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| The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear | |
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 Poster |
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| Directed by | David Zucker |
| Produced by | Robert K. Weiss |
| Written by | Jim Abrahams Jerry Zucker (television series Police Squad) David Zucker Pat Proft |
| Starring | Leslie Nielsen Priscilla Presley George Kennedy O.J. Simpson |
| Music by | Ira Newborn |
| Cinematography | Robert M. Stevens |
| Editing by | Christopher Greenbury James R. Symons |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | June 28, 1991 |
| Running time | 81 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! |
| Followed by | Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult |
The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear is a 1991 comedy film starring Leslie Nielsen as the comically bumbling Police Lt. Frank Drebin of Police Squad!. Priscilla Presley plays the role of Jane, with O.J. Simpson as Nordberg and George Kennedy as police captain Ed Hocken. Also starring Robert Goulet (who previously made a "special guest star" appearance on Police Squad!) as the villanous Quentin Hapsburg and Richard Griffiths as renewable fuel advocate Dr Albert S. Meinheimer (and also as his evil double, Earl Hacker). Zsa Zsa Gabor, Mel Tormé and members of the Chicago Bears have cameo roles.
David Zucker returns from the first entry as director and screenwriter of the film. Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker serve as executive producers for the film and receive writing credit due to their contributions to the first entry of the series and the Police Squad television series. However, neither contributed to the screenplay for the film.
It is the first sequel to The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!, and was followed by Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult. The film is marketed with the tagline "Frank Drebin is back. Just accept it."
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Plot
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This plot summary may be too long or overly detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. (February 2008) |
Frank Drebin is honored at a dinner at the White House, where the guests are President George Bush, John Sununu, Nelson Mandela and Winnie, Washington, D.C. police commissioner Annabelle Brumford (played by Jacqueline Brookes) and others. The President announces that he will base his recommendation for the country's energy program on Dr. Albert Meinheimer's advice at the National Press Club dinner the following Tuesday night. The heads of the coal and oil (fossil fuel) and nuclear industries are apparently distressed by this fact, but the antics of Frank Drebin distract, as he accidentally injures Barbara Bush many times.
Dr. Meinheimer reveals that he was going to also give his results at the White House dinner but because of Frank Drebin "making such a ruckus" he was unable. Jane Spencer (Presley), now working for Dr. Meinheimer, is shown late at night at the Meinheimer research institute crying about Frank, while Dr. Meinheimer tries to console her. At one point Spencer looks out the window and sees a man run into a red van and leave. However, a maintenance man, emptying out garbage cans, discovers a clock with dynamite attached and takes it down to the security guards downstairs, accidentally triggering it in the process.
The next morning, Frank reacquaints with Jane as he interviews her about the explosion. He is shown around the institute and meets Jane's boyfriend, Hexagon Oil executive Quentin Hapsburg, of whom he becomes exceedingly jealous. Later, Ed finds Frank at a lonely blues bar, trying to cheer him up. They discover Jane there, attempting to talk with Frank, but she only wants to discuss what she knows about the case. They have an argument and she storms off. At a meeting of the "energy" industry leaders, Quentin has revealed that he has kidnapped Dr. Meinheimer and found an exact double for him, Earl Hacker, who will pretend to be Meinheimer and give "their" recommendation to the President endorsing fossil and nuclear fuels.
The next day, the Police Squad determine the driver of the van, Hector Savage, is connected to a sex toy shop. Frank spots the red van upon entering the store, which Nordberg is given the task of bugging. While he is doing this, Savage takes off in the van. Before successfully installing the device, Nordberg is trapped underneath the van and is pulled along with the van until he eventually gets himself free from the van, but ends up getting trapped under Frank's car. Frank and Ed pursue the signal, but when they finally stop, Nordberg is propelled forward and ends up getting stuck under a bus. Savage is held up in a suburban home surrounded by police, but Frank commandeers a tank, which he drives into the house. Savage, who was about to surrender, escapes. Frank then drives the tank into the zoo where many animals escape.
