Police Academy

This is a great movie for relaxing after a hard day at work. It's sheer escapism and good-humoured fun that only requires the watcher to put their mind in neutral, rest their feet, and not think too much.

A lot of the gags are not very original; we've seen most of them before in some other form. But the basic premise of a Police Academy full of misfits provides a novel context.

I've only seen this first movie of the series and don't really have plans to see any of the others. Can't believe they've made ssssssssooooo many sequels.

Too much Police Academy could certainly wear a bit thin, but first time around it's sheer good fun.

Yep, this is the one that started it all. The right one to blame. "Police Academy" - never duplicated, countlessly imitated.

But before you go throwing any stones...this one is funny.

Yep, believe it or not, its joke success ratio is amazingly high. Is it because it's R-rated? That's a lot of it, but it also has a good pedigree.

Director/co-writer Wilson also created TV's "WKRP in Cincinnati", Israel and Proft have written "Bachelor Party" and some other funny stuff you may have heard of (they had a hand in the "Naked Gun" films).

And the cast, in this instance, is fresh! Guttenberg has seldom been better, nor has Cattrall (well, maybe except for "Porky's"), Gaynes, Bailey, Smith, Winslow or Easterbrook. There are a handful of good lines, more good scenes here than in any four of the sequels you can name and plenty more opportunity for good old raunchy "Animal House"-style guffaws.

You don't believe me? Think about the scene with the hooker (Spelvin) in the speaker's podium. Then think about the punch line ("Good speech."). You see? Ah, memories.

Take it from a hard-bitten veteran of the series. This is as good as it gets. You want to see a funny movie about cops? Register at your local "Police Academy".

Six stars, plus a star more for Guttenberg's final scene. Classic.

There is a pretty good documentary included with the DVD collection in which it is revealed that producer Paul Maslansky got the idea for the whole premise of Police Academy when he was working on Hot Stuff in the late 1970s. Evidently there was a police force in charge of crowd control during the making of that movie that was, ah, interestingly diverse to the point that it caught Maslansky's attention and inspired him to approach a sergeant and ask him why there were so many gym class drop-outs on the force. The sergeant replied that they had a fair employment policy in place that compelled them to accept any applicant who took an interest in becoming an officer, but then with a wink he explained that they could flunk out whoever they wanted after three weeks. Instantly, a light bulb popped on above Maslansky's head.

Do you see what this means? Police Academy is based on a true story!!

In response to public discontent as a result of a crime wave that has been sweeping the city, the Mayor puts in place a new rule forcing the Police Department to accept any new applicant regardless of age, height, weight, sex, background, attitude, religion, nationality, IQ, criminal history, or SAT score, which causes the police academy to be bombarded with societal aberrations the likes of which would surely cause the public more concern than the criminals causing the crime wave in the first place.

No nonsense Police Chief Henry Hurst is immediately and thoroughly appalled at the new ruling as he watches the dregs of society flood his beloved police academy, while Commandant Lassard sits in his chair and cheerfully allows the curious developments of life to happen around him as they will. Most of the recruits that become central to the story are honest people who really want to be police officers, except for Casey Mahoney (Steve Guttenburg, in a career-making-and-then-breaking role), who is forced into the academy as an alternative to jail.

How could anyone at any time ever be offered the choice of becoming a police officer or going to jail? Watch the movie and you'll find out, but it doesn't really matter. It has to do with Mahoney having a powerful father, but the point is that Mahoney is a smart-ass who has not a scrap of respect for authority and who is determined to get himself booted out of the academy before lunch on the first day. The academy is equally happy to be rid of him, but for circumstances beyond either of their controls, this is not an option. It's a preposterous situation, but you have to admire it's simplicity and effectiveness in paving the way for a whole movie full of slapstick hilarity.

The rest of the relevant cast provide the springboard from which six sequels sprouted in subsequent years. Indeed, the plots of the movies run a distant second to who is back for each subsequent movie. Moses Hightower is a towering black man who became tired of being a florist, of all things, and decided to become a cop. His counterpart is Cadet Hooks, a mousy black woman with the voice of a stretched balloon who, among other things, must learn to speak with authority. Larvell Jones comes from a background similar to Mahoney's in a lot of ways but is better known for his ability to imitate the sound of almost anything (this was also a career-making-and-breaking role for Michael Winslow). Then there are Tackleberry, the trigger-happy but hilarious gun fanatic, Karen Thompson, the attractive cadet played by Kim Cattrall who provides a welcome distraction for Mahoney, the overweight and perfectly named Leslie Barbara (a man), and Doug Fackler, a priceless geek who is prone to cause accidents that don't affect himself. And overseeing them all is the delightfully creepy Lieutenant Harris, who is determined that they shall all fail miserably.

This should seem like an exceedingly easy task, but as they say, never underestimate the power of stupid people in large numbers!

The first movie in the Police Academy saga follows little more than the adventures of the recruits described above as they work their way through the police academy. There is a delightful competition between Lieutenant Harris, who treats his job with deadly seriousness as needed to ensure his own advancement, and the rest of the recruits, with Commandant Lassard popping up occasionally to fulfill the duties of a man clearly more interested in goldfish than law enforcement, but it's impossible not to love the guy.

Speaking of which, Lassard is the, umm, "victim" of one of the movie's more childish and unamusing jokes. I am not sure how successful the joke was when the movie was first released (I was 5 years old at the time and can't remember my initial reaction), but it is an unfortunate representative of much of the rest of the movie.

Police Academy is a milestone in the evolution of the cheesy comedy, there are no two ways about that, but the comedy in the movie has, ah, not dated well. Modern audiences will find not a single genuinely funny moment in the entire movie, but it would be madness to say that this means the movie isn't any fun.

I remember when I was a kid I used to drive my brother nuts because I always wanted to watch Police Academy movies over and over again, but at some point I lost interest, and didn't gain interest again until about a week ago when I stumbled across the Police Academy DVD collection. But for an amusing trip to the comedy of the past, you can hardly do better. Grab a couple beers, bring your buddies over, and relish the comedy of your childhood. There were never any Academy Awards in mind, but I'm willing to bet that you can't watch this movie without having a little fun

Coincidentally Police Academy was released the same year as Nightmare on Elm Street. Anyway, I saw Police Academy in a packed cinema when it was first released, and the cinema burst into laughter big time. For those watching Police Academy on VHS, DVD or streaming, would you get the same laughs, I don't know I guess. Still, Police Academy is a classic although the sequels not so much.

It turns out that the mayor of a city is wanting to have a better Police force and so opens up a more spaces in the Police Academy so that more people may apply. It turns out that the new applicants are a bunch of losers, wackos, and other various people that just don't fit in.

The whole film is very funny. The characters are normal but very different making them look like complete misfits against each other. But the show is stolen by G.W. Bailey who plays the mean but brilliant Lieutenant Harris.

The movie is a very funny and promising film that is lots of fun. ****