Let’s take a moment to appreciate Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen), a true American hero.

Even though Frank is just a Los Angeles cop, he still goes to the Middle East and disrupts a conference of America’s greatest enemies.  He beats up Fidel Castro.  He knocks out Gadafi and Yasser Arafat.  He cleans Gorbachev’s head.  (“I knew it!” he says as the birthmark disappears.)  He takes out Idi Amin and he sends the Ayatollah Khomeini through a window.  Thirty-seven years ago, this scene opened The Naked Gun and, after all that time, it is still funny because Leslie Nielsen plays it all with a straight face, delivering his silly lines without flinching.  It’s also interesting that none of the leaders taken down by Frank Drebin are around anymore.  Khomeini died just a few months after this film came out.  Gorbachev was the last to go, in 2022, by which time he was no longer an enemy.  Consider it the Frank Drebin Effect.  He’s making the world safe for democracy.

When Drebin returns to Los Angeles, he’s informed by Captain Ed Hocken (George Kennedy) that Police Squad has been put in charge of security for a visit from Queen Elizabeth (Jeanette Charles) and that Officer Nordberg (O.J. Simpson) is in the hospital and suspected of being a dirty cop.  The Mayor (Nancy Marchand) doesn’t want Los Angeles to be embarrassed by a police scandal before the Queen arrives so Drebin has 24 hours to exonerate Nordberg.  Drebin’s attempt to clear Nordberg’s name leads him to a shipping magnate (Ricardo Montalban) who has come up with a diabolical scheme to assassinate the Queen at a baseball game.  It also leads to love between Drebin and Jane Spencer (Priscilla Presley).

Though Liam Neeson did a fine job in the recent reboot, there really is only one Frank Drebin and his name is Leslie Nielsen.  The original Naked Gun is nearly 40 years old and, even if some of the jokes are dated, it’s still laugh out loud funny.  Most of the credit has to go to Leslie Nielsen and ability to deliver even the most bizarre bits of dialogue with natural authority, gravitas and a straight face.  Whether he’s mumbling his way through the National Anthem, paying an informer for information, or hamming it up as an umpire, Nielsen is never less than hilarious.  By the end of the movie, it’s impossible to look at Nielsen without laughing.  Kennedy, Presely, and Montalban also generate their share of laughs.  John Houseman has a great cameo as an unflappable driving instructor.  (“Now, extend your middle finger.”)  As for OJ Simpson, he doesn’t seem to be in on the joke like the rest of the cast but he does frequently get injured and re-injured throughout the movie and there’s definitely some pleasure to be found in that.

(When Simpson died, director David Zucker said, “His acting was a lot like his murdering: He got away with it, but no one believed him.”  That sounds about right.)

Liam Neeson made for a fine Frank Drebin, Jr.  I hope he has many more adventures.  But the greatest Frank Drebin will always be Leslie Nielsen and the original Naked Gun will always be one of my favorite comedies.  Sometimes, it’s good just to laugh.

Thank you, David Zuker.

Thank you, Jerry Zucker.

Thank you, Jim Abrahams.

And most of all, thank you, Leslie Nielsen.