That evening, Drebin arrives at a party and starts dancing with Jane to make Hapsburg jealous. After a disastrous attempt to "wheel" the Meinheimer double to the stage for a raffle drawing, Frank then goes to Jane's apartment, where Savage arrives with orders to kill. However, he comes across Jane while she's having a shower, she screams, alerting Frank to Savage's presence. Frank and Savage fight until Frank sticks a fire hose in Savage's mouth and turns on the water full blast until Savage gets filled up with water and apparently bursts. During the fight with Savage, Frank picked up a card from Savage leading him to the dock of Quentin's oil company. When Frank reveals the card to Jane, she quickly realizes Hapsburg's plan and asks Frank for help to stop him. They rediscover their love for each other and spend the night together, starting with a jukebox playing "Unchained Melody" by the Righteous Brothers in the background while they recreate the love scene from "Ghost" concluding with various motion picture representations of spring and love blossoming.
The next day, Frank goes with the police to investigate, while Hapsburg and the energy representatives are meeting in a warehouse. He is bugged and accidentally falls through the roof of the warehouse as he was being chased by a guard dog. They discover the bug and tie up Frank with the real Dr. Meinheimer and the police arrive to free them, but not before Frank tries to free them knocking many objects onto Meinheimer. The police then go to the hotel where Dr. Meinheimer will make his recommendation to President Bush, and where they hope to get Hapsburg. Drebin wants to get the jump on Hapsburg by having Jane let them in from the back entrance, but that plan is derailed. Frank, Nordberg, Ed and the real Meinheimer get into the building by appropriating a costume and instruments from a Mariachi band due to perform at the hotel, and wind up performing the song "Besame Mucho" for the National Press Club audience.
Drebin then encounters Hacker and he attacks Drebin, but members of the Chicago Bears appear and, believing Frank to be attacking a defenseless man, proceed to wheel away Hacker while attacking Frank. Ed and Meinheimer disable Hacker. Later, during the confusion where Drebin mistakes Meinheimer for the fake, Hacker ends up arrested but Hapsburg escapes with Jane. Eventually, Frank and the police have a shootout with Hapsburg's goons on the hotel roof. Hapsburg ends up about to set off a small nuclear device which will destroy the function, so that it won't matter what Meinheimer will say in his speech. Nordberg's attempt to get Hapsburg distracts him, at which point Frank suddenly disarms him and proceeds to aggressively subdue him. Ed arrives before Hapsburg reveals the code for disarming the bomb and throws him out the window, believing that he was still struggling with Frank. Although Hapsburg manages to survive the fall thanks to an awning, he is attacked by a lion, one of the animals presumably released by Frank from the zoo. His fate after that is unknown. Frank frees Jane and they attempt to figure out how to disarm the bomb while Ed and Nordberg try to evacuate the hotel despite the audience panicking.
After several attempts to disarm the bomb, Frank then manages to disarm the bomb accidentally at the last second by tripping and unplugging the power cord. He is then commended by the President, who offers him a special post as head of a Federal Bureau of Police Squad. Drebin declines, vowing to take an environment-friendly approach to his police work instead and asking Jane to marry him, which she accepts. They then go out to a balcony, where they accept commendations from the crowd, and Frank turns around, accidentally knocking Barbara Bush off the balcony. She manages to hold on, although Frank pulls off her dress in an attempt to help her.
Full Cast
- Leslie Nielsen as Lieutenant Frank Drebin
- Priscilla Presley as Jane Spencer
- George Kennedy as Captain Ed Hocken
- O.J. Simpson as Nordberg
- Robert Goulet as Quentin Hapsburg
- Richard Griffiths as Dr. Albert S. Meinheimer/Earl Hacker
- Jacqueline Brookes as Commissioner Anabell Brumford
- Anthony James as Hector Savage
- Lloyd Bochner as Terence Baggett
- Tim O'Connor as Donald Fenswick
- Peter Mark Richman as Arthur Dunwell
- Ed Williams as Ted Olsen
- John Roarke as President George Bush
- Margery Ross as First Lady Barbara Bush
- Peter Van Norden as Chief of Staff John Sununu
- Gail Neely as Winnie Mandela
- Colleen Fitzpatrick as Blues Singer at Blue Note Club
- Sally Rosenblatt as Mrs. Redmond
- Alexander Folk as Crackhouse Cop
"Weird Al" Yankovic as Police Station Thug- Jose Gonzales-Gonzales as Mariachi (as José Gonzáles-Gonzáles)
- Larry McCormick as TV Reporter
- Cliff Bemis as Barbecue Dad
- D.D. Howard as Barbecue Mom
- William Woodson as Hexagon Oil Commercial Announcer
- Mel Tormé as Himself — Party Guest Dancing with Jane
- Zsa Zsa Gabor as Herself
- Nathaniel Tibbs as Spec ops Soulja
- Kyle Mountjoy as Eddie Murphy
Music
As with the first Naked Gun film, the original music for the second installment was composed and orchestrated by veteran soundtrack composer Ira Newborn, including the familiar big-band/blues theme for the Naked Gun/Police Squad! franchise. Several of the orchestral movements revolve around two other Newborn pieces: "Drebin - Hero!" (used at the top of the pre-credit sequence, from the Paramount-logo animation onward) and the romantic "Thinking of Him" (right after the credits).
