I have to come clean. I had never watched The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad until not all that long ago. Guilty as charged for the crime of being a “Johnny Come Lately,” I finally sat down and watched what has long been considered one of the best spoof movies of all time before the release of the upcoming reboot starring Liam Neeson, before it lands on the 2025 movie schedule. Not only did the Leslie Nielsen movie about a hapless detective trying to clear his friend’s name make me laugh, it also made me kick myself for waiting so damn long.
Seriously, The Naked Gun features one outrageous bit after another, making this a series of hilarious gags, action sequences, and jokes about bodily functions that had me laughing so hard I thought I was going to wake up my family. While I would love to talk about them all, I only have time for six of the funniest bits the movie had to offer.
The Opening Title Sequence Getting Progressively Zanier Had Me Rolling
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery gave audiences the hilarious “Evacuation Complete” sequence with Mike Myers’ titular character letting it all out after decades on ice, Drebin’s extended peeing sequence (which can be heard by everyone in the room and those watching on TV) is just top-notch comedy. I mean, this is right up there with Nielsen bringing a fart machine to Late Night. Like a kid having experienced a funny scene, I made sure to show my wife this absurd moment the day after watching (though I considered waking her up for it).
the late O.J. Simpson gets shot multiple times, bumps the back of his head on a pipe, burns his hand on a hot stove, stumbles into a door covered in wet paint (there’s even a sign), gets his hand smashed by a closing window, falls into a cake, steps into a bear trap, and then falls backwards into he dark waters below.
Playing out like a Rube Goldberg machine of physical comedy, the short yet dynamic sequence just keeps getting crazier and crazier as it goes on. The criminals looking on in disbelief as it all unfolds also adds a lot to an already great sequence.
good baseball movie. Though The Naked Gun doesn’t have the great on-field action seen in its contemporaries, like Bull Durham or Eight Men Out, the baseball sequence at the end of the movie is good enough to put it on that list. Drebin, dressed like an umpire so that he can protect the queen from the mystery killer, goes bonkers behind the plate with some of the worst calls and most theatrical movements of all time.
There are a few moments that make this section so damn fun, including the spot where Drebin and another umpire start tossing the ball back and forth (leaving a runner in a pickle), the ensuing argument about bad calls, and then the moment where a fan (played by Mark Holton of Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure fame) yells “Hey, it’s Enrico Palazzo,” a callback to an earlier bit.
action-packed car chase sequence I won’t soon forget.
If you want to go back and watch The Naked Gun: From the Files of the Police Squad before the reboot hits the big screen, it, along with its two sequels, is streaming with a Paramount+ subscription right now.