"Police Squad!"... Making Our Streets Safer (and Also Very Funny)

In 1988, comedy writers Jim Abrahams, Jerry Zucker and David Zucker scored a hit with The Naked Gun. But, as the film’s subtitle, From the Files of Police Squad!, suggests, the movie is actually a big screen version of a short-lived comedy show. Police Squad!, first broadcast in 1982, was placed on hiatus after just four episodes. The last two episodes were shown a few months later, and the series was canceled.

Police Squad! follows -- as he introduces himself in the pilot -- Sergeant Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen), Detective Lieutenant, Police Squad, a special detail of the police department. (Drebin’s rank varies from episode to episode, as he sometimes calls himself Detective Drebin or Lt. Drebin.) Each week, Drebin would tackle a new case, sometimes going undercover, with the help of his boss/partner, Capt. Ed Hocken (Alan North) and Officer Norberg (a surprisingly funny Peter Lupus, who played Willy on the popular show, Mission: Impossible). Drebin is also assisted by Ted Olson (Ed Williams), the department’s lab scientist; Johnny (William Duell), the shoeshiner who provides information for cash; and an officer known simply as Al (“Tiny Ron” Taylor).

One of the many reasons this show works so well is its dedication to formula. Formula, if managed properly, can be an effective tool, especially in comedy. The first film written by Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker, The Kentucky Fried Movie, which was named after their theater group, Kentucky Fried Theater, and directed by John Landis, was essentially a series of sketches. It includes an assortment of parodies of commercials and news shows, with the “main attraction” being the film, A Fistful of Yen, a humorous take on Bruce Lee and Enter the Dragon (1973). The troupe’s style of comedy is not slapstickish, but rather broad absurdist humor full of non-sequiturs (irrelevant and illogical dialogue or action), visual gags, and wordplay (a running gag in Police Squad! is Detective Drebin offering people a smoke, asking, “Cigarette?” with a typical response of, “Yes, I know,” as if he were simply confirming that he has a cigarette).

Taking that brand of humor and inserting it into a formulaic police show, complete with a straight-faced protagonist, truly makes the comedy all the more rewarding. There is a distinct difference between watching a visual gag and seeing the same gag in the background while trying to following dialogue pertaining to the main plot. One recurring joke in Police Squad! is Drebin and Hocken in the elevator discussing their ongoing investigation. Each time a person, apparently out of place (a woman in formal wear, another in a swimsuit and swimcap), steps into the elevator. But then the next floor conforms to the person (a large swimming pool for the swimmer, and a stage and awaiting audience for the other woman), who makes an exit, while splashing water or tossed roses make their way through the open doors of the elevator. The two men, of course, fail to acknowledge anything beyond their conversation.

Each episode begins with the title and announcement of the show and actors (a direct parody of the Lee Marvin police drama, M Squad), one of the actors being “Rex Hamilton” as Abraham Lincoln, who never makes an appearance. Each week, there would be a special guest star, who would be killed during the opening credits, and the title shown would differ from what the announcer calls it (e.g., the pilot’s title is displayed as “A Substantial Gift,” while the announcer says, “Tonight’s episode: ‘The Broken Promise’”). Drebin would usually knock over a trash can or mailbox when parking his car, Olson in the lab would be conducting an inappropriate experiment with a young child, Billy or Katie (such as what hanging object will fall faster, a bowling ball or a next-door neighbor), and Johnny would give incredibly detailed information that no one could possibly know (and also be seen for advice by the likes of Tommy Lasorda and Dr. Joyce Brothers). Al, as portrayed by the seven-foot tall Taylor, could only be seen from his chest down, either adorned in a silly shirt (typically related to the case) or criticized for something on his face or head (which obviously cannot be seen until it’s pointed out, like the “headgear” that isn’t “regulation,” as Al removes a sombrero).

