Psycho's Movie Reviews #105: The Police Academy Series (1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1994)
- Dec 2, 2021
- 15 min read
Police Academy is a series of American comedy films, the first six of which were made in the 1980s and the seventh in 1994. The series opened with Police Academy (1984), which started with the premise that a new mayor had announced a policy requiring the police department to accept all willing recruits. The film followed a group of misfit recruits in their attempts to prove themselves capable of being police officers, and succeeding both in spite of and because of their eccentricities. The main character in the first four films, Carey Mahoney (Steve Guttenberg), was a repeat offender, who was forced to join the police academy as punishment. The seventh and to date last instalment, Mission to Moscow, was released in 1994. Guttenberg in September 2018 announced that a new Police Academy film was in the works.
In general, all of the films and television shows depended on simple slap-stick humour, usually based on simple characterizations and physical comedy. As with many similar films, the theme was a group of underdogs struggling to prove themselves, while various authority figures tried to suppress them. The sequels have not been well received by critics, although they were very successful commercially. The first film grossed $149.8 million worldwide and made a profit of $35 million. The sequels grossed $387 million in total. Parallels have been drawn between Police Academy and the British Carry On series, for their common reliance on a largely constant ensemble cast throughout the various films, the two series' frequent use of low-brow humour, sexual innuendo, and physical comedy. However this is a misconception as the Carry On films did not include a set cast. George Gaynes, Michael Winslow, and David Graf were the only actors appearing in all seven films of the series.
FILMS:
Police Academy (1984)
Police Academy was released in 1984 and directed by Hugh Wilson. The film has a newly elected female mayor announcing a policy requiring the police department to accept all willing recruits. The movie followed a group of misfit recruits in their attempts to prove themselves capable of being police officers and their adventures at the police academy.
Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment (1985)
In 1985's Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment, the newly graduated cadets are sent to one of the worst precincts in the city to improve the conditions. Lt. Mauser undermines their attempts so he can get Capt. Lassard fired and get the position in charge.
Police Academy 3: Back in Training (1986)
Police Academy 3: Back in Training was released in 1986, and like its predecessor, was directed by Jerry Paris. When the governor of the state announces that budget cuts are in order to get rid of the worst of the two police academies, the metropolitan police academy, led by Commandant Lassard, work on ensuring it is not theirs. This is hindered by their unusual gang of new cadets.
Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol (1987)
The fourth instalment, Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol, released in 1987, involves new recruits being brought in when the officers work with a newly formed Citizens on Patrol group. Harris and Proctor are in charge, though, and plan to dismantle the program. Citizens on Patrol was the final film starring Guttenberg.
Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach (1988)
Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach, released in 1988, was directed by Alan Myerson. The plot involves the officers attending a police convention in Florida to honour Commandant Eric Lassard as police officer of the decade, wherein he inadvertently switches his sports bag with that of a group of jewel thieves. The thieves try to get it back.
Police Academy 6: City Under Siege (1989)
The sixth instalment, Police Academy 6: City Under Siege, directed by Peter Bonerz {HA! I'm sorry that's an unfortunate surname... *laughs quietly in corner*}, was released in 1989. When the city suffers from a dangerous set of crimes by a gang of jewel thieves, the Metropolitan Police Academy graduates are brought in to do something about it.
Police Academy: Mission to Moscow (1994)
Police Academy: Mission to Moscow, released in 1994 and directed by Alan Metter, involved the officers going to Russia to help catch an international crime figure.
Future
An eighth instalment or reboot has been in development hell since 2003.
As of September 2003, plans were set in motion for an eighth Police Academy film to be released in 2007 after more than 13 years of absence. Says series creator Paul Maslansky: "I felt it was time to start again. I saw that Starsky & Hutch and a number of other revivals were doing really well. Police Academy has such a great history, so I thought, 'Why not?'" Most of the main cast members were due to return, except David Graf (Sgt. Eugene Tackleberry) and Billie Bird (Lois Feldman) who have died. Hugh Wilson was slated to direct.
Leslie Easterbrook (Capt. Debbie Callahan) and Marion Ramsey (Sgt. Laverne Hooks) mentioned that filming for the next Police Academy film was due to start shooting in summer 2006 for a release in 2007. The film was shelved in October 2006. Easterbrook did mention that there was still hope for a direct-to-DVD sequel. She added that while Warner Bros. wanted to do one, they wanted a producer to get independent financing.
In May 2008, Michael Winslow replied to a question about a possible new Police Academy film: "Anything's possible. You've got to hope for Paul Maslansky and those folks over there to put it together. It's up to them. It would be great to see everyone again."
