Main Cast: Dan Aykroyd, Tom Hanks, Christopher Plummer, Harry Morgan, Alexandra Paul
Release Year: 1987
Country: US
Run Time: 106 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
Dan Aykroyd must have practiced for months to perfect his Jack Webb inflections for Dragnet. Screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz's directorial debut (also written by Mankiewicz, along with Aykroyd, and Alan Zweibel) is a gentle spoof of the legendary '50s television police drama -- pitting '50s conservatism smack up against the attitudes of the '80s. Basically, the film is another 48 Hours or Beverly Hills Cop clone. Aykroyd stars as Joe Friday, the nephew of the original Friday. But with his brown suit, fedora, and lockjaw, he could just as well be the incarnation of Jack Webb. He is involuntarily assigned a smart alecky, street-wise partner, Pep Streebeck (Tom Hanks), and they are appointed to investigate a series of religious cult murders in L.A. The two cops follow the trail to a phony televangelist, the Reverend Jonathan Whirley (Christopher Plummer). From there, they are only at step away from uncovering an Orange County-based religious cult calling itself P.A.G.A.N. (People Against Goodness and Normalcy). After sneaking into a secret ceremony, Friday falls in love with the sacrificial victim Connie Swail (Alexandra Paul). So much so that even after his superior Captain Gannon (Harry Morgan, reprising his role from the '60s revival of the Dragnet program) orders him off the case, Friday continues on, with the requisite car chases and crashes that usually climax any '80s cop movie or comedy. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
Review
Tom Mankiewicz' amiable big-screen version of the long-running and immensely successful Dragnet series took a far more satirical and tongue-in-cheek tone than the original. Dan Aykroyd stars as the nephew of the inimitable Joe Friday as he goes after a shady religious cult with the help of irreverent new partner Pep Streebek Tom Hanks. Jack Webb, who produced the original Dragnet, played lead detective Friday, specializing in a kind of wooden non-acting that set the tone for a series whose technical primitiveness and emotional flatness evoked an Army training film. Aykroyd, who clearly loves this character, has excised Webb's only known expression, a grimace of perennial disgust, while keeping the '50s attitudes and uptight bearing, and adding his own talent for spouting bureaucratic arcana at the speed of light. Hanks is a perfect audience surrogate as the low-key partner constantly shocked by the behavior of this archaic fish out of water. The plot, which revolves around the activities of a not very frightening cult, is that of a thousand buddy-cop movies, but the two comedians take their battered vehicle for a hilarious ride. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide
Elizabeth Ashley - Police Commissioner Jane Kirkpatrick; Jack O'Halloran - Emil Muzz; Dabney Coleman - Jerry Caesar; Lisa Aliff - April; Fred Asparagus - Tito Provencal; Jim Boeke - Nectar Pagan; Donald Craig - Announcer; Gray Daniels - Crewman #1; Sandra Eng - TV Reporter; Ava Fabian - Baitmate; Kimberly Foster - Betsy Blees; Kathleen Freeman - Enid Borden; Ruben Garfias - Tough #2; Bruce Gray - Mayor Parvin; D.D. Howard - Officer Robin Gilbert; Peter Leeds - Roy Grest; Margaret Lenzey - Baitmate; Lisa London - 1982 Redhead; Maurice Marsac - Maitre d'; Lenka Peterson - Granny Mundy; Casey Sander - Phoney Cop #1; Ray Sharkey - Drug Pagan; Jimmie F. Skaggs - Caterer Pagan; Dona Speir - Baitmate; Bill Wittman - Narrator; Meg Wyllie - Mrs. Gannon; Peter Aykroyd - Phoney Cop #2; Gary Lee Davis - Leggings Pagan; Chester Grimes - Pagan; Bert Hinchman - Night Watchman; Julia Jennings - Sylvia Wiss; Christopher Mankiewicz - White Coat; Stuart Quan - Tough #3; Julie Donald - Zookeeper; Josh Cruze - Police Officer; Sydney Urshan - Officer Conklin
Credit
Frank Richwood - Art Director, Don Zepfel - Associate Producer, David Rubin - Casting, Taryn de Chellis - Costume Designer, David Sosna - First Assistant Director, Tom Mankiewicz - Director, William D. Gordean - Editor, Richard Halsey - Editor, Bernie Brillstein - Executive Producer, Ira Newborn - Composer (Music Score), Robert F. Boyle - Production Designer, Matthew Leonetti - Cinematographer, David Permut - Producer, Robert Weiss - Producer, Bernie Brillstein - Producer, Arthur Jeph Parker - Set Designer, Willie D. Burton - Sound/Sound Designer, Dan Aykroyd - Screenwriter, Tom Mankiewicz - Screenwriter, Alan Zweibel - Screenwriter, Kevin Marcy - Production Assistant
Acting as both a parody and homage to the long-running Dragnet television series, Aykroyd plays Joe Friday (nephew of the late Joe Friday from the series) while Hanks plays Pep Streebeck, his new partner. Harry Morgan reprises his role of Bill Gannon (partner of Joe's late uncle), now their captain. Alexandra Paul plays Friday's love interest, "the Virgin Connie Swail" while Plummer plays the villain, a soft-spoken televangelist, who secretly runs a cult of Pagan anarchists. Coleman plays the publisher of a skin magazine called Bait; his character is a direct parody of Larry Flynt.
