The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear

365 Films

 Entry #8

The Naked Gun 2 ½ The Smell of Fear (1991)

Directed by David Zucker

You might wonder why I have selected the second Naked Gun film for inclusion on my 365 blog as opposed to the first.  In fact, I am wondering the exact same thing myself.  If my memory serves, the introduction I received to the Naked Gun films was through the second installment.  If I am mixing up the chronology here then this entire blog is essentially useless and for that, I apologize.  This film and the entirety of the Naked Gun series symbolize a bygone era of studio comedy.  If you’ll allow me to wax nostalgic for a moment, this was a sub-genre combining elements of screwball, slapstick, satire, silliness, and spoofing.  It was comedy as a perpetual joke machine with no larger purpose or genuine interest in telling a coherent story.  This kind of comedy obviously had it precedents (I hope nobody wants to tar and feather me for mentioning the Marx Brothers and Naked Gun in the same sentence), but something happened to it in the late 90’s/early 00’s.  It’s easy to pinpoint the exact film that made the entire genre collapse in on itself like a dying star (Scary Movie, cough).  Nowadays I can’t think of a more detested type of movie than the “spoof-everything-that-breathes” mutant bastard child of the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker offspring. Epic Movie, Date Movie, Meet the Spartans, Vampires Suck, ugh, I’m pissing myself off just thinking about these ungodly pieces of shit.  In any event, Naked Gun is the apex of the genre and I am forever grateful to it for introducing me to the likes of Leslie Nielsen, George Kennedy, Robert Goulet, Priscilla Presley, Richard Griffits, and Orenthal the Murderin’ Bus Driver.  If I may also proceed with some dime-store psychoanalysis twenty-one years after the fact, Naked Gun 2 also contains some pretty strong progressive observations on the environment, the military-industrial complex, capitalism, and the American political system in general.  In fact, Naked Gun 2 began my long-running hatred of then Chief of Staff John Sununu.  That guy sucks.  I think it’s safe to say that the Naked Gun 2 ½ made me the man I am today. (Note to future DVD releases of the Naked Gun 2 1/2: please put that pull-quote on your DVD. Thank you.)  Cut to: 15 years later and the Zucker brothers have become 9/11-converted conservatives.  Go watch their coming-out party: “An American Carol”, or if you have eyeballs and a brain, don’t. 

“This is Frank Drebin, Police Squad. Throw down your guns, and come on out with your hands up. Or come on out, then throw down your guns, whichever way you wanna do it. Just remember the two key elements here: one, guns to be thrown down; two, come on out!”