The Naked Gun

The Naked Gun series
Region 1 DVD cover for the film series box set
Directed by	David Zucker (1 and 2) Peter Segal (3)
Produced by	David Zucker Jim Abrahams Jerry Zucker Robert K. Weiss
Written by	David Zucker Jim Abrahams Jerry Zucker Pat Proft
Based on	Police Squad! created by Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker
Starring	Leslie Nielsen Priscilla Presley O. J. Simpson George Kennedy Ed Williams
Music by	Ira Newborn
Cinematography	Robert M. Stevens
Edited by	Michael Jablow (1) Christopher Greenbury James R. Symons (2) James R. Symons (3)
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	1988–1994
Running time	253 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$65 million
Box office	$216.8 million

The Naked Gun is a series of American crime comedy films created by Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker. All three films are based on their earlier short-lived ABC television series Police Squad!, which was cancelled after six episodes.

Detective Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen) tries to uncover a plan to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II, who is on a state visit to the USA. The main suspect is Vincent Ludwig, a rich businessman (Ricardo Montalbán), who uses a hypnotic device to turn others into murderers. As with previous ZAZ spoof comedies, the plot was mostly culled from another—more serious—movie. In this case, it was Telefon wherein people were triggered into assassins via hypnotic phone calls (indeed, dialogue in the post-hypnotic suggestion demonstration scene is copied word-for-word from Telefon).

On the case, Drebin falls in love with Ludwig's assistant, Jane Spencer (Priscilla Presley). She knows nothing about Ludwig's plot, and after the pair spend the night together, Jane helps with Frank's investigation.

Frank discovers that Jane's new boyfriend, Quentin Hapsburg (Robert Goulet), is involved in an evil plan to kidnap Dr. Albert S. Meinheimer (Richard Griffiths), a scientist whom President George H. W. Bush (John Roarke) has chosen to determine a new national energy policy. Hapsburg plans to kidnap the real Dr. Meinheimer and replace him with a lookalike named Earl Hacker (also portrayed by Griffiths) who will endorse an energy policy according to the dictates of the energy lobby.

In the third film of the saga, Frank is married to Jane, and he has retired from Police Squad. The film introduces the criminal Rocco Dillon (Fred Ward), who is stuck in prison. He's contacted by Papshmir to be given a target for a bombing. Frank is pulled out of retirement. He goes undercover pretending to be a prisoner named "Nick 'The Slasher' McGurk Jr., III" at the jail where Dillon is being held, and they break out of jail. Outside they are escorted by Dillon's gangster mother (Kathleen Freeman) to his country retreat, where Frank also meets Rocco's voluptuous moll (Anna Nicole Smith). The gang plots to blow up the Academy Awards. When Jane arrives looking for Frank, she is taken hostage.