Police Academy 3, 4

 

I can see why Guttenberg thought he had done all he could with this franchise

Police Academy 4- which I watched on Sunday- So it is fresher in my mind

Harris is welcome return

I cannot see Proctor without thinking it could be Jerry Seinfeld

Sharon Stone looks awful here. Really she was let down by the hairdressers and costume department

Corrine Bohrer outshone Shannon 

I understand Police Academy is made perhaps at the beginning of the VHS era, and people watching all 4 films within a fortnight was not something that the writers intended. So seeing Michael Winslow spoof a dubbed kung fu movie again, loses some of it's fun

I did like the extended prank on the cadets. Mahony picking up a dangerous criminal..who is carrying a body..leaving the cadets in the back of the van

David Spade, making his debut,  is ageless in that he never looked young

Oh this is has anti skater prejudice 

I was impressed by the stunt work. More better here, in the 4th film then the third. I don't think the Police Academy movies get credit for the stunt and action sequences. 

Police Academy 3

Jed, and Goldchuck return as a comedic pair. 

There is an extended chase on Jet ski's which is fine, in the fact that it is well performed but bored me- the angry wife mounted on the bonnet of a car stunt is well done

I note that the rival police academy wears a beret. Is this to make them look militaristic?

Interestingly the undercurrent of racism in police academy 1 is not revisited. 

It is nice to see that Hooks, has grown into her role as an instructor

Mahony's HS basketball team antics would not fly today 

Antony Head

20 February 1954 – . 5 June 2026

Father, Actor, Musican LAMA alumni

From the Gold Blend advert 

Giles, Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Mr Finch, Dr Who

Man child

Police Academy 1 and 2

 

Okay

So this is still fun....I mean there is not need for much criticism. 

The film actually starts with text eposition- We see Tackleberry as a security guard. I do wonder about him, he doesn't seem to have served in the military 

The theme tune is a banger

I see from wiki, Tacklberry ( David Graf ) passed away at 51 in 2001

Steve Guttenberg carries the film. He had a hell of an 1980s I had forgotten how much this is a vehicle for Michael Winslow's verbal talents. I imagine he spouted a whole generation of sound effect comedians. Al Murray for example used to do this

I had forgotten Kim Catterall is in this, here she is playing the upper class lady. Who joins the force. 

Mahony was have gotten in trouble for asking to see her thight today

Though the city is generic. This film is set in LA. The police department being full of Dixie imports-and the racial tension is nodded at 

I found myself more sympathetic to Captain Harris and Lt Mauser.  Hooks is not able to be a police officer. The second film acknowledges this by making her a despatcher

I wonder if Cadet Barbara was supposed to be gay

It is suprisingly horny. There is a lot more nudity then I thought

Police Academy 2- has the teacher from Top of the Class- Zed is introduced as a villian. A generic punk

I liked Lassard's reactions  You need men, there are bars in the city you could go to...

Apparently Seinfeld was supposed to play Proctor

Hell Comes to Frog Town

 

This is an odd film to say the least. Anthropomorhised frogs fighting a WWE wrestler

I did wonder knowing Frog or rather Toad being a racial slur is this a deeply racist film

I have spent 40 years thinking about this film I remember seeing the posters outside video shops

Rowdy Roddy Piper, (the wrestler) is one of the last fertile men in an America wrecked by nuclear war.

I last saw Roddy in always sunny There is a nice homage to The Planet of the Apes- I think the crotch bomb is lifted from Escape from New York. Piper is recruited by Med techs to rescue some fertile women..who are being held prisoner by the Frogs, mutants who emerged after the nuclear war

So the wasteland is explored in a bright pink car,  with an m240 mounted on top

I wonder if Cincilla was the inspiration for Vasquez in Alien

I see after the apocalypse people still drink Cours

There is a role reversal here, with 68 percent of the American population dead. The Medtechs, a female dominated medical technocracy is the power behind the throne in the surving united states. The villian will comment on this, indeed it is his motivation to over throw the med tech mommas and go back to a simpler time when men where real men.Sam Hell being fertile, he is therefore more valuble. So you have a reversal of the disposable male trope.  Sam has to be placated,  and inuldged indeed  he has to kept arroused. Even being a stud is difficult when the women you meet haven't see a toothbrush in months.

Oh that's Valeria from Conan

As I say it is odd. 

I mean there is a fez wearing frog at the bar. Ala Casablanca

Summer School

 This I rewatched. I remembered it fondly from seeing this late one night

It is still a decent flick, a smarter take on teens and tits. The ending is interesting- a lot of the students don't pass their finals. They do show a marked improvement. 

It is almost like a british sitcom. Everyone is trapped in school over summer. They have to get along

Highlights are Kirstie Alley, and a fresh faced Courtney Thorne Smith

The film I think works because it is true to life.

Hermon's teacher is a P.E teacher coasting through life this, is not uncommon

A pregant school student is now something of a period piece. The baby is adopted off screen 

Courtney has a crush on Hermon- She's not so much younger than his current gf. 21 to 16 the film plays this plot out well. I note for the 80s- Hermon doesn't give into temptation 

There is a nice call back gag with someone going to the lavatory disapearing off screen and coming back to ace the test. This is also made at that moment in the 1980s where male strippers went mainstream

Oh and tenure for a high school teacher is a plot point 

There is a wealth of America moment where- we see the bedroom's of one of the boy's who is obsessed with the Texas Chainsaw Massacre it is full of horror movie props

Jim Gallen

 https://x.com/QPR/status/2056683784653996142

Rest in peace, a family friend and a QPR fan. 

Rugby