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Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult

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Naked Gun 33+1⁄3: The Final Insult is a 1994 American crime comedy film directed by Peter Segal (in his directorial debut) and written by Pat Proft, David Zucker (who also directed the previous two films in the series) and Robert LoCash. The film is the third and final installment in the Naked Gun film series, which was based on the television series Police Squad!. The Final Insult is the only film in the series that is not directed by David Zucker, with him serving as producer and co-writer instead. Police Squad! co-creators Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker returned as executive producers.

Naked Gun 33+1⁄3: The Final Insult
Lt. Frank Derbin has his legs cartoonishly stretched to the sides of his head, and fires a gun that ricochets on the sides of the poster with the bullet going through his shoes.
Theatrical release poster
Directed byPeter Segal
Written by
Based on
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyRobert M. Stevens
Edited byJames R. Symons
Music byIra Newborn
Production
company
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
  • March 18, 1994 (1994-03-18)
Running time
83 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$30 million[2]
Box office$132 million

The "33+1⁄3" in the title is a reference to the number of revolutions per minute at which phonograph records play. The film was originally going to be titled The Naked Gun 33+1⁄3: Just for the Record, but was changed after the studio felt that audiences would not get the joke.[3] Leslie Nielsen returns as Lieutenant Frank Drebin (his original character from Police Squad!), along with Priscilla Presley as Jane Spencer Drebin, O. J. Simpson (in his last feature film before his subsequent trial three months later) as Officer Nordberg, and George Kennedy as Captain Ed Hocken. Newcomers to the series Fred Ward, Anna Nicole Smith, and Kathleen Freeman co-star as a gang of bombers set to blow up the Academy Awards ceremony. Raye Birk reprises his role as the villainous Pahpshmir from The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!.

Plot

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Frank Drebin has retired from Police Squad and lives a seemingly happy life with his wife, Jane Spencer Drebin. In reality, Frank is unfulfilled as a househusband and attends marriage counseling with Jane. Six months after Frank's retirement he is visited by Ed Hocken and Nordberg, who ask for his help with an investigation. Police Squad has learned that infamous bomber Rocco Dillon, who is currently incarcerated, has been hired by terrorists to conduct a bombing against the United States. Frank remembers Rocco's girlfriend Tanya Peters from an investigation years ago and agrees to help Ed and Nordberg by visiting the clinic where Peters works.

Frank visits the clinic and writes Tanya's address on a handkerchief, but loses it before he can give it to Ed. Jane comes home to an exhausted Frank and accuses him of doing police work again. Frank lies and swears he is having an affair, but Jane does not believe him and moves out of their house. With nothing else to lose, Frank volunteers to go undercover in prison to befriend Dillon and learn the details of the bombing. Frank is put in Rocco's cell under the name Nick "The Slasher" McGurk. He wins Rocco's trust after protecting their escape plan from a guard and causing a riot. Rocco and Frank escape through a tunnel in their cell and are picked up on the outside by Rocco's mother Muriel. At Rocco's hideout, Frank attempts to get information on the bombing out of Rocco and his mother, but they are suspicious of him and refuse to share details.

Meanwhile, Jane and her friend Louise are on a road trip together when Jane finds the handkerchief with Tanya's address on it. Believing Frank was being truthful about the affair, Jane decides to drive cross-country to the address to find Frank. When she arrives, Frank answers the door and must quickly cover for her; he convinces the Dillons that Jane is a random stranger but that they should keep her as a hostage. Rocco finally reveals his plan to Frank: he will attack the Academy Award ceremony with a bomb hidden in the Best Picture envelope.

At the Awards, Frank traps Muriel in the car and sneaks in with Jane to search for the bomb. Frank and Jane frantically search for the bomb, with Frank inflicting his usual chaos on stage during the show. Frank encounters Tanya backstage, and she attempts to seduce Frank as a distraction, but her shadow on the wall reveals a large penis, causing Frank to go sick and flee. Frank bursts onto the stage and tries to stop the detonation of the bomb, but ends up in a stalemate with Rocco and drops an electronic sign which takes out Muriel. Rocco decides to detonate the bomb and die with his mother, but Frank launches Rocco and the bomb into the catwalks above the stage. Frank snares Rocco with a cable and slings him through the arena's roof. Rocco crashes into Pahpshmir's helicopter hovering overhead and the bomb explodes, killing them both. Frank and Jane reaffirm their love to the applause of the audience and viewers worldwide.