In a radio interview on November 26, 2008, with Colin Paterson for BBC Five Live's Simon Mayo show, Steve Guttenberg (Sgt. Carey Mahoney) confirmed that 8 was still in development and that he was working on the script with Warner Bros. Guttenberg is slated to direct the film, and stated that all of the cast from the previous instalments (except for the deceased David Graf, Billie Bird, and Tab Thacker) would return to reprise their roles.
After seven films in its original 10-year run, New Line is planning on reviving the Police Academy series, which grossed $537 million worldwide and spawned a pair of TV spinoffs. The slapstick comedy will be helmed by original producer Paul Maslansky. "It's going to be very worthwhile to the people who remember it and to those who saw it on TV", Maslansky told the Hollywood Reporter. "It's going to be a new class. We hope to discover new talent and season it with great comedians. It'll be anything but another movie with a numeral next to it. And we'll most probably retain the wonderful musical theme."
In an interview with MTV Movies Blogs on March 17, 2010, Paul Maslansky stated that he plans to bring back some of the original cast to train the new recruits. When asked which characters he would bring back, Maslansky stated, "I haven't decided which ones. And I don't want to mention names and others will be disappointed, at this point. All I know is that I want to bring back some of the older characters to it, and maybe they'll have principal roles, some of them, and some of them might be just you know a cameo."
While appearing as a guest on the July 12, 2010, edition of This Morning, Michael Winslow (Sgt. Larvell Jones) confirmed that Police Academy 8 is still in production. In August 2010, Steve Guttenberg revealed a script was being written by David Diamond and David Weissman.
On August 9, 2010, actor Bobcat Goldthwait (Officer Zed) released a statement urging Hollywood to reboot the Police Academy series with a new group of actors instead of the original cast members. Goldthwait confirmed that Steve Guttenberg would return and that movie bosses were trying to get Kim Cattrall and Sharon Stone to return for an eighth film, though Goldthwait said he had no desire to return to the series.
On January 9, 2012, New Line Cinema confirmed that Scott Zabielski (Tosh.0) will be the director of the upcoming film. During a radio interview on March 21, 2012, Michael Winslow stated that production of the eighth film was due to begin in November, and that an offer had been made to Shaquille O'Neal to replace the late Bubba Smith as Hightower. On June 5, 2012, Jeremy Garelick (The Break-Up) was hired by New Line Cinema to help rewrite the aforementioned script.
On September 3, 2018, Steve Guttenberg announced that a new Police Academy film was in the works when he responded to a fan on Twitter saying "the next Police Academy is coming, no details yet, but it is in a gift bag being readied!"
BOX OFFICE:
* Police Academy March 23, 1984
Domestic Gross = $81,198,894
Worldwide gross = $149,840,000
Budget = $4,500,000
* Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment March 29, 1985
Domestic Gross = $55,600,000
Worldwide Gross = $114,993,000
Budget = $7,500,000
* Police Academy 3: Back in Training March 21, 1986
Domestic Gross = $43,579,163
Worldwide Gross = $107,639,000
Budget = $12,239,000
* Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol April 3, 1987
Domestic Gross = $28,061,343
Worldwide Gross = $76,819,000
Budget = $17,325,000
* Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach March 18,1988
Domestic Gross = $19,510,371
Worldwide Gross = $54,499,000
Budget = $13,858,000
* Police Academy 6: City Under Siege March 10, 1989
Domestic Gross = $11,567,217
Worldwide Gross = $33,190,000
Budget = $14,515,000
* Police Academy: Mission to Moscow August 26, 1994
Domestic Gross = $126,247
Worldwide Gross = N/A
Budget = $10,000,000
Total
Domestic Gross = $239,643,235
Worldwide Gross = $537,100,000
Budget = $79,937,000
My Reviews:
Okay, so "Police Academy" is probably the ultimate manifestation of the word "witless". But it doesn't pretend to be anything other than what it is: nice, silly fun. The plot basically has a series of goof-off misfits enrolling in the police force and turning it topsy-turvy. Steve Guttenberg, as Cadet Carey Mahoney, may have to remember this as his peak in movies, and he does a pretty good job here.
Anyway, the movie is pretty much an excuse to be silly. And they do just that. With hilarious one-liners and one gag after another, you won't be disappointed 7/10.
Of course, I advise you not to watch it if you're the type who only wants to see "important" movies.
Police Academy is such a classic, it has some of the best laughs and is just such a great time to watch it wither it's by yourself or with a group of friends. So I couldn't resist, I had to see the sequels, but I was really nervous when I kept checking all the ratings for the sequels, they're all pretty low and below average. So I was expecting Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment to be absolutely bad, but actually I did laugh quite a bit. I admit this was below what the first one was with the laughs and the story, but I felt like it was a decent follow up with the first Police Academy movie. It was cool to see the old gang back together and just having fun like they did in the first film. The story is a little weak but it's still a lot of fun to watch and has some great laughs.
