The Naked Gun - Still so good

I first watched 'The Naked Gun' on VHS when it was released at the tail end of the eighties.  I was much younger then and appreciated - how would you call it - more 'juvenile' humour.  Now, some thirty years later, I was almost scared to watch it again in case it didn't live up to how I remember.  All I can say is that it's either as funny as it ever was, or my humour never actually grew up.  I think it's probably both, seeing as I also like the 'Jackass' movies.

You may never have heard of, or never bothered with, the TV show 'Police Squad.' It wasn't on telly for very long and I believe it got cancelled after only one series.  However, that didn't stop the producers from effectively reusing the story (and even some of the jokes) for their feature length film, 'The Naked Gun.' It follows the exploits of Detective Frank Drebin (played to perfection by a totally deadpan Leslie Nielsen) as he is tasked with foiling an assassination attempt on Queen Elizabeth when she visits his home city of Los Angeles, proving his partner Nordberg (creepily played by O.J. Simpson, before he, er, fell from grace - so to speak) and generally falling in love with the new lady in his life, Jane (Priscilla Presley).

Now, all that sounds quite a lot to fit into what is actually quite a standard length film (roughly ninety minutes) and yet every moment flies by simply because it never wastes any time by NOT putting jokes in.  In short... the gags comes thick and fast.  In fact, sometimes you've only just finished laughing at one joke when another comes along.  They're that closely packed in. 

I guess the only person who wouldn't get some amusement out of this would be someone who really despises slapstick and slightly low-brow humour.  Many of the jokes are visual and revolve around the 'bumbling' antics of the leading man as he tries to unravel the conspiracy surrounding Ricardo Montalban's evil plot.  And, if you've only really seen Montalban as 'Khan' from 'Star Trek II' and think he can only play things seriously, it's a treat to see him do something a little lighter than trying to hound Kirk to the ends of the galaxy.

There are few films that stand the test of time and, in a world of comedies where many of the laughs revolve around 'pop culture' references, i.e. making the subject matter only funny if you 'get' the reference and it stays relevant forever, it's nice to see a film that will always be daftly funny, no matter how many years pass by.

9/10 almost as perfect as The Godfather