Nine months later, Frank and Nordberg rush into a delivery room to witness the birth of Frank's child. They run into the wrong room and Frank is shown a black baby, causing him to angrily chase Nordberg. Ed comes out of another room with Jane, who is holding their real baby.

Cast

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Production

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This is the only film in the series to be directed by Peter Segal, rather than David Zucker, who instead received credit for writing the screenplay. Similar to the previous entry in the series, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker did not write the film's script, but both returned as executive producers and received writing credits due to their contributions to Police Squad! and the first film. In the opening scene at the train station, the woman with the baby carriage who is assisted by Frank Drebin is played by Susan Breslau, the sister of Jerry and David Zucker. Director Peter Segal, in addition to playing the producer of Sawdust and Mildew, also has several minor roles in the film (mostly in voiceover). The dream sequence parodies the train-station shoot-out from the 1987 film The Untouchables, which is itself a homage to the "Odessa Steps" montage in Sergei Eisenstein's famous 1925 silent movie Battleship Potemkin.[4][5]

Reception

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Box office

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The film grossed over $51 million in the United States and Canada[6] and $81 million internationally,[7] for a worldwide total of $132 million. However, this would be the lowest-grossing film of the Naked Gun series. Still, 33+1⁄3 managed to grab the No. 1 weekend box office title in the U.S. during its opening weekend (the other Naked Guns did as well).[8]

Critical response

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Naked Gun 33+1⁄3: The Final Insult received mixed reviews from critics.[9] The film holds a 58% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 38 reviews, with an average rating of 5.7/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Naked Gun 33+1⁄3: The Final Insult can't help but be sporadically funny thanks to Leslie Nielsen's dependably solid work, but it's still a steep comedown from the original."[10] On Metacritic it has a weighted average score of 63% based on reviews from 21 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[11] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "B+" on scale of A to F.[12]

Peter Rainer of the Los Angeles Times praised the opening sequence, which parodied The Untouchables, and the climax at the Academy Awards, but felt the middle was uninspired, and that the film overall had too little plotting and relied too much on comedy without the romantic or action elements of the previous films.[13] Others felt that the humor was weak and too similar to that of the previous films. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three out of four stars, the same rating he gave to The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear.[14] The movie won two Golden Raspberry Awards: Worst Supporting Actor for O.J. Simpson and Worst New Star for Anna Nicole Smith.

Year-end lists

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Cameo appearances

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Numerous celebrities have cameo appearances in the film, both in credited and uncredited roles.

As themselves:

As minor characters:

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Main article: Leibovitz v. Paramount Pictures Corp.

An image used on the promotional poster for the film parodies a famous portrait photograph by Annie Leibovitz which was featured on the August 1991 cover of Vanity Fair magazine. The original photograph showed a pregnant, nude Demi Moore, and the parody photograph showed Leslie Nielsen in a similar pose. Leibovitz sued Paramount for copyright infringement; the Second Circuit deemed the use to be protected under fair use because of its transformative parodic purpose.[20]

Possible fourth film

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Main article: The Naked Gun (2025 film)

In 2009, it was revealed that a fourth film starring Leslie Nielsen was coming out as a direct-to-TV sequel, and that it was going to be about Frank training a young rookie. The film was given the title The Naked Gun 4: Rhythm of Evil. The script was thought to be very funny, but due to financial reasons, it was canceled in 2009. The script was written by Alan Spencer. The original writers of the first movie, the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker team tried to stop it from happening. According to Alan Spencer, he signed on to write the film as a "rescue mission" to save an inferior sequel from happening. The script impressed the Paramount folks and online reviewers so much that it was briefly shifted to the theatrical department. Spencer wrote a sizable role for Leslie Nielsen, who would be passing the torch to a new generation of incompetent cops, but Paramount asked him to reduce the part to a cameo for budgetary reasons and then decided to remove Nielsen's character altogether. Spencer then left the project when he was asked to take Nielsen's character out, and the film never got made.[21][22][23] Since 2013, Paramount has been working on a reboot of the franchise, including one iteration that featured Ed Helms as Frank with a script by Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant.[24] An eventual fourth movie, The Naked Gun starring Liam Neeson as Frank Drebin Jr., was made into production, scheduled for 2025.[25]

