The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Naked Gun 2+12:
The Smell of Fear
Naked Gun 2.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed byDavid Zucker
Written byDavid Zucker
Pat Proft
Based onPolice Squad!
by David Zucker
Jim Abrahams
Jerry Zucker
Produced byRobert K. Weiss
Starring
CinematographyRobert M. Stevens
Edited byChristopher Greenbury
James R. Symons
Music byIra Newborn
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
  • June 28, 1991 (1991-06-28)
Running time
85 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$23 million
Box office$192 million[1]

The Naked Gun 2+12: The Smell of Fear is a 1991 American comedy film. It is the sequel to the 1988 film The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! and the second installment in The Naked Gun film series. The film stars Leslie Nielsen as the comically bumbling Police Lt. Frank Drebin of Police Squad!. Priscilla Presley plays the role of Jane, with O. J. Simpson as Nordberg and George Kennedy as police captain Ed Hocken. The film also features Robert Goulet (who previously made a "special guest star" appearance on Police Squad!) as the villainous Quentin Hapsburg and Richard Griffiths as renewable fuel advocate Dr. Albert S. Meinheimer (as well as his evil double, Earl Hacker). Zsa Zsa Gabor, Mel Tormé and members of the Chicago Bears have cameo roles.

David Zucker returns from the first entry as director and screenwriter of the film. Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker serve as executive producers for the film and receive writing credit due to their contributions to the first entry of the series and the Police Squad! television series. However, neither contributed to the screenplay for the film.

A third installment in the series, Naked Gun 33+13: The Final Insult, was released in 1994.

Plot[]

Frank Drebin is honored at the White House, where President George H. W. Bush announces that he will base his recommendation for the country's energy program on Dr. Albert Meinheimer's advice, which will be revealed during the doctor's speech at the National Press Club dinner the following week. The heads of the coal and oil (fossil fuel) and nuclear industries are distressed by this fact, as Dr. Meinheimer is an advocate for renewable energy. Jane Spencer, now separated from Frank and working for Dr. Meinheimer, is working late at Meinheimer's research institute when she spots a man leaving in a van. A maintenance worker discovers a clock with dynamite attached and takes it to the security guards, who accidentally trigger it.

The next morning, Frank reacquaints himself with Jane as he interviews her about the explosion. He is shown around the institute and meets Jane's boyfriend, Hexagon Oil executive Quentin Hapsburg, of whom he becomes exceedingly jealous. Frank's boss, Ed Hocken, finds him and Jane at a lonely blues bar, where Frank promptly blows a chance to make up with her. Meanwhile, at a meeting of the "energy" industry leaders, Hapsburg reveals that he has kidnapped Dr. Meinheimer and found an exact double for him, Earl Hacker, who will endorse fossil and nuclear fuels at the Press Club Dinner.

Police Squad tracks down the van driver, Hector Savage. Once he discovers the police are onto him, Savage holes up in a house, demanding money and a car. Frank drives a SWAT tank into and through the house, inadvertently allowing Savage to escape, and causes more damage when he loses control of the tank and crashes into the city zoo, allowing the animals to escape. At a party that evening, Frank notices that Dr. Meinheimer does not instantly remember him, despite Jane telling him that Meinheimer had a photographic memory. Frank confronts her with this at her apartment following the party, but is dismissed. Moments later, Savage enters the home and tries to kill Jane. Frank becomes aware of Savage and kills him by sticking a fire hose into his mouth and turning it on full blast. Jane realizes that Frank was right, and the two rekindle their romance.

The next day, Police Squad stakes out Hexagon Oil's headquarters where Dr. Meinheimer is being held. Frank tries to go undercover into the building, but instead is discovered and tied up by Hapsburg's henchmen. Frank and Dr. Meinheimer are eventually freed, and Police Squad proceeds to the Press Club Dinner. Finding their only way in locked, Frank, Ed, Nordberg, and Dr. Meinheimer commandeer a mariachi band's costumes and head inside, where Hacker is eventually intercepted, allowing Meinheimer to give his speech. Hapsburg flees the dinner and takes Jane with him. After a shootout on the roof of the building, Hapsburg informs Frank that he has rigged the building with a small nuclear device which will kill everyone in there except for him and render Dr. Meinheimer's speech useless. After a fight, Frank attempts to learn the bomb's disarming code from Hapsburg, but Ed enters and throws Hapsburg out a window. Hapsburg hits an awning below and is able to come to the sidewalk unscathed, but is immediately killed by an escaped lion from the zoo.

Frank and Jane attempt to disarm the bomb while Ed and Nordberg go back into the ballroom to evacuate it. After several failed attempts, Frank finally manages to disarm the bomb at the last second by tripping over its power cord, unplugging it. Frank is commended by the President, who offers him a special post as head of the Federal Bureau of Police Squad. Frank declines, instead asking Jane to marry him, which she accepts.

Cast[]

Music[]

As with the first Naked Gun film, the original music for the second installment was composed and orchestrated by veteran soundtrack composer Ira Newborn, including the familiar big-band/blues theme for the Naked Gun/Police Squad! franchise.

