The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear
Encyclopedia
The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear is a 1991 comedy film
starring 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 villanous Quentin Hapsburg and Richard Griffiths
as renewable fuel advocate Dr Albert S. Meinheimer (as well as 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 producer
s 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.
It is the first sequel to The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!, and was followed by Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult. The film is marketed with the tagline "Frank Drebin is back. Just accept it."
) is honored at the White House
, where President
George H. W. Bush
(John Roarke) announces that he will base his recommendation for the country's energy program on Dr. Albert Meinheimer's (Richard Griffiths
) advice at the National Press Club dinner the following week. The heads of the coal and oil (fossil fuel
) and nuclear
industries are apparently distressed by this fact. Jane Spencer (Priscilla Presley
), now working for Dr. Meinheimer, is working late at his research institute, crying about Frank. She spots a man in a red van. A maintenance worker, emptying out garbage cans, discovers a clock with dynamite attached and takes it to the security guards, accidentally triggering 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 (George Kennedy) finds him at a lonely blues bar. 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 give their recommendation to the President endorsing fossil and nuclear fuels.
Police Squad determines the driver of the van, Hector Savage, to be connected to a sex toy shop. Frank spots the red van, assigning Nordberg the task of bugging it. Savage holes up in a home surrounded by police. Frank commandeers a tank, which he drives into the house, allowing Savage to escape. Drebin arrives at a party. After a disastrous attempt to "wheel" the Meinheimer double to the stage for a raffle drawing, Frank goes to Jane's apartment. Savage arrives with orders to kill Jane. He comes across Jane in the shower and she screams, alerting Frank to his presence. Frank sticks a fire hose in Savage's mouth and turns on the water, which continues to run until Savage apparently bursts his body from all the water pressure. Frank follows the trail to the dock of Hapsburg's oil company. Jane realizes Hapsburg's plan and asks Frank to stop him. They rediscover their love for each other. Hapsburg and the energy representatives meet in a warehouse. Frank falls through the roof
while being chased by a guard dog. They tie up Frank with the real Dr. Meinheimer. Police Squad frees them. They go to the hotel where Dr. Meinheimer is to make his recommendation to the President. Frank, Nordberg, Ed and the real Meinheimer get into the building by appropriating a costume and instruments from a Mariachi band
due to perform at the hotel.
Drebin encounters Hacker, who attacks him. Football players from the Chicago Bears
appear and, believing Frank to be attacking a defenseless man, proceed to wheel away Hacker while attacking Frank. Ed and Meinheimer arrive to disable Hacker, who is arrested. During the confusion, Drebin mistakes Meinheimer for the fake, permitting Hapsburg to escape with Jane. Hapsburg plans to set off a small nuclear device
which will kill everyone, so it won't matter what Meinheimer says in his speech. Frank disarms him and Ed throws Hapsburg out from the window. Hapsburg manages to survive the fall thanks to an awning, only to be attacked by a lion. Frank frees Jane and they attempt to disarm the bomb while Ed and Nordberg evacuate the hotel. After several failed attempts, Frank finally manages to disarm the bomb at the last second by tripping over the power cord, unplugging it. Drebin is commended by the President, who offers him a special post as head of the Federal Bureau of Police Squad. He declines, instead asking Jane to marry him, which she accepts. They go out to a balcony, where they accept commendations from the crowd. Frank spins around and accidentally knocking Barbara Bush
(Margery Ross) off the balcony. She manages to hold on, although in an attempt to help her, Frank pulls off her dress.
, 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" (right after the credits).
Singer Colleen Fitzpatrick (known to modern-rock fans as Vitamin C
) appeared on camera as a saloon singer at a sad-sack restaurant called the Blue Note, to which a depressed Detective Lieutenant Drebin repairs after seeing former girlfriend Jane Spencer being wooed by villain Quentin Hapsburg. Fitzpatrick, then in her 20s, was made up to look like an aging, world-weary, chanteuse.
Other non-Newborn pieces make cameos 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 "Besame Mucho
" at the Press Club dinner.
released a soundtrack combining the best Newborn compositions from the first two films.
Track listing
from the top spot at the box office.
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
starring Leslie Nielsen
Leslie Nielsen
Leslie William Nielsen, OC was a Canadian and naturalized American actor and comedian. Nielsen appeared in more than one hundred films and 1,500 television programs over the span of his career, portraying more than 220 characters...
as the comically bumbling Police Lt. Frank Drebin of Police Squad!