A violent, well, um, if that's the right word, a violent gang has moved in on the town and are just making it into a havoc for anyone to live in. They are also making a mockery of the police, well, that's not too hard to do since they're pretty incompetent, so the chief wants a new team. He is given the class of '84, who haven't had any good jobs since they graduated, but now they are back together to get this gang out of town. At first they just end up screwing just as badly, but come together to be the best police force in town.
Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment in my opinion is a fun movie, I think the 4.8 rating is a little harsh, I understand the low 5's, but I think the reason why is because it is a little less than the first Police Academy movie, now of course I would say to stick with the original for right now, but I wouldn't shy you away from the sequel. Anyone who says they didn't laugh once during this movie must be lying, because the scene where they put super glue in their Sergeant's shampoo was beyond hilarious, it's a classic. So just go ahead and have fun with this movie, I think you'll enjoy it; 7/10.
Not exactly, but we do get back to where this all began. Just with a different premise. And this actually is Police Academy... curious to see if the others have any connection left. Even the second movie left the building - no pun intended. But since we do progress story wise, we do get new recruits. Most of them we have seen in the previous instalments in other roles - obviously since now they decided to become cops.
There are situations that work fine (and pairs that are really nice) and then there are things that are not as swell. We do get a call-back from the first movie where we get a character who had quite an impact with her scene in the first movie ... no further explanation necessary ... I did re-watch the first three and will watch the other ones too, but took a break for a second from them. I doubt they'll get better. I am curious who'll stay until the end ... I don't remember that. Sometimes it also does not make sense. Leslie Easterbrook comes back for this one after sitting the second one out for example; 7/10.
Why is this movie rated so low? I admit that it is the fourth in the series and that is getting pretty ridiculous but this one has many memorable moments in it. Also where else can you go see Sharon Stone, David Spade, and a special appearance by a young kid at the time named Tony Hawke. No where else can you get so many people in one of their first movies. It is also still highly entertaining and causes me to laugh often. This is where you should stop watching the series however b/c they lose Steve Guttenburg and he is the only reason the series kept on for as long as it did. So don't give this a low score. Help it get out of the lowest 100 where other real horrible films belong; 7/10
Okay, so something happens in the first few minutes of Police Academy 5 that must surely be the most meaningful and artistic bit of creative story-telling that has happened before or since in the entire series. As Captain Harris and Proctor are breaking into Chief Hurst's office to get their hands on his files, Proctor worries that they're breaking the law. "We're not breaking the law, Proctor," Harris assures him. "We are STRETCHING it." After he says this we cut to Proctor, who pulls on a piece of bubble gum between his fingers which stretches and then breaks. In a rare moment of thoughtfulness, Proctor appeared to me to look at the gum and discover the stretching and breaking are pretty much the same thing.
At any rate, it's telling that such a simple thing should come across as one of the most creatively meaningful things in the series, but I do have to say that Police Academy 5 is not nearly as bad as I have read that it is. In fact, I would go so far as to say that it's one of the better sequels in the whole bonehead franchise.
As you know, this is the first Police Academy movie that's missing Steve Guttenberg as Mahoney, and he's replaced by the charming Matt McCoy, who plays Commandant Lassard's nephew Nick, an ace Sergeant on the Miami Beach force. The character is a noble effort, but Mahoney is definitely missed.
The plot culminates in an exciting sequence when the little crime boss gives in to the frustrations of multiple failed attempts to get their bag back and just decides to kidnap Lassard in front of the whole congregation. Lassard of course, true to form, thinks it's all a demonstration and even helps the bad guys out along the way, winning their friendship and respect in probably the funniest element of the whole movie.
By the way, if you manage to get it on DVD, make sure to check out the little ten minute documentary about it, it's hilarious! I loved the ones about the earlier films, where they get most of the original cast together to talk about their experiences in making the movies. My favorite is Mission to Moscow, where producer Paul Maslansky talks about what a great film-making event it was making Police Academy 7, finally and officially revealing himself to be genuinely delusional.
