Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 21, 1988)
T Arts & Entertainment Actor Nielsen talks about movie, career By Tresor McArthur Staff Reporter Actor Leslie Nichcn spoke to a packed SlMtU * T‘\ t. ' • JiA , hi 1 oik) A III u ih mu , ik H v u t ; p. * j* if f\ id, * ■« ;\ \ I *c tv tried) L ■, Naked Gun: < lorn Ute Hies of Police Squad! Nielsen plays L.t. Frank Drebin, the same role he play cd in the critically acclaimed, but short-lived TV series “Police Squad!” Nielsen’s association vwth the producers of “Naked Gun,” Jerry and Dave Zucker and Jim Abrahams, began with the 1980 film “Air plane!” e He saudlie saw the script about nine months after they had given it to his agent. After he finally read it. Nielsen told his agent he would pay the film makers to do the mov ie.Onc au dience member wanted to know if there were jny Flvis sightings on the s.. t. Nielsen's co-star a a. I-'useilla Presley-, \ wife of die uu Flvis Pres’- \ and die picieik was \-incd when a lot k i . 1\:s-is-ah\c rumors weie flying. We had alxiut five. And I heard a lot of music," he said. Then, Nielsen talked about lus co-star. “She’s wonderful. You know , she’s a very elegant and beautiful woman, as you can see. But when we first met, I looked at her and wc talked. It was all very formal — and I like to make faces. “So with Priscilla, 1 got across the way and I caught her eye and went (he makes a face), and she went (simulates her face) and from that point on we just had a lot of fun. She has a wonderful streak ot the little kid with that elegance Srelsen said Nielsen said he doesn i watch nui t. < his ■ a n w ork, ...K lu iiuf ks il was • ian i\ _ ■»-\ > sli iw. But he ijys lie doesn't usually watch anything more than twice. “This is my sixth lime watching this (“Naked Gun”),and I'm cracking upas much as y ou (the audience) are.” Nielsen said he had been able to keep a straight face during the making of “Airplane!” and the whole “Police Squad!” scries, but dur ing “Naked Gun” filming he admitted to losing composure. In one such scene, he struggled with hungry fish to get a pen out of an aquarium without villain Ricardo Mon la I ban knowing. “I don’t know, why, but dial appeals to me. I think it's funny, Nielsen said. . ;,i v,o much inn making this lilin It ua like 'telling up c-Viy morning call), to ii.i.m mii c i nut \ on got so w 01 k eat i\ so ill at you wouldn't miss any ol the laughs, Nielsen said. Nielsen traced his ailing lareer to the lirsl lime he decided to fib to his father. For those who decide to continue seriously in acting, he gave this advice: “I guess il >ou’re going to work as an actor, or you want to work as an actor, the best thing to do is to find a place where there’s a stage, and usually that is in Same old jokes in ‘Naked Gun’ produce good, fun movie By Trevor McArthur SjjiT Reporter _ r ■ ... ' “The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!” is exactly what should be expected from the group who created the movies “Airplane!,” “TopSecret!’’and the television show upon which this movie is based, “Police Squad!” — a funny, dumb, clever and juvenile film. This is a movie-length version of a “Police Squad!’’story. It even steals a couple jokes from the short-lived series, though with slabs at a couple other genres as well. It is a little different, in the same way theatrical cop movies are a bit different than weekly cop dramas, but Leslie Nielsen is still Lt. Frank Dre bin and he still runs into trash cans every time he parks his car. In an introduction that parodies jingoistic spy and war movies, Drebin breaks up a meeting of all the (op villainsof the day by doing things like giving the Ayatollah Khomeini a Three-Stooges slap and wiping the birthmark off Gorbachev’s head. The opening credit sequence, which follows a long variation on the siren ’s-eye view of a pol ice car chase, sets (he tone for the rest of the picture — an old cliche put into a new context where it becomes bi/arre. As the plot gels started, the story gets serious for more than a minute. But when an undercover cop played by O.J. Simpson has plenty of insult added to his injuries, along with plenty of other minor injuries, we know the film is never going to get loo serious. It never docs, and you can be sure that if it gets at all serious for any extended length, it is merely setting up a yet larger joke. The creative team of Jerry and David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Pat Profl hasn’t done anything new with this movie. But even many of the jokes in “Airplane!” were predictable, once you figured out where the movie was coming from. The fun in this type of