As did the original TV series, the movie begins with Sergeant Friday's voice-over narration about Los Angeles and (nearly) ends with a mug shot of the villain and a stern voice-over describing the sentencing.
The title credits featured an update to the series original theme by the British group Art of Noise. They set the Dragnet theme against a hip-hop style breakbeat with soundbites such as Friday's "Just the facts, ma'am" timed to the music.
The soundtrack is also notable for one of its original songs, "City of Crime." The track features a hip-hop style collaboration between Dan Aykroyd and Tom Hanks and is performed with bassist/ vocalist Glenn Hughes and guitarist Pat Thrall. The track is played over the film's closing credits. The best selling single also had a music video shot for the track, which was played in heavy rotation on MTV in the summer of 1987.
Plot summary
Sgt. Joe Friday's nephew, whose anachronistic views reflect the time period of the original series, is involuntarily assigned to a smart-alecky, street-wise partner, Pep Streebeck. Their contrasting styles clash at first, although they gradually bond over their first case as a team, an investigation of a series of bizarre crimes in Los Angeles. The two cops follow the trail to an Orange County-based cult calling itself P.A.G.A.N. (People Against Goodness And Normalcy). Friday and Streebeck focus their investigation on one of the cult's henchmen, a brutish limosine driver named Emil Muzz.
That night, Pep's informer tells them that a local milk factory is actually the hideout of the P.A.G.A.N.s' evil gas makers. Pep and Joe commandeer a police tank and use it for a destructive raid of the factory, which turns out to really be producing only milk; Friday and Streebeck fail to learn that the real gas factory is next door.
Friday and Streebeck disguise themselves as Pagans and sneak into a secret PAGAN ceremony, where they rescue the unwilling sacrificial virgin Connie Swail. Friday and Swail fall in love; Friday's antiquated version of a date with Connie is to take her to his grandmother's birthday party, which Streebeck crashes. At the restaurant, Connie identifies a fellow patron, the televangelist Reverend Jonathan Whirley, as the PAGAN leader. This puts Friday and Streebeck in a difficult position, since Whirley is not only a highly respected community leader, but he is also currently dining with Friday's captain and the police commissioner, who are personal friends of the Reverend. Despite Whirley's political influence, Friday tries to publicly arrest Whirley, which motivates the commissioner to suspend Friday and Captain Gannon to order Streebeck off the case.
In retaliation for the attempted arrest, the Pagans kidnap Friday and Swail and take them to the estate of pornography magnate Jerry Caesar, whose employ has become so infiltrated by Pagans that his mansion has become their de facto headquarters. Backed by the S.W.A.T. team, Streebeck leads a rescue attempt, resulting in a massive shoot-out between PAGAN and police forces. Streebeck manages to rescue Friday, but Whirley takes Connie hostage and escapes to the airport, where he is able to make a getaway with his private jet. Whirley is finally forced to surrender when Friday and Streebeck pursue in a police jet.
An epilogue reveals that Friday is back on the force and again friends and partners with Streebeck. The epilogue also reveals that Friday and Swail are continuing to pursue their romance.
