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Police Academy
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| Year: |
1984
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Director: |
Hugh Wilson
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| Stars: |
Steve Guttenberg, Kim Cattrall, G.W. Bailey, Bubba Smith, Donovan Scott, George Gaynes, David Graf, Michael Winslow, Andrew Rubin, Leslie Easterbrook, Marion Ramsey, Georgina Spelvin
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| Genre: |
Comedy |
| Rating: |
  5 (from 1 vote) |
| Review: |
When the city's Police Academy opens its doors to everyone, regardless of ability, a motley group of misfits are thrown together to try and graduate in fourteen weeks - despite the efforts of the police authorities to get them thrown out.
Written by Neal Israel, Pat Proft and director Hugh Wilson, this broad comedy was quite a hit in its day. I mean, someone must like these movies. They made seven of them. Seven. And a TV series. And a cartoon that nobody remembers.
Anyway, the cast, led by Steve Guttenberg, who's supposed to be the cool one, are made up of such characters as the attractive girl (Kim Cattrall), the very tall and strong one, the fat wimp, the one with the squeaky voice, the gun fanatic, the Latin lover, and the best one of all, the guy who makes the funny noises - Michael Winslow. The whole series would be nothing without this guy.
There are, of course, a few bits everyone fondly remembers, like the Blue Oyster bar, the blow job under the podium, and the horse's arse scenes. However wit isn't really the film's strong point, it's like a sketch comedy with a running theme. I suppose the appeal lies in the anti-authority antics of the recruits, but by the end of the movie they've all successfully joined the police force. That's Reagan's America for you - everyone bows under the iron fist of The Man. Or maybe I'm over-analysing.
It's not terrible, so if you're looking for something undemanding, then it's funnier than Porky's. People still enjoy The Three Stooges and Carry On films decades after they came out, so perhaps the following for the Police Academy films will endure well into the twenty-first century. Stranger things have happened. And they did lead to a good joke on The Simpsons. Music by Robert Folk.
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| Reviewer: |
Graeme Clark
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Posted by:
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Tom Raymond |
Date:
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22 Feb 2007 |
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Another of those films everyone loved at school, but twenty years later nobody wants to own up to it. Well, we were all pretty thick when we were ten, weren't we! |
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