Ready for a new Naked Gun? Because I am!!!
#1
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Ready for a new Naked Gun? Because I am!!!
Read this over at Aint It Cool...and damn if it doesn't sound pretty funny. Here's hoping it goes somewhere.
The first is one of my favorite comedies of all time. And I enjoyed the sequels as well (especially Anna Nicole Smith when she was hot). I'd be all over a new movie.
I love spoof movies, but not what they’ve become. A genre once defined by Airplane!” and “Blazing Saddles” has deteriorated into crapitude like “Epic Movie,” “Meet The Spartans” and “Disaster Movie.” There’s nowhere left to go, except a parody called “Spoof Movie” I guess.
Off and on, I’d heard talk of doing a fourth “Naked Gun” movie, but none of it really seemed to go anywhere. The last one “Naked Gun 33⅓” underperformed and everybody only really liked the first film. On every level, it seemed like a bad idea, especially since Leslie Nielsen is ninetysomething, so I was pretty surprised to read a rave review at www.hollywoodelsewhere.com for a script called “THE NAKED GUN: WHAT 4? THE RHYTHM OF EVIL.”
It wasn’t written by anyone involved with the original films, usually not a good sign, but it is written by the same guy that created the TV series “ Sledge Hammer!” so he s got some spoof cred. I was able to get my hands on the script and was pretty skeptical… until I started reading it. THE NAKED GUN: WHAT 4? reinvents the premise and is as funny as the first film and better than the other two sequels.
NG4 takes “The Files of Police Squad” and shifts it into the gritty, super violent world of contemporary “bad cop” movies like “Training Day,” “Internal Affairs,” “Dark Blue” and “The Departed.” Police corruption in Los Angeles is shown as out of control with cops snatching purses, highway patrolmen accepting credit cards and one section of the city literally transformed into a “Grand Theft Auto” video game. Everyone wonders how you can make a “Naked Gun” movie without mentioning O.J. and the screenplay addresses this head on and rather brilliantly within the first three pages. Without giving too much away, the character of Nordberg and Simpson’s fa tes paralle l each other pretty closely.
An ambitious Commissioner decides the only way to save the city is to reactivate the long inactive Police Squad, a division with a reputation similar to “The Untouchables,” and calls a retired Frank Drebin for guidance. Drebin initially thinks he’s being called back to active duty. He’s excited: “I can still do everything I did thirty years ago… just slower and with more mistakes,” but instead gets persuaded to name a successor. Throughout, Drebin is depicted like Obi Wan and even offers some early voice over narration but has to stop because the entire city can hear it.
A young detective named Vince Conklin arrives on the scene. He’s Drebin ’s pick, a guy who quit a promising career in law enforcement and no one knows why, including Conklin as he has a void in his memory, a mystery that gets revealed, and he’s teamed with an Internal Affairs investigator, Lt. Erica Litvak, to handpick uncorrupted people to comprise Police Squad 2.0.
The script features the requisite rapid-fire jokes and sight gags one would expect from “The Naked Gun,” the formula the beloved ZAZ team defined, but also has a very different level of satire and social commentary throughout. There’s a dig at the last “Die Hard” movie as anytime a character says “fuck” the word gets conveniently clipped off by either a gunshot or car horn. A marquee at a Magic Johnson movie theater reads: “Indiana Jones & The All White Cast.” There are cameos, like Gordon Ramsey wigging out about food on a plane and leading a “United 93” charge of the cockpit. The TV shows “CSI” and “Law & Order” get lampooned with an interrogation scene so dimly20lit no one can find the door at the end, as well as a hot female coroner that performs an autopsy that goes gorily wrong. There seems to be a shot taken in the direction of “24” with a split screen sequence that shows inconsequential stuff happening as well as a scene from another movie entirely.
Besides the high batting average for laughs, ultimately what makes the screenplay work is that it features an actual story with a real investigation and a twist ending. It’s a real whodunit. Similar to the first “Naked Gun,” Conklin gets romantically involved with the main female character and discovers she might have ties to the bad guys. I actually cared about the resolution, which surprised me.
