"The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!" is pure comedic genius disguised as complete chaos. This isn't just another 80s comedy - it's a masterclass in slapstick that somehow crams more jokes per minute than should be physically possible. Leslie Nielsen's deadpan delivery and David Zucker's direction created something special: a parody so committed to its own absurdity that it becomes genuinely hilarious on its own terms. After all these years, it remains the gold standard for pure comedy that actually works.
The Story (Full Spoilers Ahead)
The movie starts with Lieutenant Frank Drebin on vacation in Beirut, where he accidentally stumbles into a secret meeting of America's biggest enemies. We're talking about really bad guys like Idi Amin, Muammar Gaddafi, and other scary leaders all sitting around a table planning something terrible against the United States. Frank, being Frank, completely messes up their meeting by fighting everyone and causing total chaos before escaping.
Back in Los Angeles, Frank's partner Officer Nordberg tries to bust a drug operation run by a businessman named Vincent Ludwig. But things go really wrong - Ludwig's bad guys shoot Nordberg and he ends up in the hospital. When Frank returns from his vacation, he visits Nordberg who can barely talk but gives him some clues about what happened, including a picture of Ludwig's ship where the drug deal was supposed to happen.
Here's where It gets interesting - the Queen of England is coming to visit Los Angeles, and Frank's police squad is in charge of keeping her safe. Frank's boss, Captain Ed Hocken, gives him just 24 hours to figure out what really happened to Nordberg before the news gets out and ruins the Queen's visit.
Frank decides to visit Ludwig to ask about the ship, but he accidentally tells Ludwig that Nordberg is still alive (oops!). Ludwig gets worried because he thought Nordberg was dead, so he asks his assistant Jane to get close to Frank and find out what he knows. Jane doesn't know that Ludwig is actually a criminal - she thinks he's just a regular businessman.
Jane starts spending time with Frank and giving him information, and of course, they fall in love. Meanwhile, Ludwig is secretly meeting with Pahpshmir (one of the bad guys from the Beirut meeting) to plan something really terrible - they want to assassinate the Queen! Ludwig agrees to do it for $20 million, and his plan is super sneaky: he has a special beeper that can hypnotize people and turn them into assassins without them even knowing it.
Ludwig tries to kill Nordberg in the hospital by hypnotizing his doctor, but Frank shows up just in time to protect his partner. The hypnotized doctor ends up dying in a really silly way before Frank can ask him any questions.
Frank knows something fishy is going on, so he breaks into Ludwig's office to look for proof. He actually finds a note from Pahpshmir that proves Ludwig is up to no good, but then Frank accidentally starts a fire that burns down the whole office, destroying all the evidence. Talk about bad luck!
Later, there's a fancy reception for the Queen's arrival, and Frank confronts Ludwig about his suspicions. But Frank completely misunderstands what's happening - when Ludwig presents the Queen with an old musket as a gift, Frank thinks Ludwig is trying to attack her! Frank tries to "protect" the Queen but just causes a huge mess instead. Everyone thinks Frank is crazy, and he gets fired from the police force.
Luckily, Jane figures out that Ludwig's evil plan will happen at a baseball game at Anaheim Stadium, and that one of the baseball players will be turned into an unwitting assassin. She tells Frank about the plan, but since he's been fired, he has to sneak into the stadium wearing a disguise.
The police squad finally believes Frank and shows up at the stadium. Frank knocks out the home plate umpire and takes his place so he can check all the baseball players for weapons when they come up to bat. It's really funny watching Frank try to be an umpire while secretly searching for weapons.
Then Ludwig activates his evil plan - he uses the hypnotic beeper to turn the famous baseball player Reggie Jackson into an assassin! Jane alerts Frank, who chases after Jackson and tackles him. This causes a huge fight between all the players that lets Jackson escape in the chaos.
Ludwig grabs Jane at gunpoint and tries to leave the stadium while the hypnotized Jackson takes aim at the Queen with a gun. Frank tries to stop Jackson by shooting him with a tranquilizer dart, but he misses and hits a woman in the upper deck instead. The woman falls over the railing and lands right on Jackson, crushing him and accidentally saving the Queen's life!
