“Mostly all new jokes.”
The poster tagline for Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult takes the notion of truth in advertising to an extreme. In using a self-deprecating approach, it also speaks to a far greater truth, which is that the Naked Gun series had – by the time of this second sequel – run its course, and was at risk of repeating itself.
There is no denying that the trifecta of Zucker–Abrahams–Zucker had made an indelible mark on the world of comedy films. Having set out their stall with Kentucky Fried Movie, the trio had hit the big time and broken through with 1980’s Airplane!, and – having declined to do a sequel – took cast member Leslie Nielsen with them to the small screen for the short-lived crime series spoof Police Squad!, which brought to life Detective Frank Drebin. Z-A-Z would go on to deliver the unfairly overlooked Top Secret! in 1984, which would be Val Kilmer’s big screen debut, before reviving Frank Drebin for The Naked Gun: From The Files Of Police Squad!, which was released in 1988.
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It seemed that as the movie then became a trilogy, the law of diminishing returns was in full effect, as by the time Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult entered production, it had already lost Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker from the writing team (the pair having already stepped back to become executive producers for The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear, and returning here to the same roles), and although David Zucker would once again co-write the script, this would be the first entry in the series not to be directed by him, with Peter Segal taking the reins for what would be his directorial debut. The film would also come in at a lean 83 minutes, although it was only slightly shorter than its predecessors.
In addition, there would be a fair share of publicity issues, as an early promotional image showed an image of a pregnant Leslie Nielsen in a pose which parodied photographer Annie Leibovitz’s shoot of Demi Moore for Vanity Fair magazine in August 1991. This would then turn into a full-blown lawsuit – Leibovitz v. Paramount Pictures Corp. – which ultimately decided in 1998 that the advertisement qualified as a parody entitled to the ‘fair use’ defence. Naked Gun 33⅓ would also garner two wins at the 15th Golden Raspberry Awards (best known as the ‘Razzies’) in 1995 – Anna Nicole Smith for the Worst New Star, and O.J. Simpson for the Worst Supporting Actor (at the time of the ceremony, Simpson was on trial for the murders of ex-wife Nicole and friend Ron Goldman, with a jury eventually finding him not guilty).
In a way, it seems fitting that Naked Gun 33⅓ would end up at the Razzies, given the ceremony is held as a rebuke to the Oscars, and the Academy Awards takes a good drubbing via Drebin in the movie. Goodness knows what the filmmakers would have made of Gwyneth Paltrow’s infamous speech at the 1999 ceremony for her Best Actress win. In Naked Gun 33⅓, Drebin – having taken retirement after 3,000 dead and 432 wounded bad guys – is persuaded to assist Police Squad by going undercover in Statesville Prison to uncover a plan to blow up the Academy Awards. A jailed bomber, Rocco Dillon (Fred Ward), has been hired to carry out the plot, and Drebin is tasked with gaining Rocco’s confidence, while attempting to salvage his own ailing marriage to Jane (Priscilla Presley).
The success of the original Naked Gun movie in 1988 was to end up firing the starting pistol on a slew of Nielsen-centric parody movies. By the time of The Naked Gun 2½, the actor had already starred in 1990’s Repossessed, a comedic take on 1973’s The Exorcist. After Naked Gun 33⅓, Nielsen would go on to appear in Mel Brooks’ Dracula: Dead and Loving It, Spy Hard, Wrongfully Accused, 2001: A Space Travesty, and Superhero Movie, as well as reteaming with David Zucker for Scary Movie 3 and 4, and An American Carol. By then, it could be argued there had been too many trips to the well with the same kind of formula, so it was perhaps for the best the saga of Frank Drebin and the files of Police Squad had now drawn to a close with the climax of this trilogy.
However, things could have turned out differently if plans to make a fourth entry in the series had come to fruition. There were moves to produce a continuation in 2009 – The Naked Gun: What 4? The Rhythm of Evil – which would see Drebin training up a rookie at Police Squad. It was mooted variously as being direct-to-DVD and a TV movie, before briefly being moved across to Paramount’s theatrical division. The trio of Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker were not involved, and moved to stop the film from being made. However, the project would ultimately fall through when Paramount tried to scrimp on the budget and asked for Nielsen’s part to be reduced down to just a cameo, before being excised altogether. Writer and director Alan Spencer felt it was the final insult, and walked away, causing the proposed sequel to collapse.
Even Nielsen’s passing in November 2010 would not end the moves for the Naked Gun series to continue, and December 2013 saw the announcement that comedian Ed Helms would be Frank Drebin (not the same character as Leslie Nielsen’s, but somebody who happened to have the same name) in Naked Gun Episode IV: A New Hope. In 2015, David Zucker would reveal that he had declined the offer to be a producer on the project, but two years later he announced that he had been working on a story for a fourth movie, centring around Frank and Jane’s son. However, these efforts would also falter, and it appeared Drebin had hung up his badge and holster for the last time.
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It seems, however, you can’t keep a good (or bad) cop down, and at the beginning of 2021, Seth MacFarlane would talk about his discussions with Liam Neeson to cast the actor in a Naked Gun reboot. Flash forward to February 2024, and it was confirmed that Neeson would portray Frank Drebin in a MacFarlane-produced Naked Gun movie, due to hit cinema screens in July 2025. Hopefully, his particular set of skills will include having the kind of comedy talent which ensures that the late Nielsen doesn’t turn in his grave – one which has the kind of fitting epitaph you might expect. Surely, he couldn’t be serious.
Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult was released on 18th March 1994.