Singer Colleen Fitzpatrick (known to modern-rock fans as Vitamin C) appeared on camera as a saloon singer at a sad-sack restaurant called the Blue Note, to which a depressed Detective Lieutenant Drebin repairs after seeing former girlfriend Jane Spencer being wooed by villain Quentin Hapsburg. Fitzpatrick, then in her 20s, was made up to look like an aging, world-weary, chanteuse.
Other non-Newborn pieces make cameos in this Naked Gun installment. They include the standards "Tangerine" and "Satin Doll" and the Righteous Brothers' recordings of "Unchained Melody" (featured in Jerry Zucker's drama "Ghost") and "Ebb Tide." Nielsen himself voices the Latin-flavored pop standard "Besame Mucho" at the Press Club dinner.
Soundtrack
| The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (Original Soundtrack) |
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| Soundtrack by Ira Newborn | |
| Released | 1991 |
| Recorded | 1991 |
| Genre | Big Band |
| Length | 35:46 |
| Label | Varese Sarabande |
| Producer | Ira Newborn Robert Townson (Executive Producer) |
| Professional reviews | |
In conjunction with the second Naked Gun film, Varese Sarabande released a soundtrack combining the best Newborn compositions from the first two films.
Track listing
Opening credits
Like the first movie, the opening credits appear over a video montage of the police siren going through various increasingly-absurd scenes. At the end, it pulls over a car, out of which emerges Zsa Zsa Gabor (played by herself). She walks to the police car and smacks the siren out, parodying her own 1989 arrest for slapping a police officer in Beverly Hills.
Translations
- French: Y a-t-il un flic pour sauver le président ? (A reference to another Zucker film Airplane! known as Y a-t-il un pilote dans l'avion ?) or L'agent fait la farce 2 1/2 : L'odeur de la peur in Québec
- Spanish (Spain): Agárralo como puedas 2½: El aroma del miedo (Catch it as you can 2½: The Smell of Fear)
- Italian: Una Pallottola Spuntata 2½: l'Odore della Paura
- German: Die nackte Kanone 2½
- Brazilian Portuguese: Corra que a Polícia Vem Aí 2½
- Mexican Spanish: ¿Y dónde está el policía 2½?
- Argentinian Spanish: La pistola desnuda 2½
- Finnish: Mies ja alaston ase 2 1/2
- Swedish: Den Nakna Pistolen 2 1/2
- Norwegian: Mannen Med Den Nakne Pistol 2 1/2
- Chinese (Taiwan): 站在子彈上的男人 (The man who stands on bullets)
- Croatian: Goli Pištolj 2
- Serbian: Goli Pištolj 2½: Miris straha
- Polish: Naga Broń 2 1/2: Zapach strachu
- Danish: Høj pistolføring 2 1/2
- Russian: Голый пистолет 2 и 1/2: Запах страха
- Bulgarian: Голият пищов 2 и 1/2: Мирисът на страха
- Hungarian: Csupasz pisztoly 2 és 1/2
- Slovak: Bláznivá strela 2
- Turkish: Çıplak silah ikibuçuk
References
External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: The Naked Gun |
- The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear at the Internet Movie Database
- The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear at Allmovie
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