Frank chases Ludwig to the top of the stadium and shoots him with another dart. Ludwig falls over the side of the stadium and hits the concrete below. But that's not enough - he then gets hit by a bus, run over by a steamroller, and finally trampled by the entire USC marching band! It's completely over-the-top and hilarious.
But there's one more problem - some of the band members accidentally step on Ludwig's beeper, which triggers Jane to try to kill Frank since she was also hypnotized! Frank saves the day by telling Jane he loves her and giving her an engagement ring, which breaks her out of the hypnosis.
Everything ends happily - Frank gets his job back, and a recovered Nordberg congratulates him. But in true Frank Drebin fashion, he accidentally pushes Nordberg's wheelchair down the stadium stairs, launching him onto the baseball field. Even when everything works out, Frank still manages to mess something up!
My Review
I absolutely loved this movie! It's one of those rare comedies where literally every single scene has multiple jokes, and somehow they all work. What makes "The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!" so special is that it never takes itself seriously, but the actors play everything completely straight, which makes it even funnier.
Leslie Nielsen is absolutely perfect as Frank Drebin. He delivers every ridiculous line with complete seriousness, like he has no idea he's in a comedy. When he says things such as "Like a midget at a urinal, I was going to have to stay on my toes" he says it like it's the most normal thing in the world. That's what makes it so hilarious.
The movie is packed with different types of humor. There are visual gags everywhere - like when Frank walks around the edge of a movie set and nobody acknowledges how weird it is. There are silly puns and wordplay, like when Ludwig offers Frank a Cuban cigar and Frank replies "No, Dutch/Irish? my father was from Wales." And there are completely absurd situations, like Frank accidentally destroying Ludwig's office while trying to be sneaky.
What I really appreciate is that the movie never tries too hard to be funny. The jokes feel natural and flow perfectly with the story. Even though the plot about assassinating the Queen is pretty serious, the movie finds ways to make every single moment entertaining without making light of real violence.
The supporting cast Is great too. Priscilla Presley is perfect as Jane - she plays the romantic lead completely straight, which makes her relationship with the bumbling Frank even funnier. Ricardo Montalbán makes a great villain because he's genuinely threatening even in this silly world. And O.J. Simpson (this was way before his legal troubles) is hilarious as Nordberg, especially in the scene where he keeps getting hurt by everything in the hospital room.
The baseball stadium sequence is probably my favorite part of the whole movie. Watching Frank try to be an umpire while secretly fighting crime is comedy gold. And the way they handle the assassination attempt is both exciting and completely ridiculous. The fact that the Queen gets saved by a random woman falling from the upper deck is the perfect example of how this movie takes serious situations and makes them absolutely absurd.
I also love all the little background details that you might miss on the first viewing. Like how the hospital is just called "The Hospital" or how there are constantly silly signs and jokes happening in the background that have nothing to do with the main story.
This type of comedy was really popular in the 1980s with movies like "Airplane!" and "Top Secret!" but has kind of disappeared from modern movies. After watching "The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!" I can see why people miss this style of humor. Modern comedies often rely on improvisation or trying to be edgy, but this movie shows how amazing carefully crafted, silly humor can be.
The movie also works because it parodies detective and crime movies that everyone knows. If you've ever seen a serious cop show or movie, you'll recognize all the situations Frank finds himself in - he's just incredibly bad at handling them. But somehow, his incompetence always saves the day.
One thing that really impressed me is how the movie maintains its energy from beginning to end. There's never a slow moment or a joke that goes on too long. Every scene moves the story forward while also being hilarious. That's really hard to do in comedy.
The only tiny criticism I have is that some of the humor might feel a bit dated now, especially the opening scene with all the world leaders. But honestly, that's part of what makes it a perfect time capsule of 1980s comedy.
Overall "The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!" is a masterpiece of silly humor that proves you don't need to be mean-spirited to be incredibly funny. It's the kind of movie that gets better every time you watch it because you notice new jokes and details. Leslie Nielsen and the whole cast created something really special here - a comedy that's both completely ridiculous and surprisingly smart. If you want to laugh, this is definitely the movie to watch!
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