 comedy that probably everyone in the world's seen or certainly should have

Dan: I bet. I bet there's a generation of people. Comments through maybe just having kids now haven't yet found this, this gym, this absolute slapstick pun field gym it's although it's hot, incredibly dated in all the scenes and everything. and th the shots, the clothes that people are wearing and all the rest of it, it still just hits the funny, the funny bone.

Doesn't it.

Sidey: well, when, when we started rigs, when I first started doing this podcast and we were listening to some others, or I was listening to a few others, and just. Dropping a few reviews for some other people. And one of the, people that reached out to us, who had a podcast, asked me to review their show and I noticed they had a, a naked gun episode. So I listened to it. and they, I wouldn't say panned it, but they, they didn't like the film. And they said that the comedy was old and dated and not fun anymore. what's a bunch of pricks cause it's fucking, absolutely brilliant.

Dan: Yeah.

Sidey: w when we talked about it, I made an episode. That's going to come out, at the end of this week about films that you wish you hadn't been visited.

This is still is funny. I watched it last night. Again, it still is funny to me is the first time I've seen it. I just fucking, absolutely love it.

Howie: please tell me you laughed out loud at the stupidest one where he offers him a cigar and says Cuban I'm Dutch, Irish. And my father was well,

Sidey: This chat has got a very real danger of us. Just reeling off quotes for the next 15 minutes.

Reegs: Yeah, but also when reviewing a movie like this, like is there much point in talking about the plot it's just completely nonsensical, isn't it?

Sidey: Everything just exists to for jokes out.

Howie: Yes.

Dan: mean, even from the, from the first moment when they're, they're calling, the announcement over their tunnel at the airport. And then Adrian goes on it. He says something that an announcer would never say, you know, it starts off. please, good cars, keep moving on. Do not leave your baggage unattended.

You left your bucket. You know, it's something that it just takes you from the moment you start watching the film.

Sidey: I was still picking up things that I hadn't noticed before. So when, when he's, when he's coming off the plane at the very start and he thinks they're all there to see him, but actually weird Al Yankovic is on the flight. But as, as it's descending the stairs in the background, you can see the package like unloading Lori whatever's there, but they're just launching bags anywhere.

They're just smashing on the floor. I'd never seen it.

Reegs: to this day is how I really think that baggage is handled at

Howie: Oh,

Dan: It's all these observations in life that are going on. And

Howie: I used to be a baggage handler and I can confirm that is exactly what happens.

Sidey: Yeah.

Reegs: So, police squad, Lieutenant Frank, Drebin played by, Leslie Nielsen is taking a holiday in Bay route, because why, why wouldn't you? and then he,

Howie: every single known.

Sidey: a, there's a terrorist meeting, is

Howie: Can you imagine them filming that now? It's got Colonel Gaddafi, Ayatollah, Khomeini. It's got Gorbachev who he rubs the birthmark off his head

Sidey: our main Gaddafi.

Howie: Oh yeah. I mean, and they police, they police turbine off and he's got orange Mohawk.

Sidey: Yeah.

Howie: Oh my God.

Sidey: And then, you know, they're all big puddles and they're all, you know, scattered across the set and someone says, Hey, where are you? And he just stands out Frank driven police squad. And it's about to make this big dramatic exit. But the, the shutters smacking me in the face and he falls off the filtering.

Brilliant.

Reegs: we cut to the U S don't we and gnawed bag is undercover. a operations. Yeah.

Dan: annoyed bag

Sidey: sort of

Howie: O J Simpson.

Reegs: Simpson.

Dan: of

Reegs: does that play now? When you see OJ Simpson on TV, the

Howie: Oh, it's under the bridge now. It's all under the bridge now

Sidey: I

Dan: in a funny movie so we can forgive,

Sidey: It is what it is. I mean, he's not his it's people to pivotal in the way that the plot is, but he just especially lies in a bed for the most of the film.

Reegs: He's mostly the butt of the jokes rather

Sidey: yeah.  unfortunately he can't be erased from the film, but, his wife in this, is played by Susan , who went on to star in the people versus OJ Simpson.

Dan: I really

Reegs: There you go. As one of the people.

Sidey: I think she was the person. Yeah. She definitely played a person in it. Yeah.

Reegs: no. What Beck is going undercover to bust, a drug operation. that's been organized by Vincent Ludwig. Who is

Sidey: I love this thing.

Reegs: isn't it? well what happens? Sidey? Talk us through it.