Several of the orchestral movements revolve around two other Newborn pieces: "Drebin - Hero!" (used at the top of the pre-credit sequence, from the Paramount-logo animation onward) and the romantic "Thinking of Him" (immediately after the credits).

Seasoned Broadway and film singer/actress Colleen Fitzpatrick plays a saloon singer at a sad-sack restaurant called the Blue Note, to which a depressed Detective Lieutenant Drebin repairs after seeing his former girlfriend Jane Spencer being wooed by the villain Quentin Hapsburg. This role has frequently been attributed to singer Vitamin C who happens to share the same name, but this is incorrect.[2]

Other non-Newborn pieces are heard in this Naked Gun installment. They include the standards "Tangerine" and "Satin Doll" and The Righteous Brothers' recordings of "Unchained Melody" (featured in Jerry Zucker's drama Ghost) and "Ebb Tide." Nielsen himself voices the Latin-flavored pop standard "Bésame Mucho" at the Press Club dinner.

Soundtrack[]

The Naked Gun 2+12: The Smell of Fear
(Original Soundtrack)
Soundtrack album by
Released1991
Recorded1991
GenreBig Band
Length35:46
LabelVarèse Sarabande
ProducerIra Newborn
Robert Townson (executive producer)

In conjunction with the second Naked Gun film, Varèse Sarabande released a soundtrack combining the best Newborn compositions from the first two films. The full scores for The Naked Gun trilogy, along with source music and alternate cues as bonus material, was released in 2014 by La-La-Land Records .

Track listing
# Title Time Original Film
1 Beirut Vacation 0:56 The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
2 Drebin-Hero! 1:03 The Naked Gun 2+12: The Smell of Fear
3 Main Title 2:00 The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
4 Meat Miss Spencer 5:28 The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
5 There's Been a Bombing 0:47 The Naked Gun 2+12: The Smell of Fear
6 The Exciting Chase 2:44 The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
7 Bad Boys & Meinheimers 2:44 The Naked Gun 2+12: The Smell of Fear
8 Miss Spencer 1:00 The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
9 Hey Look at These 0:44 The Naked Gun 2+12: The Smell of Fear
10 On the Ledge 1:36 The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
11 Thinking of... Him! 2:33 The Naked Gun 2+12: The Smell of Fear
12 The Date 0:56 The Naked Gun 2+12: The Smell of Fear
13 Roof, Roof!! 4:14 The Naked Gun 2+12: The Smell of Fear
14 I Must Kill Frank 3:10 The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
15 I Want a World 1:47 The Naked Gun 2+12: The Smell of Fear
16 End Credits 4:32 The Naked Gun 2+12: The Smell of Fear

Reception[]

Box office[]

The Naked Gun 2+12: The Smell of Fear knocked Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves from the top spot at the box office.[3] It grossed $86.9 million in the United States and Canada and did even better internationally, grossing $105 million for a worldwide total of $192 million against a reported budget of $23 million.[1] It was the 10th best performing movie of 1991 in the United States.[4]

Critical response[]

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 57% based on 42 reviews, with an average rating of 5.9/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Naked Gun 2+12: The Smell of Fear delivers a handful of moderate laughs, but overall, its strained antics pale in comparison to its gut-busting predecessor."[5] On Metacritic, the film holds a weighted average score of 65 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[6]

Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly awarded it a B+, but observed that in some ways, it was "the most predictable of the ZAZ films. Even the inconsistent Top Secret! (1984), a demented hybrid of Elvis movies and World War II espionage thrillers, had far wilder passages. Yet I'll take lesser ZAZ over most of the competition any day. Their comedies don't just get you laughing. They put you inside a new, cracked-mirror world — a world where no detail is too small for ridicule, and where Leslie Nielsen (bless him) can be a movie star."[7] Kenneth Turan wrote in the Los Angeles Times that one should "consider The Naked Gun 2+12: The Smell of Fear. The title is funny enough, so are the credits ("Un Film de David Zucker"), and the key art, showing fearless Lt. Frank Drebin spread-eagled on a pair of speeding bullets, is good for a chuckle as well. But that's where the laughter ends, pal. Because the only thing about The Naked Gun that won't make you laugh is the film itself."[8]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b D'Alessandro, Anthony (July 15, 2002). "Top 50 worldwide grossers". Variety. p. 52, Paramount at 90 supplement.
  2. ^ "Naked Gun 2 1/2 Blues Club clip - Hilarious Depression!". YouTube. August 4, 2010. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
  3. ^ Strauss, Bob (July 5, 1991). "Naked Gun 2 1/2' 2nd To None In Its Debut Weekend". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved October 10, 2010.
  4. ^ "The Naked Gun Movies at the Box Office". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
  5. ^ "The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear (1991)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved July 19, 2021.
  6. ^ "The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear (1991)". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved August 3, 2019.
  7. ^ "The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear". Entertainment Weekly. July 12, 1991. Retrieved October 10, 2010.
  8. ^ Turan, Kenneth (June 28, 1991). "MOVIE REVIEW : 'Naked Gun 2 1/2' Fires Blanks : The main characters, cast and creators of the off-the-wall original are back, but they forget one thing--the laughs". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 18, 2010.

External links[]


Retrieved from ""