Police Academy 3 - ...und keiner kann sie bremsen

I gotta admit, ladies and gentlemen, I don't really find this stuff amusing anymore, but for some reason the Police Academy movies are still their own brand of fun. I was just reading through some of the message boards about the movies on the IMDb about what peoples' favorite scenes were from part 3 and from the series as a whole, and not one of the scenes mentioned was genuinely funny to me anymore. I remember when I was a kid I loved the movies unconditionally and used to drive my brother insane because I always wanted to watch them, but I can't really remember if I just found the movies fun or if I actually got some good belly laughs out of them. Regardless, the vast majority of the comedy has not dated well, but they are still an amusing romp through the hilarious clothing and comedy styles of the 80s!

This time around, Commandant Lassard finds himself in a bit of a moment of crisis as the governor decides that it is no longer financially reasonable to maintain two police academies (the other one headed by the beloved Lieutenant Mauser from part 2), and so one of them will have to be closed. Which academy will be closed depends on performances during a period of observation by an evaluation team.

Needless to say, Mauser employs the help of the hilariously idiotic Proctor and the same two goon cadets, Copeland and Blanks, who have been employed by both Mauser and Harris to create problems for our cast of heroes since the first movie. In order to save Lassard's academy, and their own beloved alma mater, from being closed, all of our favorite Police Academy cast members have been brought back from Their First Assignment to become instructors at the academy and ensure that the place looks good.

So there you have the setup and the basic plot, and other than that it's essentially exactly the same movie as the first two. The characters are the same, the music's the same, the good guys and bad guys are the same, just the skits are different and this time we have the addition of a few negligible characters, the token geek (Sweetchuck), the token Japanese guy (who really serves no other purpose than to grin like an imbecile and become mesmerized by Callahan's prodigious bosoms), and also the ridiculous additions to the force of Fackler's nutty wife and Tackleberry's nutty brother-in-law. You know, the guy who is always trading punches with his own father. Can you imagine putting a police uniform on such a man? Only in a Police Academy movie!

There is not really anything of special note that happens during the movie, although it is a little revealing that this is arguably the funniest installment in the entire series. In keeping with the two preceding movies, we are introduced to the characters in the same way, by glimpsing them in their current lives before the needs of a new movie call them back to the Police Academy world. Hightower is dressing up as an old woman in order to catch purse snatchers in the park, Tackleberry is playing safari in the backyard with his brother-in-law, Fackler is trying to prevent his wife from joining the force (in a scene eerily reminiscent of his first scene in the original movie), and Mahoney is a…women's basketball coach?

Whatever, it doesn't matter what they're doing, their current occupations or pastimes or whatever are just little jokes as they're introduced into the movie. Unfortunately, it's hard to imagine a time when Mahoney's constant flirtations were not as purely creepy as they are now. And that mischievous grin he gets when he's about to play a trick on someone. I need a lot of beers before that's funny, although I would be lying if I said the Police Academies aren't a lot of fun after the beer count enters the double digits.

Unfortunately, there is also a definite feeling that in this installment the movie has turned into even more of a series of goofy jokes. Of course, the whole series is a bunch of goofy jokes, but I think that the second sequel is the first time when the characters that we know are used to throw in some moronic sight gags in order to get a cheap laugh, like when Tackleberry pulls out his gun and shoots a payphone because the operator refuses to relinquish her quarter, or Proctor getting locked out in the hallway ass-naked by a prostitute. On the other hand, my beer count was getting up there by this point, so I found both scenes to be pretty funny.

It is important to realize that director Jerry Paris developed most of his directing experience on television comedy series, which may have something to do with the, ah, conspicuous lack of subtlety in a lot of the sight gags in Police Academy 2 and 3. It's interesting to consider the impact that his personal directing experience before coming into the Police Academy series may have shaped the series as a whole, which moved in that direction and then never managed to get away from it. Ad now it seems that Steve Guttenberg is attempting to put a Police Academy 8 in motion, in which case I can only hope that he doesn't try to reinvent the series, although I have a feeling that it would take nothing less than a total reinvention to make yet another sequel worthwhile

It's back to where it all started for the gang as they assist trainees who are as inept as they were. Squealing Goldthwait is now a wannabe cop and in a perfect idea by the screenwriter is roommated with meek little Mr. Sweetchuck, whom he terrorized throughout part 2. The most notable newcomer is Brian Tochi as the Japanese youngster obsessed with Easterbrook's breasts (who wouldnt be?). The climax is a little more exciting than in the recent films (a jet-ski chase) and is filmed very nicely. And it's odd how with each film the running time gets shorter, only 83 minutes here. But still enjoyable the third time around.

While still suffering from the humor limitations of being rated PG, "Police Academy 3" has sight gags enough to make it worth watching a few times (at least more often than "Part II").

The gang's all here and trying to train a new line of cadets in their own image (poor cadets) while Lassard (Gaynes) tends to his goldfish and tools about in his modified golf cart.

Even Bobcat Goldthwait returns as Zed, this time training to be a force of good. His scenes breathe a lot of life into this affair, as he screams at doors until they fall down, terrorizes his fellow cadets, hot wires police cars with his teeth and sings at the most inopportune times.

Everyone else has at least one good scene, maybe two. And considering how many are in the cast, that leaves room for a lot of good scenes. Even Georgina Spelvin is back from the original and, bless her, she makes good, too (though not as hilarious as in the original).

This is about as good as the sequels get, so look no further for laughs than "Police Academy 3: Back in Training". Definitely Bubba Smith's finest hour.

Seven stars. Good job, officers.

Here we go…I don't care what anyone says, this is funny. Yes the series gets worse with each film, but any of the first 4 are better than any American Pie, or any teen comedy ever. The characters have already been established, with the main additions being Bobcat Goldthwaite as Zed, who is endlessly funny, and Mauser as the rival Cmndt. Plot? There are two Police Academies; one must close so a series of competitions are set up to see which is better. Mauser recruits Copeland and Banks from Lassard's school as traitors, but Mahoney and crew eventually prove the better. But these movies are not about plot. Some would say they're not about comedy, or anything else, but as a kid, nothing made me laugh more than these films. And they still do. Jones makes loads of noises, Tackleberry watches his in laws punch each other, Mahoney makes his usual comments, but Zed and Procter are my favourites here. The Blue Oyster Bar is back, and other scenes that keep me laughing are the arrival of Sweetchuck to the Academy, crashing into the car, and Zed singing to make a door fall. I see why people find these completely irritating, but I'm pis*ing myself thinking about them. While I was reading some of the (mostly negative) reviews of this, where people were slagging off the parts they didn't find funny, I was in stitches. May say something about me-but that's something I'm not ashamed of.

8 out of 10

Police Academy 3 (1986) The inmates are now running the asylum. Mahony and company are now instructors at the place they once attend. Running out of ideas and funny situations, the film starts to repeat (ad naseum) many of the gags and punchlines from the first two films. While new characters are being added to the series, a few old one decide to leave (for good). If you notice, the bigger the star Steve Guttenberg becomes, the lesser screen time he gets. Oh well.

Slightly recommended. If the producers have thought with their heads instead of their pocket books, they should have put this series to bed instead of dragging it out and running the series until the wheels and the engine fell off.