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ZAZ (Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker) - An Appreciation. A bit. Maybe.

Started by prelektric, May 02, 2022, 06:28:05 PM

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The Ombudsman

Leslie Neilsen was also in a Columbo episode (Identity Crisis). He played a straight role however delivered a wonderful deadpan line that came out of nowhere. I'm surprised they left it in to be honest but I'm glad they did.

I can only find this low quality clip but here is the moment.


Ballad of Ballard Berkley

I always found it strange and rather sad that Nielsen, who was rightly celebrated for his deadpan comic timing, spent the last few years of his career in broad, lowbrow comedies that actively played against his strengths as a performer.

The whole point of Leslie Nielsen as a comic actor was his ability to deliver absurd dialogue with a straight face, that's why people loved him. He wasn't a zany slapstick comedian a la Jerry Lewis or Jim Carrey, but that's the sort of thing he ended up doing; mugging away like nobody's business while falling over furniture.

I mean, fair play to him, he was never short of work, but it seems that the people who hired him didn't really get what was so inherently funny about the man. And I suspect he was aware of that. But a job's a job, I suppose.

DJ Bob Hoskins

#32
One of the greatest bits of pop trivia ever is that the guy who played Chocolate Mousse in Top Secret! went on to work as a reflexologist for Newcastle United in the mid-'90s.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Tagoe

Anyway, Police Squad! is the best of the lot, closely followed by Airplane! and Top Secret!

Not a huge fan of the Naked Gun movies (aside from a handful of classic moments in the first one).

I'd rate Airplane II higher than TNG, although it's not actually a ZAZ film. The courtroom scenes are worth the price of admission alone:






up_the_hampipe

Quote from: Ballad of Ballard Berkley on May 04, 2022, 04:01:59 PMI always found it strange and rather sad that Nielsen, who was rightly celebrated for his deadpan comic timing, spent the last few years of his career in broad, lowbrow comedies that actively played against his strengths as a performer.

The whole point of Leslie Nielsen as a comic actor was his ability to deliver absurd dialogue with a straight face, that's why people loved him. He wasn't a zany slapstick comedian a la Jerry Lewis or Jim Carrey, but that's the sort of thing he ended up doing; mugging away like nobody's business while falling over furniture.

I mean, fair play to him, he was never short of work, but it seems that the people who hired him didn't really get what was so inherently funny about the man. And I suspect he was aware of that. But a job's a job, I suppose.

He probably also saw himself as the "parody movie" guy at that point. He was apparently very goofy in real life and liked to play pranks with whoopie cushions and whatnot, so he might have liked doing sillier stuff. Maybe he wished he could be like Jerry Lewis.

Ant Farm Keyboard

At some point, the shock value of having an actor delivering silly things in a deadpan way wore off, and Nielsen was also encouraged to adjust his performance to a broader style. I'm not sure that the ZAZ used "serious" actors after Richard Montalban or Robert Goulet (who were prone to hamming it up anyway), and when they worked with Nielsen outside of Airplane! or The Naked Gun, he would go goofy.

Inspector Norse

Top Secret! is my favourite, as others have mentioned it's just a riot from start to finish. Not a second wasted.
Saw Airplane! for the very first time not that long ago, found that it hadn't aged as well and stuff like the Johnny character was hard to imagine ever having been funny.
I'd like to see the Hot Shots films again - my friends and I used to watch them on VHS when we were about 12 and thought we were well cool and dangerous, haven't seen them since then. Had written them off as lesser later stuff I guess. Found them on Disney+ here, that's my Friday night sorted then.

DJ Bob Hoskins

This thread inspired me to go watch some Police Squad! for the first time ages.

[Father of kidnapped girl, moments after receiving ransom demand] "Lieutenant Drebin, what do I do?"

[Frank Drebin] "Well, as I understand it you're in the textile business."

Andy147

Jim A and Jerry Z didn't write or direct the "Naked Gun" sequels, FWIW.

