Police Academy (1984)

I don't know what got to me. This evening, I went to the video store and got this one. I first saw it back in the 80's. Now let's not go nuts and call this the best comedy of all times. But it's still a pretty decent one (or indecent if you prefer!). The movie is generally funny, the characters are likable, and it's filmed in Toronto! I was surprised to realize that with the first scene showing the Toronto skyline. Some scenes are very funny, especially the one with George Gaynes (Commandant Lassard). Ah! the podium scene! So funny! Pea-brain humor, but good pea-brain humor!

Out of 100, I gave it 71. That's good for ** out of ****.

Seen in Toronto, on April 5th, 2003.

Fmovies: Police Academy is a 'great' film! Okay it's not Oscar winning quality, no but it's one of those films with a certain 'appeal'. Yes it did brandish six more sequels which went downhill in quality! But the original is the best. It's genuinely funny and unlike the many to follow it has adult humour. It's probably best viewed after midnight for maximum pleasure. This brings a real mix of the 'finest' raw recruits desperate to be police officers, pick of the bunch would be Mahoney signing up with the intention to get booted out! or there's ex-florist and huge mantle Hightower, who could end all crime himself! There's the womanising George Martin. The excellent Lesley Barbara, gun mad Tackleberry etc led by the madcap Lt. Harris and his dominating matrix Lt. Calahan, who are ably watched by the bumbling Commandant Lassard. A hooker running loose on the campus, a huge riot, not to forget Blanks and Copeland and of course the BLUE OYSTER bar! Fantastic! 8/10

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 o

Police Academy fmovies. During my spring break in 1984, I went up to Michigan to see some of my relatives. One day while I was up there I went to see "Police Academy" with my mom, my grandma, and a cousin. Before we saw this, I remembered Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert gave this movie no stars. I also remembered Ebert reviewing this movie on his show "At The Movies" with his late partner Gene Siskel (this was before their show went nationwide and was retitled "Siskel & Ebert"). Ebert summed up "Police Academy" in one short sentence: "IT IS BAD!!!" And Siskel agreed with him. But I went to see this movie anyway and to this day I'm glad that I did. "Police Academy" made me laugh my head off. After the movie was over I said it was the funniest movie since "Airplane!" This movie was so funny I went to see it a second time over Memorial Day weekend 1984 with a friend of mine here in Chicago. "Police Academy" still makes me laugh to this day. It's too bad the sequels didn't live up to this, the original. The second, third, and fourth movies in the series were marginally funny. The fifth and sixth movies were less funny and the series started to wear out its welcome. I've never seen the seventh movie "Mission to Moscow" but I heard it's a stinker. So I'm sticking with the first movie because it's the funniest.

**** (out of four)

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.

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. ****