But this one comes close! Here's an actual quote from director Alan Myerson speaking about part 5 – "For it's day, it was just short of a James Bond movie." 7/10
One thing that struck me about this instalment: it has some new jokes! I don't think I've seen the writers coming up with new material since the second one or so. Granted, most of it is tiresome slapstick, but at least it's new tiresome slapstick. They have dodged some other bullets too. Our heroes don't go on trips anymore, they don't have romantic subplots that go nowhere. They just solve crimes, and are comically bad at it. I even wanted to know who the leak was, the plot is more compelling than usual. Especially Harris and Proctor deliver some good laughs in this one, the bus scenes are pretty funny. The mayor is also a funny character. Generally the post-Mahoney era is rather pointless, but this is by far the best movie of those three. 7/10
The last part of the "Police Academy" franchise is on the IMDb Bottom Rated Movies list and its Metascore is 11, and I laughed to tears at its reviews. The movie inspired a bunch of people to hilarious bashing. And it is a fact, the movie is disastrously bad. The script is retarded and the humour is even worse. The few jokes that could pass as humorous are the recycling of the previous films in the series, so this is not particularly funny either. But for reasons I can't explain, I liked this movie better than the previous three. While four to six made me yawn, this one relaxed and somewhat amused me. And you can't imagine my surprise and delight when no less than Christopher Lee appeared on the screen.
"Police Academy: Mission to Moscow" is a near miss. It's not a total loss. It has some funny moments and quite a few almost funny moments. This movie was hurt by its lack of budget. The location photography looks really good but much of the movie looks cheap. That said, I enjoyed watching this movie. I really liked the adventures of Commandant Lassard. I wish this movie spent more time with that story. It was funny. Honourable mention; High props to Michael Winslow and George Gaynes for persevering through all the movies, just wow, their commitment is amazing!
{I won't go into the details much of Police Academy, because it's quite simple and everyone should know it by now. The PA series has been around for 20 years now and we know the drill. The PA series is what it is. It's silly, totally ridiculous, but harmless fluff for clean viewing. I am not gonna write how dumb it is or how cheap it is. Why?. We already know this. Everyone knows this and has for 20 years. Writing about it just to blast it and all that and how stupid it is is kind of redundant. Uh, really?. There has never been any question, doubt, or any misconception about what these films are or like. People know what they are and they know what they are going to get when they rushed to the theatre to see it or watch it now. They obviously liked the way it was and the simple, mindless fun it delivered, because if they didn't, then the movies would not of been as successful or popular as they were, or had so many made. I definitely know many scholarly people who enjoy movies like this because they are fun and innocent and let you have a fun side. It's alright to like PA and any of it's sequels}.
Overall:
I hadn't heard of 'Police Academy' film series before recently, until my ITV2 showed the films of an evening. As of now I've watched the mass majority of them with my Dad, the only one I haven't watched is the seventh part 'Mission Moscow'. Despite all the bad reviews I found upon researching the public opinions, I'm shocked how funny these films actually are! I love silly humour and boy do these films deliver.
Seeing all the films recently, for curiosity and giving the benefit of the doubt, while the sequels are really not good on the most part the original 'Police Academy' is and is rightly considered the best of the series. 'Police Academy' is probably in my top 30 favourite films, and is most definitely in my list of favourite comedies. Taking it for what it is and what it set out to do, it entertained for most of the just over an hour and a half running time.
It is a bit hit and miss in places, not all the jokes work (most do though), due to going a little too heavily on the childish and cheap low-brow factors. That said, nothing is distasteful at least, nothing makes you want to gag or make you go to the bathroom and throw up copiously (which is more than can be said for stuff like 'Freddy Got Fingered' and the worst of Adam Sandler).
'Police Academy's' story is rather thin, with less eventful parts leaving some rather draggy stretches, and gets a bit silly. Kim Catrall does a good job being sexy and sassy but she is given little to do and the film didn't seem to know what to do with her.
However, 'Police Academy' is competently made visually, not stunning but hardly cheap. The setting looks good too and is well utilised. The soundtrack is catchy and infectious, fitting the tone perfectly.
While it has been said that not everything in the humour works, most of it does, the crudeness is mostly not overdone and the silliness is mostly endearing. Much of the dialogue is hilarious and there are set pieces that raise at least a couple of big belly laughs, the highlights being the speech scene (absolutely hilarious and to me the single best and funniest scene of the whole 'Police Academy' series) and the scenes with Copeland and Blankes.
Steve Guttenberg seems to be really enjoying himself, and is a fun and amiable presence. Easy to see why his role here made him a star at the time, even if somewhat briefly. George Gaynes is a hoot and GW Bailey is suitably hard nosed, which provides some entertaining conflict. My favourite character is definitely Michael Winslow, the officer that tricks and annoys everyone with his amazing imitations of noises. Michael Winslow is sooooo talented! Everyone else is fine too.
Overall, good fun films that never tries to be more than it is and knows what it wants to be. Hit and miss perhaps, but when it hits man isn't it entertaining. 7/10
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