Sidey: It goes to kick the door down and just shoves his leg through the door gets stuck. so the, the gang are alerted to his presence. At which point they all draw their guns and eventually he does get the door open and he says, phrase, police have one guy just Chuck's has gone down.

And they all look at him as if say, you know, we've, we've got him outnumbered,

Dan: I wonder why she used to get now, you know, he's just me. It's just so ridiculous. Isn't it?

Sidey: So eventually, eventually after, you know, it plays out that they do show him, he get, he gets gunned down, but not before he bounces around the room, putting his hand in different. So it depends, it depends his hand on the other. And then he puts his arm and some wet paint. Then he grabs the window and the window comes down on his hand.

And eventually he, I know he steps in a bad

Dan: stupid.

Reegs: It, of course he does

Dan: Yeah,

Sidey: up. And then he, then he

Dan: It's gone to stop it. And then it comes out like, Oh,

Sidey: they, they think he's drowned, but, it turns out he's, he's survived just about base on life support.  yes, he's an intensive care to our lady of the worthless miracle. So we have, we have, this is just going to be a quite Fest, but we have another conversation where we've got Nordberg in bed. We've got his wife there and then you've got the captain and you've got Frank Drebin.

Dan: even the name. It's just brilliant. It's just

Howie: I used to always like the

Dan: you've met Frank.

Howie: I still let the police could really, it always used to do things like, I was driving back to the station and they've got like horrifically super-imposed rear windshield, and it's like, he's driving and there's the Parthenon going past? Or there's like, there's like a hurricane blowing in the background.

Yeah. Everything about it. Police squad is a really underrated series that I, I I've struggled to find. I love to, I'm sure it's available on Amazon to buy or something like that, but it is so

Reegs: It's on the sky right

Howie: Is it, is it so is, is it police squad or is it yeah, in this naked gun where she says, is this some kind of a bust?

And he goes, yes, very impressive. When he's just looking at dates and there's also the

Reegs: He also when he's, ed and Frank consoling Wilmer at the bedside of Nordberg, who's been hospitalized, like you say, And ed says what I'm trying to say as soon as Norbert's Betty's welcome back at police squad. And then Frank says, unless he's a drooling vegetable, but that's only common.

Sidey: She says, she says, Oh my poor Nordberg. He was such a good man. It's never what, anyone who would do such a thing. And Frank says, I don't know, a gang, a roving gang of thugs, a blackmailer an angry husband, a gay lover. She just screams out.

Reegs: obviously this has the immortal scene, of the press conference, where Drebin forgets to turn the microphone off

and he pisses relentlessly. For about two and a half minutes. there's a

Dan: Just so many, you know,

Reegs: the dock worker for information, and then the dock worker then pays him back to find out why he wants to that.

I mean, there's just so many jokes, so many jokes. It's very, very amusing. I think the greatest

Dan: mean, they're jokes. That is, as I say, they were funny, then they're still funny now because they're, you're so silly, like exactly what you just said there. That line where he's, he's paying him back. It's

Howie: Well, when he's I have to admit, I'm just, I'm just having a quick look on the internet and I've just seen the one that really does get me off. Cause it's so simple. It's just the one where he goes bingo. And he just pulls the car down there just to get free clothes. It's just stupid

Sidey: the slapstick stuff, you know, I love it. There's there's one, there's a guy who's just really tall for no reason. He's in it called Al and, is it banana and his head? So it was great. And, Frank Jabber looks at him. He goes, Oh, you've got something on the side of your mouth. And he just like, he could see his hand go up and like bananas, frost,

Howie: yeah. And police got, they go out, they go out, you've got a bit of pizza on your face and he just goes and wipes it. And like a 12 inch pizza falls in front of the camera.

Sidey: Okay, but for me, it's the dialogues. It's the dialogue jokes that really get me. I just absolutely

Howie: super sharp, super quick delivered. Amazing.

Sidey: at the, at the gala dinner, Frank walks up and he, Vincent mugwort goes Drebin. Jane goes, Frank, I guess,

Reegs: I think, Oh, this is the funniest of those darker and Abraham's produced. Maybe that includes airplane, which is obviously absolutely fantastic as well, top secret, hot shots, loaded weapon, that kind of thing. But this is I think a cut above the mall in terms of script and performance from Leslie Nielsen, you as exactly that fantastic ability to play it.