The three of them also directed (but didn't write) "Ruthless People". And "Scary Movie 4" was directed by David Z and co-written by Jim A.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

"Sorry for your loss Ma'am. We would have come earlier, but your husband wasn't dead then."

dissolute ocelot

Just want to be the 20th person to point out that Top Secret! is underrated. I guess part of that is because it's easier to appreciate spoofs of Elvis and spy movies than of Airport and its sequels.

But the Airplane movies were a big part of my childhood, and Naked Gun 1 of my older childhood, so when I watch them I can always think of my childhood friends laughing at the jokes (or in some cases, explaining them).

Shaky

Quote from: steveh on May 04, 2022, 12:47:50 PMIs Abrahams' Mafia! worth watching? Think it's one of the few from them which I've never actually seen.


Ehhhh.... it's pretty weak, but again there's a handful of decent gags.

I tried to sit through Wrongfully Accused recently (from ZAZ-collaborator and Police Academy writer Pat Proft). Dismissed it at the time as the dying gasp of the genre, and I wasn't wrong. It just doesn't work.

There's also this fairly obscure spoof, featuring Nielsen as Drebin in all but name. Was given it for my birthday years ago and it's really, really shit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001:_A_Space_Travesty

Famous Mortimer

Quote from: Shaky on May 05, 2022, 09:38:58 AMThere's also this fairly obscure spoof, featuring Nielsen as Drebin in all but name. Was given it for my birthday years ago and it's really, really shit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001:_A_Space_Travesty
I read about this a while back, and Ezio Greggio was keen at the time to be the Italian Leslie Nielsen, so hired him a few times for his rather lame parody films. I think I'm remembering it right, anyway.

Egyptian Feast

Ahh, the guy who made The Silence Of The Hams. Most of the gags in that were so pathetic I found it quite endearing, as if it was so unfunny it ended up being funny. There was the occasional decent sight gag and the name Dr Animal Cannibal Pizza is so idiotic I can't even look at it written down without chuckling.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

Quote from: Egyptian Feast on May 05, 2022, 02:51:33 PMthe name Dr Animal Cannibal Pizza is so idiotic I can't even look at it written down without chuckling.
I've never seen the film (and have no particular plans to) but I read a review of it decades ago and that name has stuck in my head ever since. It's so stupid it almost comes back around to being clever. It's not even Animal "The Cannibal" Pizza - Cannibal just appears to be his middle name.

zomgmouse

that film has been on my list for years and years - is it actually worth a watch?

evilcommiedictator

The last time we had this thread yeah, Top Secret was the winner.

But to me, Wrongfully Accused and Spy Hard (just) deserve a look-in as well.
Nielsen on the run using signs to help him make up a lie to the clerk at a shop is great
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNqUyiGIXQU

Egyptian Feast

Quote from: zomgmouse on May 06, 2022, 12:47:33 AMthat film has been on my list for years and years - is it actually worth a watch?

Hams? I couldn't possibly recommend it and waste anybody's time, but it's cheerful, extremely stupid and every once in a while you may find yourself laughing with the movie and not at it.

Example of typical gag, spoiled by the thumbnail:


zomgmouse

Quote from: Egyptian Feast on May 06, 2022, 01:34:53 AMHams? I couldn't possibly recommend it and waste anybody's time, but it's cheerful, extremely stupid and every once in a while you may find yourself laughing with the movie and not at it.

Example of typical gag, spoiled by the thumbnail:


this is actually pretty funny in exactly the way you describe it. hmmmmm

Sonny_Jim

Who are you?  How did you get in here?

Well, I'm a locksmith.  And I'm a locksmith.

Maybe it's the delivery, but that's peak Nielsen for me

Lisa Jesusandmarychain

I actually saw " Silence Of The Hams" at the cinema ( in my defence, this was when I was living in a small town in Slovakia, there wasn't much to do, and the cinema was really cheap). People of the calibre of Mel Brooks and John Astin made cameos in it, fuck knows why. Easily one of the most pathetic films I've ever seen, some of the jokes could have been scripted by a 5 year old.