Probably the biggest surp rise is this script appears to have been written for Paramount’s DVD division, either that or it got shifted over since so many spoof movies have bombed. This shouldn’t be the case for this one not just because of an inspired script, but also because the legacy of “The Naked Gun” deserves better. While anything called __________ Movie should be flushed, “The Naked Gun: What 4?” is the shit.
It restores quality control to a badly damaged genre and reboots a much loved film series.
Off and on, I’d heard talk of doing a fourth “Naked Gun” movie, but none of it really seemed to go anywhere. The last one “Naked Gun 33⅓” underperformed and everybody only really liked the first film. On every level, it seemed like a bad idea, especially since Leslie Nielsen is ninetysomething, so I was pretty surprised to read a rave review at www.hollywoodelsewhere.com for a script called “THE NAKED GUN: WHAT 4? THE RHYTHM OF EVIL.”
It wasn’t written by anyone involved with the original films, usually not a good sign, but it is written by the same guy that created the TV series “ Sledge Hammer!” so he s got some spoof cred. I was able to get my hands on the script and was pretty skeptical… until I started reading it. THE NAKED GUN: WHAT 4? reinvents the premise and is as funny as the first film and better than the other two sequels.
NG4 takes “The Files of Police Squad” and shifts it into the gritty, super violent world of contemporary “bad cop” movies like “Training Day,” “Internal Affairs,” “Dark Blue” and “The Departed.” Police corruption in Los Angeles is shown as out of control with cops snatching purses, highway patrolmen accepting credit cards and one section of the city literally transformed into a “Grand Theft Auto” video game. Everyone wonders how you can make a “Naked Gun” movie without mentioning O.J. and the screenplay addresses this head on and rather brilliantly within the first three pages. Without giving too much away, the character of Nordberg and Simpson’s fa tes paralle l each other pretty closely.
An ambitious Commissioner decides the only way to save the city is to reactivate the long inactive Police Squad, a division with a reputation similar to “The Untouchables,” and calls a retired Frank Drebin for guidance. Drebin initially thinks he’s being called back to active duty. He’s excited: “I can still do everything I did thirty years ago… just slower and with more mistakes,” but instead gets persuaded to name a successor. Throughout, Drebin is depicted like Obi Wan and even offers some early voice over narration but has to stop because the entire city can hear it.
A young detective named Vince Conklin arrives on the scene. He’s Drebin ’s pick, a guy who quit a promising career in law enforcement and no one knows why, including Conklin as he has a void in his memory, a mystery that gets revealed, and he’s teamed with an Internal Affairs investigator, Lt. Erica Litvak, to handpick uncorrupted people to comprise Police Squad 2.0.
The script features the requisite rapid-fire jokes and sight gags one would expect from “The Naked Gun,” the formula the beloved ZAZ team defined, but also has a very different level of satire and social commentary throughout. There’s a dig at the last “Die Hard” movie as anytime a character says “fuck” the word gets conveniently clipped off by either a gunshot or car horn. A marquee at a Magic Johnson movie theater reads: “Indiana Jones & The All White Cast.” There are cameos, like Gordon Ramsey wigging out about food on a plane and leading a “United 93” charge of the cockpit. The TV shows “CSI” and “Law & Order” get lampooned with an interrogation scene so dimly20lit no one can find the door at the end, as well as a hot female coroner that performs an autopsy that goes gorily wrong. There seems to be a shot taken in the direction of “24” with a split screen sequence that shows inconsequential stuff happening as well as a scene from another movie entirely.
Besides the high batting average for laughs, ultimately what makes the screenplay work is that it features an actual story with a real investigation and a twist ending. It’s a real whodunit. Similar to the first “Naked Gun,” Conklin gets romantically involved with the main female character and discovers she might have ties to the bad guys. I actually cared about the resolution, which surprised me.
Probably the biggest surp rise is this script appears to have been written for Paramount’s DVD division, either that or it got shifted over since so many spoof movies have bombed. This shouldn’t be the case for this one not just because of an inspired script, but also because the legacy of “The Naked Gun” deserves better. While anything called __________ Movie should be flushed, “The Naked Gun: What 4?” is the shit.