Totally, totally straight. And it's up there for me. With a sort of Peter Sellers type

Howie: Yes. Yeah. Yeah.

Reegs: utterly ridiculous and utterly straight as well.

Howie: and it, and it's it's so tightly done. You can't, it's not something that can be just done by an actor. Nielsen is a master of the craft I saw him in after dinner speeches as well. There's support available on YouTube and comedy slots are on chat shows and he is super sharp.

He's really funny. And, but he's endearing as well. There's the butt of the jokes is him. And it's the way that he carries that off means that no ones, all the pratfalls are a result of pain towards him or him looking daft. No one else looks stupid. It's it's a nice way.

Sidey: he had originally been, you know, straight actor. He was a dramatic actor and I think aeroplane was. Was that playing the first comedic role that he

Reegs: I think so. Yes.

Sidey: but this was, I think the first where he was the actual lead.

Dan: You'd never know Richie. I mean, his comic timing is just the facial mannerism, expressions. Everything is very, very few actors, I think, have that ability to just be funny when you look at them and raise an eyebrow and that kind of thing, but he's got that. He's

Sidey: he sings the national Anthem. Oh my God. So, so great.

Reegs: and it's just a chance to be really silly. It's a silly everything about it is silly and

Dan: absolutely. Won't let you get serious on this film.

Reegs: But there's no, you know, modern comedies apart from the two that we keep banging on about at the moment 21 and 22 jump street and Baywatch as well. A lot of them are obsessed with being self-referential. this was actually invented for their level of invention. When you go through the plot, the things that happen and the amount of visual jokes, and like you say, the one line is Sidey.

it's really very inventive as well. so it is silly and it is buffoonery, but there is real art to it as well.

 Dan: I'll keep laughing at this. I'll keep revisiting this, every now and again. If somebody puts it on, it comes on TV. It's the kind of thing I probably just keep on halfway through. Don't have to watch it from the start it's I can jump right in and laugh along with it.

Sidey: yeah, it had that show in the, in the baseball ground at the phonology where Jane is sort of wrestled up the stairs. And, at first it was her obviously struggling and fighting back, but then it's just obviously replaced with a dummy. and she's just like manhandled up the stack. I said, it really reminds me if that ludicrous shot and, nightmare on Elm street, you know, where

Reegs: Yeah. What gets pulled through the door?

Sidey: through the door window.

Everybody reminded me that,

Dan: I was going to say reminds you that same wedding. He falls over the balcony and then the,

Howie: Boom.

Dan: the marching band goes over the steam roller, and he goes to, my father went the same way.

Sidey: well, there's three films.

Dan: not that film.

Sidey: This is one of them that in 1988, three films, where a character was run over by a steamroller.

Howie: of rabbit.

Dan: yeah,

Sidey: There's one other.

Dan: and one

Reegs: 1988.

Howie: so Roger rabbit,

Dan: roller.

Sidey: Jamie Lee Curtis was in it,

Dan: Last action hero.

Sidey: not John Cleese.

Howie: Oh fuck. It's my coop. It's the dogs. It's the

Dan: fiscal one there, the other one.

Sidey: Yeah. And also years later, queen Elizabeth did go to a baseball game in the

Reegs: Was memorably run over by a

Sidey: No, she, it was a Oakland A's versus Baltimore Orioles. And Reggie Jackson was the coach of one of the teams. He was the guy who was hypnotized in a naked gun. He was actually there to take her down here.

She survived that I don't, I think you know that.

Howie: spoiler. She started the crown later on.

Sidey: I'm going to give you the budget for this. It was $12 million.

Reegs: Yeah.

Howie: easy.

Sidey: Yeah, I did. He obviously made lighter money, 140 mil either thought we would've made a bit more, but,

Dan: That's to date

Howie: I suppose.

Sidey: that's box office. I don't know if that clues, you know, domestic, but, it made another five off me last night. Cause I bought it on Amazon.

Dan: the

Sidey: stone

Reegs: Probably seen this movie six or seven, maybe more times,

Sidey: in one of those books, the 1001 movies you must see before you die. so tick done that. Um,

Reegs: more to go.

Sidey: yeah, it's an absolute classic. So I'm going to ask the question. How were you not entertained

Howie: Yes, of course I was

Sidey: Daniel?

Dan: each and every time I watch it,

Reegs: Yeah, absolutely.

Sidey: Stone-cold classic. Absolutely love it. I'm glad we got to talk about it again. Yeah.