Another entry for the Lost Tales or “Steve didn’t post this in a timely fashion.” In the end, does anyone really care? Maybe. I really wanted to get my recollection posted closer to the New Year because that’s when I saw this originally in 1989, probably at a discount theater in San Diego while I was on vacation. I’m surprised my parents agreed to this, they weren’t very big fans of Airplane! but by then I was 20 so Mom couldn’t do anything if I saw bare boobs on the screen.
The Zucker-Abrams-Zucker team went back to their short-lived show on ABC, Police Squad which I remembered fondly as a kid. I didn’t get all the jokes ridiculing cop show tropes at 13 but it remained funny. Six years later, I had a better idea and even though ZAZ recycled some gags, Naked was a damn hilarious flick. Its jokes still hold up today despite the dated elements today’s younger audiences may not understand, a world before:
- Ubiquitous cell phones
- Easy Internet access
- OJ Simpson being more famous for murdering his ex-wife
I had forgotten other sequences and one became my new favorite bit, the one involving Leslie Nielsen commandeering a student driver’s car with the student and teacher at the helm. Playing the teacher was John Houseman who by then was typecast as a stuffy, pompous, professor. I think he relished the opportunity to do something humorous with the persona he had cultivated all those years.
If you haven’t seen The Naked Gun in a while, set aside 90 minutes to revisit what gave Leslie Nielsen a third act to his career. Never seen it. Check it out, after you’ve watched two key movies leading to this: The Kentucky Fried Movie and of course, Airplane! Top Secret was released in 1984 and it’s equally great so you can choose before or after. The same goes for Hot Shots and the highly underrated Jane Austen’s Mafia.