Shaky

Quote from: Egyptian Feast on May 06, 2022, 01:34:53 AMHams? I couldn't possibly recommend it and waste anybody's time, but it's cheerful, extremely stupid and every once in a while you may find yourself laughing with the movie and not at it.

Example of typical gag, spoiled by the thumbnail:


Guilty - I did laugh at the delivery of the very last line.

Ant Farm Keyboard

There's one stupid gag in Wrongfully Accused that I also like, it's the melee with the killer with the prosthetics during the storm, in which lightning freezes them in increasingly sexual-looking positions such as 69.

Alberon

Quote from: Sonny_Jim on May 06, 2022, 03:23:31 AMWho are you?  How did you get in here?

Well, I'm a locksmith.  And I'm a locksmith.

Maybe it's the delivery, but that's peak Nielsen for me

There's so many from the series, but in retrospect you do see a big shift in the way the character is played from the series to the films, especially as they progress.

There was a thread on here a while back extolling the merits of Top Secret! I'm a big fan of both Airplane movies (even though they weren't involved in the sequel). I think I saw Airplane II at the cinema. Being a sci-fi fan and loving that kind of humour I thought it was great.

It's a difficult style to manage as even if there are jokes coming thick and fast most of them have to land for it to work.

What other similar style shows and films are there? Off the top of my head the only one that comes to mind is the underated A Touch of Cloth.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story is probably the last great spoof film (at time of print). It thoroughly skewers all the clichés of the music biopic, to the extent that is hard to believe anyone would make another one with a straight face (except that no fucker watched it at the time).

Famous Mortimer

Quote from: Alberon on May 06, 2022, 01:24:34 PMWhat other similar style shows and films are there? Off the top of my head the only one that comes to mind is the underated A Touch of Cloth.
"Angie Tribeca" has a similar style, and is pretty good, too.

phantom_power

Sledge Hammer from back in the day had a similar "throw it all against the wall and see what sticks" approach to gags

Keebleman

The Big Bus is very similar.  Like Airplane it is a spoof of disaster movies, like Airplane it has quite a few actors not known for comedy (John Beck, Ned Beatty, Lynn Redgrave), and like Airplane it is played totally straight with no acknowledgement of the absurdity going on.  But it predates it by 4 years!  The reason Airplane rather than The Big Bus kickstarted the genre is cos Airplane had funnier gags.  It's such an obvious reason it sounds like a joke in itself.

purlieu

Crikey, I didn't realise The Big Bus was that old. Always assumed it was an '80s film. Would like to see it again actually, I remember loving it as a kid.

Shaky

Quote from: phantom_power on May 06, 2022, 05:28:29 PMSledge Hammer from back in the day had a similar "throw it all against the wall and see what sticks" approach to gags

Interestingly, SH creator Alan Spencer wrote a fourth Naked Gun, Rhythm of Evil, in the late 00's which had Frank Drebin in a mentor role and was - gasp - supposedly a genuinely funny spoof of more modern cop/crime flicks. Studio nixed it just before Nielsen's death.

BeardFaceMan

Quote from: Shaky on May 07, 2022, 05:03:26 AMInterestingly, SH creator Alan Spencer wrote a fourth Naked Gun, Rhythm of Evil, in the late 00's which had Frank Drebin in a mentor role and was - gasp - supposedly a genuinely funny spoof of more modern cop/crime flicks. Studio nixed it just before Nielsen's death.

I'm still waiting on the Naked Gun reboot from the Reno 911! guys. Depending on whether it's one of Lennon & Garrant's studio films or one of their own films, that could work very well for me, Clive. I think the premise was that it was going to be Drebin's son as the star, possibly investigating his death. Haven't heard any news about that for a while though.

Edit - got that wrong, just did a search as it's been a few years since I'd heard any news and stumbled across this very recent interview - https://wechoiceblogger.com/new-details-on-naked-gun-reboot-100-jokes-a-page/ Ed Helms is going to be Drebin.