It restores quality control to a badly damaged genre and reboots a much loved film series.
#2
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Re: Ready for a new Naked Gun? Because I am!!!
I'd be leery of any new installment in this franchise (anyone seen George Kennedy lately? Right.), but I do admit that this premise sounds like it could be funny. If they got the right cast and director to work onit, they might have something. Although, if this is planned as DTV then I'm sure I know how it'll turn out.
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Re: Ready for a new Naked Gun? Because I am!!!
Alan Spencer created Sledgehammer in the vain of the Dirty Harry films and is a huge fan of Get Smart in which the Police Squad series seemed to take its cues from. I wouldn't mind a Direct-to-DVD film of this. It can't be worse then the other garbage they produce
#5
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Re: Ready for a new Naked Gun? Because I am!!!
I'll watch it, sounds good.
#8
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Re: Ready for a new Naked Gun? Because I am!!!
Unnecessary, IMHO. The first one was the only good one and the sequels were garbage. This will end up as a "Epic/Disaster/Date/Spartans Movie" level of quality, most likely.
#11
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Re: Ready for a new Naked Gun? Because I am!!!
I would watch it if it gets made, can't be any worse that the other ..... Movie movies, and on a side note about Spoof Movie being made. In france after the success of all those ...... Movie they retitled Don't Be A Menace to Spoof Movie, so in france there already is a Spoof Movie . Heck the even retitled The Comebacks to Sports Movie and The Onion Movie to News Movie in the UK
#12
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Ready for a new Naked Gun? Because I am!!!
I'm shocked to say I actually think that description sounds promising, although it really sounds like half Naked Gun, half Police Academy.
#13
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Re: Ready for a new Naked Gun? Because I am!!!
I'll watch it but don't call it Naked Gun 4. I would just change the characters names around.
Leave the original by themselves. I'm a huge, huge fan of the original trilogy so I think a 4th would be unnecessary since all of the original cast wouldn't come back.
They were also supposed to do a fourth NG WITH Nielsen, but a Direct-to-DVD one, a year or so ago. I wonder what happened.
Leave the original by themselves. I'm a huge, huge fan of the original trilogy so I think a 4th would be unnecessary since all of the original cast wouldn't come back.
They were also supposed to do a fourth NG WITH Nielsen, but a Direct-to-DVD one, a year or so ago. I wonder what happened.
#15
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Re: Ready for a new Naked Gun? Because I am!!!
I smell straight-to-dvd...i'll pass. Don't you think all the other recent spoof movies were sold the same way? This won't be any different.
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Re: Ready for a new Naked Gun? Because I am!!!
Yes! Definitely something I'm gonna look forward to, perhaps they can help restore and maintain what was long destroyed by the makers of the Scary Movie series and the other "...Movie" series.
#19
Re: Ready for a new Naked Gun? Because I am!!!
Hollywood Elsewhere also reviewed this script as great. I'd see it. Better get "Weird Al" Yankovic to be in it though.
#20
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Ready for a new Naked Gun? Because I am!!!
Hollywood just doesn't know how to do spoof movies anymore. Most likely this'll be just as bad as any of Niesen's other non-ZAZ movies.
Instead of spoofing genres, these guys will most likely just add a comic twist to famous scenes.
I like The Naked Gun series as much as the next guy but I'm guessing this will be another 2001: A Space Travesty or Spy Hard. After years and years of pure shit spoofs I hold little hope for this.
Instead of spoofing genres, these guys will most likely just add a comic twist to famous scenes.
I like The Naked Gun series as much as the next guy but I'm guessing this will be another 2001: A Space Travesty or Spy Hard. After years and years of pure shit spoofs I hold little hope for this.
#23
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Re: Ready for a new Naked Gun? Because I am!!!
Do you mean the Scary Movie series that the Zucker brothers (creators of Naked Gun) took over and made part 3 and 4, the worst of the bunch?
#24
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Ready for a new Naked Gun? Because I am!!!
The Zucker Brothers didn't take over Scary Movie. Just the one Zucker did.
I think Pat Proft had something to do with them, though.
I think Pat Proft had something to do with them, though.