Police Academy 4 - Und jetzt geht's rund

I'll admit, I enjoyed these "Police Academy" movies back in the eighties. Honestly, I really only have seen the first two in the theatre. The third one I saw on cable TV. Now that I've bought the box set on DVD, I can honestly say that it is at this 4th sequel of the "Police Academy" films, that they really should have stopped right here. A lot of the humor is predictable and (most annoyingly) often repeated. For example, Winslow (Larvell Jones), was doing his silly "karate man" humor excessively though many of the "Police Academy" films. If he only did this in one film, the humorous impact would have been cherished more. The first three "Police Academy" films are the best. Taking this predictable slapstick into four more follow-up films (with totally forgettable stories, was just a bit too much.) On a positive note, "Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol" starred Corinne Bohrer as Laura. What a gorgeous blonde babe she is! And also, I'll have to admit that on the documentaries of the making of the "Police Academy" films, Leslie Easterbrook is still quite an attractive looking woman. Marian Ramsey still looks good, too.

Ok, I the first three Police Academy movies were all quite good. I had a vague memory that part 4 is still somehwat good. But when watching it again, I was surprised that most that happens in the movie had been forgotten completely. I mean, the previous films felt very familiar with all the legendary jokes that seem unforgettable. This movie had also some good jokes but...I think it is more forgettable. It starts promising, introducing new interesting characters. But towards the end the plot (if there was much of it in the first place) disappears and the movie becomes quite random.

Pros: Harris from the first film is back. He's a great opposing force, better than Mauser from parts 2-3. This is also the first time Harris and Proctor work together. Harris shouting "Proctor!" is classic. Also nice to see more of Zed. The best new character is Mrs. Feldman, the old lady who has Tackleberry's attitude.

Overall it's not a very solid movie but it does have some good comedy moments. Recommended only for fans of the earlier films.

So what's happened so far? A gaggle of society's goofiest citizens have taken advantage of a new policy to loosen hiring standards at the police force and actually made it through despite efforts from all directions to get them thrown out. They embark on their first assignment, which is to turn around Commandant Lassard's beloved precinct 16, which has been dubbed the worst precinct in the city and given 30 days to turn around or suffer some major employee turnover, a fate which is relentlessly helped along by the eternally butt- kissing Captain Mauser. They display a spectacular feat of water-borne police work, saving the academy and then return in the next movie to beat the city's other police academy when it turns out that the governor decides it's not worth the money to keep them both open.

Oh, and of course you all realize who is in this thing, right? None less than Sharon Stone, David Spade in his first film, and Tony Hawk in an early stunt-skateboarding role! You gotta see this!

This time, Commandant Lassard has come up with a scheme he calls Citizens on Patrol (C.O.P. Get it? Get it?), in which he elaborates slightly on the plot of the original movie. You see, the police force has been stretched a little too thin and the public has developed a negative opinion of them due to the fact that they can't be everywhere at all times to stop every single crime in the city. So the natural solution, of course, is to train the public as deputy police officers and basically have briefly trained undercover cops all over the city.

In fact, so close is the resemblance to the first movie that we are even treated to a couple characters who are forced to join the police academy or face jail time – an idea suggested, of course, by Mahoney himself.

This is the best part of the movie, by the way. There is a hilarious gang of skateboarding punks who are disturbing the peace left and right, headed by none other than David Spade, who is a hardened urban predator if I've ever seen one. Thug life, baby!!

Sharon Stone also has a relatively small role in the film, although probably one of the ons that she would like to forget about, and Lieutenant Harris is back after being gone for the last two movies. All of the other relevant cast members return, with the addition of a new group of misfits, like the token fat black guy, David Spade and his idiot skateboarder friend, and Tackleberry's FATHER-in-law. Remember that guy? Who is always gleefully punching out his son? I can't wait until the grandparents start joining!

But don't worry, until then we have Mrs. Feldman to hold us over. Here's this sweet old lady living in a nursing home/military barracks and who has more of a love of all things camouflaged than Tackleberry himself. In fact, I was waiting the whole movie for her to tell her that she's his long lost mother, but no such luck. Something went wrong with the screen writing in there somewhere, but ultimately she turns out to be one of the most consistently funny characters in the movie. She's played with a good-natured smile by Billie Bird, who clearly enjoyed herself while making the movie. You can always tell when the actors are having a good time, and it always makes the movie better, which is good because this movie needs a lot of help!

Of course, it's not much different than the last three movies as far as being worth watching. Bud and his father are still trading punches and it's still more groan-inducing than laugh- inducing, people are still accidentally wandering into the Blue Oyster Club, which hasn't been funny for three movies by now (Proctor inadvertently wandering in naked was the high point of this gag, but also the point where it becomes the most clear that the joke has lost its steam), and Jones is still doing that Bruce Lee impersonation which was funny in the first movie when I was a kid, but as an adult not so much… But, Callahan has a great wet t-shirt scene that makes the whole movie worthwhile!

Oh, and was Mahoney's mischievous grin ever amusing? That poor guy, man. His reputation has for some reason become so tarnished that he is seen by most of the public as even more of a washed up has-been than, umm, well no one else really comes to mind. Bill Paxton? Nah, he's cool, I think. I never needed to forgive him for Weird Science, but Guttenburg unfortunately has a whole string of bad sequels to make up for, and Cocoon and Short Circuit are just not gonna cut it! At any rate, super-gluing the loudspeaker to Harris' face was funny, but why they missed out on the opportunity to have Harris screaming through it at high volume at the doctors in the hospital I just can't understand. The screenwriters are not scoring many points in this one!

But still, this is one of the better Police Academies so far. This one and part 3 are the best ones in the series that I've seen so far, despite the hilarious 1980s badness (there's a boot- legging crime lord, for example, who operates his illegal warehouse standing around with a fistful of cash and a hula hoop around his shoulders), but there definitely are some fun gags. Harris macing his armpits is one is one of the more memorable gags in the whole series, along with Mauser getting his hands glued to his hair, and I have to admit that I enjoyed some of the scenes of the original recruits trying to recruit the public for the new C.O.P. program. It's not a good movie, but it's a good Police Academy movie!

I certainly laughed a bit more than I did with the previous sequels. Once again it's all a bit overcrowded, with characters from the previous 3 outings now being mixed together. Bailey is a welcome return as the antagonist, but he is joined by the sidekick of the last two films' villain. This kind of works, as we get the best of both worlds. On top of this we are also given new characters, everyday citizens wanting to help out. This looks interesting at first, with David Spade and a skateboarding buddy forced into the program, but they are soon lost in the background. An entertaining airborne finale is rather impressive as well. So, with Bailey back, and this being Guttenberg's last, this may be a good stopping point for most viewers that made it this far.

POLICE ACADEMY 4: CITIZENS ON PATROL is in my opinion, the best of the POLICE ACADEMY movies. It is extremely funny for a sequel. I have seen this movie at least ten times on television and I feel that this movie is one of the best movies of the 80's. It is truly hilarious. I love it. I think it is one of the best comedies ever made.