THE NEW POLICE RECRUITS. CALL THEM SLOBS. CALL THEM JERKS. CALL THEM GROSS. JUST DON’T CALL THEM WHEN YOU’RE IN TROUBLE.
When the mayor of a major city makes it possible for everyone who wants to be a cop to enroll in the police academy, one ill-suited candidate after another shows up. Most of the entries in this franchise were indeed garbage, but the first one had a few things going for it, working a formula where likable misfits overcome adversity. Director Hugh Wilson’s film sure is tasteless and no different from all the other typically raunchy comedies of the 1980s, but it is paced pretty well and has two memorably funny performances by G.W. Bailey and George Gaynes as an academy instructor and the principal.
1984-U.S. 95 min. Color. Produced by Paul Maslansky. Directed by Hugh Wilson. Screenplay: Neal Israel, Pat Proft, Hugh Wilson. Song: “I’m Gonna Be Somebody” (performed by Jack Mack and the Heart Attack). Cast: Steve Guttenberg (Carey Mahoney), G.W. Bailey (Thaddeus Harris), George Gaynes (Eric Lassard), Kim Cattrall, Bubba Smith, Michael Winslow.
Trivia: Followed by six sequels, starting with Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment (1985), a TV series in 1997 and an animated one in 1988.