Police Squad!
Police Squad! is a television comedy series first broadcast in 1982, created by Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker and starring Leslie Nielsen. A spoof of police procedurals, the series was packed with ZAZ's usual sight gags, wordplay and non sequiturs...
. Priscilla Presley
Priscilla Presley
Priscilla Presley is an American actress and businesswoman. She is the ex-wife of singer Elvis Presley, and the mother of singer-songwriter Lisa Marie 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
Robert Goulet
Robert Gerard Goulet was a Canadian American entertainer as a singer and actor. He played the role of Lancelot in the Broadway musical Camelot of 1960.-Early life:...
(who previously made a "special guest star" appearance on Police Squad!) as the villanous Quentin Hapsburg and Richard Griffiths
Richard Griffiths
Richard Griffiths, OBE is an English actor of stage, film and television. He has received the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play, the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Featured Actor and a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor...
as renewable fuel advocate Dr Albert S. Meinheimer (as well as as his evil double, Earl Hacker). Zsa Zsa Gabor
Zsa Zsa Gabor
Zsa Zsa Gabor is a Hungarian-born American stage, film and television actress.She acted on stage in Vienna, Austria, in 1932, and was crowned Miss Hungary in 1936. She emigrated to the United States in 1941 and became a sought-after actress with "European flair and style", with a personality that...
, Mel Tormé
Mel Tormé
Melvin Howard Tormé , nicknamed The Velvet Fog, was an American musician, known for his jazz singing. He was also a jazz composer and arranger, a drummer, an actor in radio, film, and television, and the author of five books...
and members of the Chicago Bears
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
have cameo roles.
David Zucker returns from the first entry as director and screenwriter of the film. Jim Abrahams
Jim Abrahams
Jim Abrahams is an American movie director and writer.Abrahams was born in Shorewood, Wisconsin, to a Jewish family, and attended Shorewood High School...
and Jerry Zucker
Jerry Zucker (film director)
Jerry Zucker is an American movie director known for his role in directing comedy spoof films, and the hit film Ghost....
serve as executive producer
Executive producer
An executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production...
s 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.
It is the first sequel to The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!, and was followed by Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult. The film is marketed with the tagline "Frank Drebin is back. Just accept it."
Plot
Frank Drebin (Leslie NielsenLeslie Nielsen
Leslie William Nielsen, OC was a Canadian and naturalized American actor and comedian. Nielsen appeared in more than one hundred films and 1,500 television programs over the span of his career, portraying more than 220 characters...
) is honored at the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
, where President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
(John Roarke) announces that he will base his recommendation for the country's energy program on Dr. Albert Meinheimer's (Richard Griffiths
Richard Griffiths
Richard Griffiths, OBE is an English actor of stage, film and television. He has received the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play, the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Featured Actor and a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor...
) advice at the National Press Club dinner the following week. The heads of the coal and oil (fossil fuel
Fossil fuel
Fossil fuels are fuels formed by natural processes such as anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms. The age of the organisms and their resulting fossil fuels is typically millions of years, and sometimes exceeds 650 million years...
) and nuclear
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
industries are apparently distressed by this fact. Jane Spencer (Priscilla Presley
Priscilla Presley
Priscilla Presley is an American actress and businesswoman. She is the ex-wife of singer Elvis Presley, and the mother of singer-songwriter Lisa Marie Presley....
), now working for Dr. Meinheimer, is working late at his research institute, crying about Frank. She spots a man in a red van. A maintenance worker, emptying out garbage cans, discovers a clock with dynamite attached and takes it to the security guards, accidentally triggering 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 (George Kennedy) finds him at a lonely blues bar. 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 give their recommendation to the President endorsing fossil and nuclear fuels.
