Naked Gun 33â…“: The Final Insult is a 1994 comedy film, the third and final film of the Naked Gun series, which was based off the Police Squad! television series. The film was marketed with the tagline "Mostly all new jokes."
The film stars Leslie Nielsen as Police Lieutenant Frank Drebin (his original character from Police Squad!), Priscilla Presley as Jane Spencer Drebin, O. J. Simpson as Nordberg, and George Kennedy as Captain Ed Hocken, all of whom reprise their roles from the first two films. Fred Ward, Anna Nicole Smith, and Kathleen Freeman co-star as a gang of bombers set to blow up the Academy Awards ceremony. Raye Birk reprises his role as the villainous "Papshmir" from the first film.
This is the only film in the series to be directed by Peter Segal and not David Zucker. Zucker instead receives credit for writing the film's screenplay. Similar to the previous entry in the series, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker did not write for the film's script, but both returned as executive producers and received writing credits due to their contributions to Police Squad! and the first film.
Frank Drebin and Jane Spencer, who were dating on and off in the two previous films, are now married, and appear as a mostly happily married couple at the start of the film, though they argue later on and Jane leaves him, in a parody of Thelma & Louise.
The film introduces the criminal Rocco Dillon (Fred Ward) in jail, who is approached by the terrorist Papshmir (seen in the first Naked Gun film - name a pun on pap smear) to be given a target for a bombing.
Frank is pulled out of retirement, and goes undercover pretending to be a prisoner named "Nick 'The Slasher' McGuirk" at the jail where Rocco Dillon is being held, and they break out of jail in a parody of The Great Escape and The Shawshank Redemption.
They escape through a tunnel arriving outside in a L.A. high school playground, and are escorted by Dillon's gangster mother to his country retreat. At his hideout Frank is told of the plot to blow up the Academy Awards, while Jane arrives looking for him, she is taken hostage. Frank, pretending to be Phil Donahue, is able to get into the awards, where many antics are caused on stage while he and the police are looking for the bomb hidden in one of the envelopes. Rocco Dillon arrives and points his gun at Frank, who is holding the bomb in the best picture envelope. In a subsequent fight, Dillon ends up with his feet tied up in a rope, which sends him high in the air, he comes back down again, grabs the bomb and is sent hurtling through the ceiling and into the sky above, where he goes into a plane, head first into a toilet, where it turns out Papshmir was sitting, and the bomb explodes killing both of them.
The directors' commentary to the DVD frequently references the critics' reviews on the film. The film did fairly well at the box office, yet it received several very negative reviews. Many felt that there was little plot in the film; it relied on comedy throughout, and had little of the romantic or action elements that were common in the previous two films. In addition, many felt that the humor was weak and too similar to that in the previous films. The opening sequence of the film, which parodied The Untouchables, was popular, however, and the climax at the Academy Awards was also fairly popular, but the middle part of the film was criticized as uninspiring. The directors claim on the DVD that it would have pleased some critics to have stopped the film after the opening credits. Chris Hicks is an example of a unsympathetic critic of the film, who gave the film a rating of two stars.
Cameo appearances:
Numerous celebrities have cameo appearances in the film, both in credited and uncredited roles.
As themselves:
Shannen Doherty – uncredited
Olympia Dukakis – uncredited
Morgan Fairchild – uncredited
Elliott Gould – uncredited
Mariel Hemingway – uncredited
Florence Henderson
James Earl Jones – uncredited
Mary Lou Retton
Raquel Welch – uncredited
Vanna White
"Weird Al" Yankovic (previously appeared in The Naked Gun as himself and in The Naked Gun 2½ as the police station thug)
Pia Zadora
As minor characters:
Joe Grifasi as the director of the Academy Awards (previously appeared as a the Pier 32 Dockman in The Naked Gun)
Ann B. Davis as "Alice" from The Brady Bunch (credited as playing herself)
Marc Alaimo as the trucker
R. Lee Ermey as the mess hall guard – uncredited
Julie Strain as the dominatrix |