While the series is strong throughout (with only the sixth episode, “Testimony of Evil”/“Dead Men Don’t Laugh,” directed by Joe Dante, faltering with an extended and dull lounge act from an undercover Drebin), none of the episodes match the pilot, written and directed by Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker. The comedy is delivered full tilt, and although the running time is only 25 minutes sans commercial breaks, the episode needs to be watched multiple times for a true appreciation. (I saw the series several times before realizing that, on the glass door, POLICE is correspondingly a mirror image inside the office, but SQUAD is not. And my wife pointed out that, in “Rendezvous at Big Gulch”/“Terror in the Neighborhood,” although the series is set somewhere in the U.S., the Eiffel Tower can be seen through a window.) The pilot includes one of my favorite lines of anything that Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker have done, spoken by Drebin to a victim’s widow: “We would’ve come earlier, but your husband wasn’t dead then.” Some have suggested that the series was ahead of its time, and this appears to be the case. In 1982, people were evidently not prepared for a television show that required viewers to pay scrupulous attention. But, particularly with the success of the Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker film, Airplane!, two years before, the resulting cult status of Police Squad! could likely have been forecast.

Following Top Secret! in 1984, Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker wrote (with David Zucker directing) The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! The film was very successful and spawned two sequels, The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (1991) and The Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult (1994). In the films, George Kennedy plays Capt. Hocken and O.J. Simpson plays a similarly-named Nordberg. Williams and Taylor reprise their TV roles, but Duell is unfortunately nowhere to be seen. The first film and the first sequel are both hilarious cinematic excursions, but the third movie, directed by Peter Segal, falls flat in many scenes. A fourth film has been rumored for the last couple of years but, as of 2010, very few details have come into fruition. Priscilla Presley is quite charming as Frank Drebin’s love interest in all three films, and Robert Goulet, who played one of the doomed “guest stars” in Police Squad!, is the villain and Drebin’s rival for Presley’s affection in The Naked Gun 2½.

Reportedly, the role of Frank Drebin on Police Squad! was specifically written for Leslie Nielsen, who’d also starred in Airplane! But it was Nielsen’s cinematic rekindling of Drebin in The Naked Gun that solidified the actor’s reputation as a comic actor. His deadpan delivery against the backdrop of absurd and ludicrous situations and settings was so beloved by audiences that Nielsen has essentially been typecast. Time and again, he is asked to play similar characters, in movies such as 1990’s Repossessed (a spoof of 1974’s The Exorcist), Spy Hard (1996), and 2001: A Space Travesty (2000). Even Mel Brooks directed one with Dracula: Dead and Loving It in 1995. In my opinion, the only one of these films worth watching is Wrongfully Accused (1998), which was written and directed by Pat Proft, who worked on Police Squad! and co-wrote all three Naked Gun movies.

After The Naked Gun, the three men who were once collectively known as the Kentucky Fried Theater seemed to part ways. Just two years later, Jerry Zucker directed the extraordinarily successful Ghost starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, and an Oscar®-winning Whoopi Goldberg. His brother, David Zucker, stayed mostly in comedies, producing High School High (1996), co-writing and directing South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone in BASEketball (1998), their first film after their hit TV show, and directing the spoofs, Scary Movie 3 (2003) and Scary Movie 4 (2006). Likewise, Abrahams co-wrote (with Proft) and directed the excellent Hot Shots! (1991) and Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993), as well as helming Jane Austen’s Mafia! in 1996. He and Proft also co-wrote Scary Movie 4.

So many films of today (particularly ones starring Nielsen) attempt the type of comedy mastered by Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker, but very few (if any) have succeeded. The comedy is both frivolous and ingenious. It’s goofy fun but can only be savored with an audience on full alert, trying to see and hear every quip, every gag, every moment that makes the quick-eyed viewer laugh aloud. The three writers/directors were comedic Picassos, creating a surreal landscape that easily captures the eyes and, if stared at long enough, captures the heart as well. Police Squad! may have only lasted six episodes, but its lifespan and influence are immeasurable.