References

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  1. ^ "The Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994)". Filmaffinity. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
  2. ^ "Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994) - Financial Information". The Numbers.
  3. ^ Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (Comedy, Crime), Leslie Nielsen, Priscilla Presley, George Kennedy, IMDB, March 18, 1994, retrieved January 4, 2024{{citation}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  4. ^ "Iconic movie scene: The Untouchables' Union Station shoot-out". Den of Geek. November 16, 2011. Archived from the original on April 19, 2019. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  5. ^ Xan Brooks (February 1, 2008). "Films influenced by Battleship Potemkin". The Guardian. Retrieved October 10, 2016.
  6. ^ "Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
  7. ^ "UIP's $25M-Plus Club". Variety. September 11, 1995. p. 92.
  8. ^ Cerone, Daniel (March 22, 1994). "And the Winner Is . . . 'Naked Gun 33 1/3'". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 16, 2012. Retrieved October 11, 2010.
  9. ^ Fox, David J. (March 28, 1994). "Oscar Winners Pick Up at the Box Office". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 16, 2012. Retrieved December 25, 2010.
  10. ^ "The Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved February 29, 2024.
  11. ^ "Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult". Metacritic. Retrieved October 1, 2021.
  12. ^ "NAKED GUN 33 1/3 (1994) B+". CinemaScore. Archived from the original on December 20, 2018.
  13. ^ Rainer, Peter (March 18, 1994). "MOVIE REVIEW : The Gags That Hit Mark Are Reason Enough to Get 'Naked'". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 16, 2012. Retrieved November 18, 2010.
  14. ^ "Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult". RogerEbert.com. March 18, 1994. Retrieved August 11, 2010.
  15. ^ Stupich, David (January 19, 1995). "Even with gore, 'Pulp Fiction' was film experience of the year". The Milwaukee Journal. p. 3.
  16. ^ Simon, Jeff (January 1, 1995). "Movies: Once More, with Feeling". The Buffalo News. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
  17. ^ Hurley, John (December 30, 1994). "Movie Industry Hit Highs and Lows in '94". Staten Island Advance. p. D11.
  18. ^ a b c d e f g h Willistein, Paul (March 18, 1994). "'Naked Gun 33-1/3' So Funny It Shoots Holes in Winter's Depression". The Morning Call. Allentown, Pennsylvania. Archived from the original on January 31, 2015. Retrieved February 3, 2015.
  19. ^ Gleiberman, Owen (April 1, 1994). "Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult". Entertainment Weekly. Meredith Corporation. Retrieved March 1, 2020.
  20. ^ "Parody of Leibovitz's Nude Photo of Demi Moore is Permissible". Wall Street Journal. December 20, 1996.
  21. ^ "20 movie sequels... that never actually happened". Shortlist. February 1, 2022. Retrieved January 5, 2023.
  22. ^ merrick. "Captain Kronos Says THE NAKED GUN: WHAT 4? THE RHYTHM OF EVIL Script Is 'Inspired'!!". Aint It Cool News. Retrieved January 5, 2023.
  23. ^ Evans, Bradford (February 7, 2013). "The Lost Projects of 'Sledge Hammer!' Creator Alan Spencer". Vulture. Retrieved January 5, 2023.
  24. ^ McNary, Dave (December 13, 2013). "Ed Helms Firing Up 'The Naked Gun' Reboot for Paramount (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved December 26, 2023.
  25. ^ Stephan, Katcy (February 28, 2024). "'Naked Gun' Remake Set for 2025 by Paramount; 'TMNT' and 'Paw Patrol' Sequels Dated for 2026". Variety. Archived from the original on February 28, 2024. Retrieved February 28, 2024.
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