The Naked Gun (1988) from Johnny Web (Uncle Scoopy; Greg Wroblewski)

And then there's Leslie Nielsen! A grade-B dramatic actor most memorable either as Disney's heroic "Swamp Fox", or as the earnest astronaut in Forbidden Planet, Leslie Nielsen made the move to comedy and ascended to a height beyond anything even he might have imagined. Using the same flat, deadpan style that doomed his serious acting, he emerged as arguably the greatest comic actor since Chaplin. Whoda thunk it? In fact, I don't think I could ever watch him in a serious show again, because I now crack up the minute he appears on screen. Of course he may not affect everyone the way he affects me, but he certainly should be assigned one inarguable title: he's the heavyweight champion of genre parodies. He has sent up disaster movies, spy films, horror movies, cop movies, cop shows, sci-fi, and sports movies.

1. Men with Brooms (2002)
2. Spy Hard (1996)
3. Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995)
4. Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994)
5. The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (1991)
6. The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)
7. "Police Squad!" (1982 -TV series)
8. Airplane! (1980)

There are some bad movies in that group, and there are some even worse ones I left off the list, but there are also some very good ones, including The Naked Gun. Airplane! is generally considered the best film in Nielsen's filmography, but that was an ensemble comedy in which Nielsen had a fairly small part, while The Naked Gun was Nielsen's star turn, and he made the best of it. Since this role is probably the best starring performance by a man who is a valid contender for the title of "best comic actor ever," I guess you have to conclude it is one of the greatest comic performances in history, and therefore a "must watch" for any comedy fans who have not already seen it. Nielsen plays the part of Lt. Frank Drebin, who seems to be the world's clumsiest and most inept policeman, but who nonetheless always manages to come out on top, not only by defeating L.A.'s most brilliant criminals, but by overcoming virtually all evil in the world in his spare time. In this film he manages to defeat Khaddafy, Arafat, Idi Amin, and Ayatollah Khomeini, and even to remove Gorbachev's birthmark!

The primary storyline of the film involves a plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth during her visit to a Los Angeles Angels baseball game. Drebin must thwart the murderer, who turns out to be the Angels' slugging right fielder Reggie Jackson. The baseball game is especially funny, with Lt. Drebin impersonating, in turn, the National Anthem singer and the home plate umpire. Queen Elizabeth, for her part, cheerfully participates in a "wave" and obligingly passes a beer down to the end of her row. There are too many great jokes to list, but my favorite schtick involved Mel Allen's unusual plays of the week, in which a sliding runner is mauled by a 600 pound tiger, and an infielder misses a pop fly because he is run over by a car.

As Mr Allen would say, "How about that?"

Funny movie, and the jokes still work after 15 years.