What with the reboot/sequel bringing comedic laughs back to the theatre, I thought I would take a look at the original The Naked Gun, which followed on the oh-to-short Police Squad! series.

Leslie Nielsen is back as Frank Drebin, and if you were worried this movie wouldn’t be funny almost forty years later, you can relax. It’s still very funny.

Drebin is on the case as a plan is hatched to assassinate the Queen (Jeanette Charles) when she makes a diplomatic stop in Los Angeles.

Whose behind the plan? Well, there are a number of leads, and injured co-workers for Frank to follow-up with, but all things point to Vincent Ludwig (Ricardo Montalban).

As Frank works the case, he stumbles through sight gags, delivers hilarious dialogue, and makes everything he does comedic gold. He falls for Ludwig’s personal aide, Jane (Priscilla Presley) – but can she be trusted?

There’s a fun story here, and it’s steeped in so many laughs, and gags that you can’t help but get caught up and swept along in it. The film has some great dialogue, and lines that will linger with you, and so much going on in almost every scene. This is one of those films that every time you watch it, you can, most likely, find something new to laugh at – whether it’s a detail on a file, or something happening in the background.

Nielsen was made for these roles. Yes, he was originally a serious actor, but he’s got such a knack for comedy, and he has such perfect delivery that the man quickly became a comedy film icon.

There are so many great bits throughout the film that it’s hard to pick just one moment. In fact, it plays like one of those films that, as soon is finishes up, you could start it again.

Having said that, I hadn’t seen it since the early 90s. So this one was way overdue for a rewatch, and it just works on so many levels – all of them hilarious.

Sure, there’s a bit of a pall over it thanks to O.J. Simpson, but happily, his role is minimal. The only thing I felt that was really missing, and something I was hoping desperately for, even if it came after the credits (it didn’t) was the freeze-frame ending.

I loved watching Police Squad! when it was released to blu-ray, and now that I’ve watched the first Naked Gun, you know I have to watch the other two. Man, Nielsen was just, simply, The Man. And Canadian!