I Didn't Watch The Original Naked Gun Until Recently, And There Are 6 Bits That Had Me Kicking Myself For Taking So Long

I have to come clean. I had never watched The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad until not all that long ago. Guilty as charged for the crime of being a “Johnny Come Lately,” I finally sat down and watched what has long been considered one of the best spoof movies of all time before the release of the upcoming reboot starring Liam Neeson, before it lands on the 2025 movie schedule. Not only did the Leslie Nielsen movie about a hapless detective trying to clear his friend’s name make me laugh, it also made me kick myself for waiting so damn long.

Seriously, The Naked Gun features one outrageous bit after another, making this a series of hilarious gags, action sequences, and jokes about bodily functions that had me laughing so hard I thought I was going to wake up my family. While I would love to talk about them all, I only have time for six of the funniest bits the movie had to offer.

The Opening Title Sequence Getting Progressively Zanier Had Me Rolling

Though the opening scene in The Naked Gun, where Frank Drebin busts a meeting of terrorists and world leaders, is great (him wiping off Mikhail Gorbachev’s signature birthmark is absolutely perfect), it’s the movie’s title sequence that made me laugh out loud.

What starts out as a pretty standard sequence with a police car driving down a city street at night quickly turns into a zany, absurd, and hilarious farce, and it just gets wilder every couple of seconds. The screeching tires, the shot of the cruiser chasing people down on the sidewalk, the car wash, the car driving through a house, the locker room, and the rollercoaster before ending up at a donut shop really set the tone for the film and let me know I was in for the ride of a lifetime.

Drebin Not Knowing He's Mic'd Up While Going To The Bathroom Is One Of The Funniest Things I've Ever Seen

Call me immature, call me juvenile, call me crass, I don’t care. I love jokes revolving around farting, pooping, vomiting, or, in the case of The Naked Gun, urinating. The scene where Drebin, after giving a speech about measures the Police Squad is putting in place to ensure the Queen of England is safe during her visit, goes to the restroom while still mic’d up is honestly my favorite thing in this movie.

Nearly a decade before Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery gave audiences the hilarious “Evacuation Complete” sequence with Mike Myers’ titular character letting it all out after decades on ice, Drebin’s extended peeing sequence (which can be heard by everyone in the room and those watching on TV) is just top-notch comedy. I mean, this is right up there with Nielsen bringing a fart machine to Late Night. Like a kid having experienced a funny scene, I made sure to show my wife this absurd moment the day after watching (though I considered waking her up for it).

The Chalk Outline On The Water Was Both Subtle And Outrageous

Everything about the scene where Drebin goes down to the docks to get to the bottom of what happened to his friend and partner, Det. Nordberg, is perfection. The exposition, the bribe scene with a dock worker that just keeps going back and forth, and other little moments just work. However, the part that I loved the most was the shot of the chalk outline floating in the water, showing where Nordberg’s unconscious body was found.

It’s a rather subtle moment, but it’s so outrageous that I just had to talk about it. There are so many movies with the chalk outline in dark alleyways, shops, bedrooms, in the middle of a busy street...but the floating outline going up and down with the tide is just pure comedy gold. The fact that it’s not treated as some anomaly but instead a normal feature of The Naked Gun’s reality makes it even better.

Nordberg Getting Shot, Bumping His Head, Burning His Hand, And Falling Into A Cake Was So Stupid, But I Love It

How Nordberg’s outline got into the water is even more hilarious. In a scene earlier in the movie where the detective tries to stop some criminals, the character played by the late O.J. Simpson gets shot multiple times, bumps the back of his head on a pipe, burns his hand on a hot stove, stumbles into a door covered in wet paint (there’s even a sign), gets his hand smashed by a closing window, falls into a cake, steps into a bear trap, and then falls backwards into he dark waters below.

Playing out like a Rube Goldberg machine of physical comedy, the short yet dynamic sequence just keeps getting crazier and crazier as it goes on. The criminals looking on in disbelief as it all unfolds also adds a lot to an already great sequence.

There's A Lot Going On In The Baseball Sequence, But The Part Where Drebin Gets Into It With The Umps Was Just Too Good

I love a good baseball movie. Though The Naked Gun doesn’t have the great on-field action seen in its contemporaries, like Bull Durham or Eight Men Out, the baseball sequence at the end of the movie is good enough to put it on that list. Drebin, dressed like an umpire so that he can protect the queen from the mystery killer, goes bonkers behind the plate with some of the worst calls and most theatrical movements of all time.

There are a few moments that make this section so damn fun, including the spot where Drebin and another umpire start tossing the ball back and forth (leaving a runner in a pickle), the ensuing argument about bad calls, and then the moment where a fan (played by Mark Holton of Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure fame) yells “Hey, it’s Enrico Palazzo,” a callback to an earlier bit.

And What About That Car Chase With The Student Driver?

Finally, there’s the scene where Drebin jumps into a car and yells at the driver to chase a hypnotized doctor who attempted to smother Nordberg with a pillow. However, Drebin doesn’t know until it’s too late that he’s in the car of a student driver with no experience behind the wheel. What follows in an utterly insane sequence where the doctor is blown up by cars, bombs, missiles, and even an exploding firework factory.

The deadpan look on the student driver’s face, the calm and collected instructor’s unbreakable demeanor, and Drebin’s amazement at it all make this a hilarious and action-packed car chase sequence I won’t soon forget.

If you want to go back and watch The Naked Gun: From the Files of the Police Squad before the reboot hits the big screen, it, along with its two sequels, is streaming with a Paramount+ subscription right now.