Police Squad determines the driver of the van, Hector Savage, to be connected to a sex toy shop. Frank spots the red van, assigning Nordberg the task of bugging it. Savage holes up in a home surrounded by police. Frank commandeers a tank, which he drives into the house, allowing Savage to escape. Drebin arrives at a party. After a disastrous attempt to "wheel" the Meinheimer double to the stage for a raffle drawing, Frank goes to Jane's apartment. Savage arrives with orders to kill Jane. He comes across Jane in the shower and she screams, alerting Frank to his presence. Frank sticks a fire hose in Savage's mouth and turns on the water, which continues to run until Savage apparently bursts his body from all the water pressure. Frank follows the trail to the dock of Hapsburg's oil company. Jane realizes Hapsburg's plan and asks Frank to stop him. They rediscover their love for each other. Hapsburg and the energy representatives meet in a warehouse. Frank falls through the roof
Roof
A roof is the covering on the uppermost part of a building. A roof protects the building and its contents from the effects of weather. Structures that require roofs range from a letter box to a cathedral or stadium, dwellings being the most numerous....
while being chased by a guard dog. They tie up Frank with the real Dr. Meinheimer. Police Squad frees them. They go to the hotel where Dr. Meinheimer is to make his recommendation to the President. Frank, Nordberg, Ed and the real Meinheimer get into the building by appropriating a costume and instruments from a Mariachi band
Mariachi
Mariachi is a genre of music that originated in the State of Jalisco, in Mexico. It is an integration of stringed instruments highly influenced by the cultural impacts of the historical development of Western Mexico. Throughout the history of mariachi, musicians have experimented with brass, wind,...
due to perform at the hotel.
Drebin encounters Hacker, who attacks him. Football players from the Chicago Bears
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
appear and, believing Frank to be attacking a defenseless man, proceed to wheel away Hacker while attacking Frank. Ed and Meinheimer arrive to disable Hacker, who is arrested. During the confusion, Drebin mistakes Meinheimer for the fake, permitting Hapsburg to escape with Jane. Hapsburg plans to set off a small nuclear device
Nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...
which will kill everyone, so it won't matter what Meinheimer says in his speech. Frank disarms him and Ed throws Hapsburg out from the window. Hapsburg manages to survive the fall thanks to an awning, only to be attacked by a lion. Frank frees Jane and they attempt to disarm the bomb while Ed and Nordberg evacuate the hotel. After several failed attempts, Frank finally manages to disarm the bomb at the last second by tripping over the power cord, unplugging it. Drebin is commended by the President, who offers him a special post as head of the Federal Bureau of Police Squad. He declines, instead asking Jane to marry him, which she accepts. They go out to a balcony, where they accept commendations from the crowd. Frank spins around and accidentally knocking Barbara Bush
Barbara Bush
Barbara Pierce Bush is the wife of the 41st President of the United States George H. W. Bush, and served as First Lady of the United States from 1989 to 1993. She is the mother of the 43rd President George W. Bush and of the 43rd Governor of Florida Jeb Bush...
(Margery Ross) off the balcony. She manages to hold on, although in an attempt to help her, Frank pulls off her dress.
Cast
- Leslie NielsenLeslie NielsenLeslie William Nielsen, OC was a Canadian and naturalized American actor and comedian. Nielsen appeared in more than one hundred films and 1,500 television programs over the span of his career, portraying more than 220 characters...
as Lieutenant Frank Drebin - Priscilla PresleyPriscilla PresleyPriscilla Presley is an American actress and businesswoman. She is the ex-wife of singer Elvis Presley, and the mother of singer-songwriter Lisa Marie Presley....
as Jane Spencer - George Kennedy as Captain Ed Hocken
- O.J. Simpson as Nordberg
- Robert GouletRobert GouletRobert Gerard Goulet was a Canadian American entertainer as a singer and actor. He played the role of Lancelot in the Broadway musical Camelot of 1960.-Early life:...
as Quentin Hapsburg - Richard GriffithsRichard GriffithsRichard Griffiths, OBE is an English actor of stage, film and television. He has received the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play, the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Featured Actor and a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor...
as Dr. Albert S. Meinheimer/Earl Hacker - Jacqueline BrookesJacqueline BrookesJacqueline Victoire Brookes is an American actress known for her work on stage, off and on Broadway.Brookes was born in Montclair, New Jersey, the daughter of Maria Victoire and Frederick Jack Brookes, an investment banker...
as Commissioner Anabell Brumford - Anthony James as Hector Savage
- Lloyd BochnerLloyd BochnerLloyd Wolfe Bochner was a Canadian actor, usually playing the role of suave, rich leading men.- Career :...
as Terence Baggett - Tim O'ConnorTim O'Connor (actor)Tim O'Connor is an American character actor known for his prolific work in television, although he has made only a few appearances since the early 1990s. Before moving to California, he lived on an island in the middle of Glen Wild Lake, near Bloomingdale, New Jersey.O'Connor specialized in...
as Donald Fenswick - Peter Mark Richman as Arthur Dunwell
- Ed Williams as Ted Olsen
- John Roarke as President George Bush
- Margery Ross as First Lady Barbara BushBarbara BushBarbara Pierce Bush is the wife of the 41st President of the United States George H. W. Bush, and served as First Lady of the United States from 1989 to 1993. She is the mother of the 43rd President George W. Bush and of the 43rd Governor of Florida Jeb Bush...
