STACK #253 November 2025

MOVIE FEATURE

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GENRE: Comedy action RUN TIME: 1h 25m

NEESON UNLEASHED: THE NAKED GUN Starring Liam Neeson as clueless Lt. Frank Drebin Jr. – son of Leslie Nielsen’s original bumbling Detective Frank Drebin – the new Naked Gun is a reboot of the 1988 slapstick comedy, packed with sight gags, wordplay, and deadpan absurdity. T asked with producing this new legacy, Ted and Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane had already glimpsed Neeson’s funny side in A saw Drebin as more than a walking gag. “He’s a very committed

Inset: Pamela Anderson and Liam Neeson

FUN FACT

“Weird Al” Yankovic has been in all four Naked Gun movies.

A longtime fan of the original films, Pamela Anderson, 58, explains, “I had just kind of restarted my career. I did

Million Ways to Die in the West and Ted 2 . “He was just so funny [in Ted 2 ]. Dead serious, with this ridiculous dialogue. I feel like that was the first time I thought there might be a version of a Leslie Nielsen-type comedy that Liam would be funny in,” recalls MacFarlane, whose mind immediately went to The Naked Gun . “I thought, ‘God, would a reboot of that movie starring Liam Neeson work?’” MacFarlane had him at hello. “Seth is an old pal, and he called me up a couple of years ago and dangled the idea of me doing this reboot of this character. I said I was interested. It’s as simple as that,” says Neeson, 73, who

police inspector, but he’s bumbling. He’s not stupid, but he has a naivete to him. He finds himself in some situations, and does the wrong

Broadway, and then I did The Last Showgirl , and I thought it would be a nice juxtaposition to do a high comedy after doing drama. The fact that they even thought of me for this was so

thing – but with the right attitude. It lands him in a lot of precious situations that he has to, in a funny way, find a way out of.” Director Akiva Schaffer ( Hot Rod ) was thrilled Neeson was game. “Liam is one of the few remaining true old school movie star leading men with gravitas. And he understood the assignment – and that’s why he was excited to do it,” he says.

exciting,” says the actress, who plays Beth Davenport, both love interest and femme fatale. Gill Pringle

• The Naked Gun is out Nov 12

IF YOU LIKE THIS, YOU’LL LOVE THESE:

Airplane, Top Secret!, Hot Rod, Police Academy

GENRE: Comedy RUN TIME: Series

Left: Leslie Nielsen Right: Credits

FROM THE FILES OF POLICE SQUAD The opening title card of the 1988 comedy hit The Naked Gun declared, “From the files of Police Squad.”

F or most movie-goers and video renters, it was little more than a curious tagline - few realised the film was actually a spin-off of the short-lived TV series Police Squad! Starring Leslie Nielsen, the series aired in 1982 and lasted just six episodes. Created by ZAZ (David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker) fresh off the success of Airplane! , it parodied crime shows of the era, notably M Squad and The New Breed . While Mel Brooks’ spy spoof Get Smart had already lampooned television’s secret agent formula, Police Squad! was unlike anything else on the small screen: absurdist, relentlessly mocking, and packed with sight gags – so many that audiences often missed them entirely. Without a laugh track to hold their

hands, viewers weren’t sure what to make of it, and the series was quickly cancelled. Undeterred, ZAZ stuck to their guns (pun intended) and revisited the concept years later as a feature film.

All six episodes are included, offering side splitting moments that reveal just how ahead of its time the series really was. Every hidden gag, visual pun, and absurd twist is waiting to be caught – proof that Nielsen’s serious delivery could make the ridiculous

• Police Squad is out Nov 12

By adding romance and a stronger narrative, they convinced Paramount to greenlight the project – and the result was The Naked Gun , a comedy classic that turned Leslie Nielsen into the king of deadpan chaos. Now, with the new Liam Neeson legacy sequel arriving on all formats, and the original 1988 movie getting a sleek 4K release, it’s the perfect time to rediscover Police Squad! on Blu-ray.

Creators, David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker

downright hilarious. In short: Police Squad! may have been short-lived, but its impact is timeless – and now, it’s ready for a new generation of laughter hunters. Glenn Cochrane

Also available

28 NOVEMBER 2025

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