- Peter Van Norden as Chief of Staff John Sununu
- Gail Neely as Winnie Mandela
- Colleen FitzpatrickVitamin C (artist)Colleen Ann Fitzpatrick is an American pop music singer, songwriter, dancer, and actress better known by her stage name, Vitamin C. Her singles include "Graduation ", "As Long As You're Loving Me", "The Itch", and her most successful hit the Top 20 Gold certified "Smile"...
as Blues Singer at Blue Note Club - Sally Rosenblatt as Mrs. Redmond
- Alexander Folk as Crackhouse cop
- "Weird Al" Yankovic"Weird Al" YankovicAlfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic is an American singer-songwriter, music producer, accordionist, actor, comedian, writer, satirist, and parodist. Yankovic is known for his humorous songs that make light of popular culture and that often parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts...
as Police Station Thug
Music
As with the first Naked Gun film, the original music for the second installment was composed and orchestrated by veteran soundtrack composer Ira NewbornIra Newborn
Ira Newborn is an American musician and composer, best known for his work composing motion picture soundtracks....
, including the familiar big-band/blues theme for the Naked Gun/Police Squad!
Police Squad!
Police Squad! is a television comedy series first broadcast in 1982, created by Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker and starring Leslie Nielsen. A spoof of police procedurals, the series was packed with ZAZ's usual sight gags, wordplay and non sequiturs...
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" (right after the credits).
Singer Colleen Fitzpatrick (known to modern-rock fans as Vitamin C
Vitamin C (artist)
Colleen Ann Fitzpatrick is an American pop music singer, songwriter, dancer, and actress better known by her stage name, Vitamin C. Her singles include "Graduation ", "As Long As You're Loving Me", "The Itch", and her most successful hit the Top 20 Gold certified "Smile"...
) appeared on camera as a saloon singer at a sad-sack restaurant called the Blue Note, to which a depressed Detective Lieutenant Drebin repairs after seeing former girlfriend Jane Spencer being wooed by villain Quentin Hapsburg. Fitzpatrick, then in her 20s, was made up to look like an aging, world-weary, chanteuse.
Other non-Newborn pieces make cameos in this Naked Gun installment. They include the standards "Tangerine" and "Satin Doll" and the Righteous Brothers' recordings of "Unchained Melody
Unchained Melody
"Unchained Melody" is a 1955 song with music by Alex North and lyrics by Hy Zaret. It has become one of the most recorded songs of the 20th century, by some counts having spawned over 500 versions in hundreds of different languages....
" (featured in Jerry Zucker's drama "Ghost") and "Ebb Tide." Nielsen himself voices the Latin-flavored pop standard "Besame Mucho
Bésame Mucho
"Bésame Mucho" is a Spanish language song written in 1940 by Mexican songwriter Consuelo Velázquez.-Inspiration:According to Velázquez herself, she wrote this song even though she had never been kissed yet at the time, and kissing as she heard was considered a sin.She was inspired by the piano...
" at the Press Club dinner.
Soundtrack
In conjunction with the second Naked Gun film, Varèse SarabandeVarèse Sarabande
Varèse Sarabande is an American record label, distributed by Universal Music Group, which specializes in film scores and original cast recordings. It aims to reissue rare or unavailable albums as well as newer releases by artists no longer under a contract...
released a soundtrack combining the best Newborn compositions from the first two films.
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 2½: 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 2½: 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 2½: 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 2½: 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 2½: The Smell of Fear |
| 12 | The Date | 0:56 | The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear |
| 13 | Roof, Roof!! | 4:14 | The Naked Gun 2½: 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 2½: The Smell of Fear |
| 16 | End Credits | 4:32 | The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear |
Reception
The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear was met with mixed reviews from critics.Box office
The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear knocked Robin Hood: Prince of ThievesRobin Hood: Prince of Thieves
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves is a 1991 American adventure film directed by Kevin Reynolds. Kevin Costner heads the cast list as Robin Hood...
from the top spot at the box office.