comedy lies not in totally original humor, but in watching how well they handle sometimes old, even worn -out jokes, physical gags, non-sequilurs and puns. In this, the original three writers haven’t changed their formula. There’s more of a romantic plot and even a safe-sex reference in this film, but you’ll never keep a straight face about the matter after their slab at it. It is dumb fun, but plenty of fun, and a certain amount of literacy is needed to catch all their little visual and oral puns, non-sequiturs, etc. While Nielsen is hardly a new comer, he has appeared in more than sixty movies and over a thousand TV shows. If this movie docs the block buster business it seems likely to, we will probably see him in even more starring roles in the future. Hopefully, the role will help him to gel more comedy roles, for he is bril liant at the slapstick and dry, outra geous delivery. Because of the police themes, one is tempted to compare him with Peter Sellers as Inspector Cleuseau. But he is a great talent in his ow n right and it would be wrong to call him a clone of Sellers or anyone else. “Naked Gun’’ is not always as wild as “Airplane!” or the “Police Squad!” scries, especially during some of the baseball scenes. Here the film even starts to pander to its audience, making loo many safe Priscilla Presley and Leslie Nielsen in “The Naked Gun.” jokes recognizable from a thousand other mainstream comedies. “Air plane!” would do this, but then made fun of those very references, never letting the audience rest. A film of comedy on the edge, like this one, is in trouble anytime it takes its plot the least bit seriously since it is just a skeleton on which to hang jokes. “Naked Gun” seems to try to start trying to wrap its action up in a logical way, but fortunately slaps itself out again and insanity rules, even into the end credits. To give some idea whai happens, here is a quote from the film’s direc tor, David Zucker, about his own feeling for the story and how he ap proached it as an artist. “I think that, behind the jokes and the gags, ‘The Naked Gun’ has an important message,” he said. “‘It’s about one man’s struggle within himself to defeat the demons that lerrori/.c his soul, set against the back drop of the Crimean War.” Everyone will have their own interpretation of the film, based on their own experience, moral beliefs and intake of hallucinogenics. The film is rated PG-13, mostly for frequent breast and penis jokes. Remember, part of the formula is juvenile and some jokes are targeted at the junior high crowd, or immature segments of “mature” brains. “Naked Gun" is great fun. It is most simply described as the sameoid stuff, which is not meant at all as an insult. If you liked the other overboard comedies of the Zuckcr and Abra hams trio, you’re sure to have a splen did time here. Crossing Delancev takes a less-traveled route to success By Kelly Anders Staff Reporter Far from the typical girl-mccts boys story, “Crossing Dclancey” is full of surprises. It’s funny, thought-provoking, warm, cold, sensitive and bittersweet. In short, it’s comparable to life. Isabelle “I/.zy” Grossman, played by Amy Irving, is satisfied with her work, friends and family. Although she hasn’t settled down yet, she’s not “holding her breath’’ until the time arrives to do so. About 280 people visited tbs University of Nebraeka-Uncoln Dungeons and Dragons l conference this weekend, sponsored by tbo UNL DAD club and Hobbytown._ n Izzy works at New Day Books, a publishing firm in New York City, as the organizer of one of the most pres tigious reading series in the city. She and man No. I, writer Anton Macs, meet at one such get-together. Like a grocery-line romance novel, their eyes meet across the crowded room and he beckons her to him. Immediately infatuated, she gazes at him as he hands her a signed copy of his latest book. It's here the fantasy ends and real ity begins. Instead of continuing this clichod garbage as most films would have done, a less-traveled route is taken. Macs, a sardonic-eyed Frenchman extraordinaire, is soon exposed as the creep in far-from-cheap clothing that he really is. Meanwhile, Izzy’s grandmother, “Bubbie” Kantor, played by Rcizl Bozyn, doesn’t think her grand daughter can possibly be happy living life solo. Thinking she'll solve all of Izzy’s “problems, she arranges a meeting with Hannah, the marriage broker. Izzy isn’t at all pleased, but agrees to the meeting to make her Bubbie happy. During this uncomfortable gather ing, Izzy meets Sam Posner, played by Peter Riegert. Posner makes and sells pickles in his store in the unchic lower East Side of the city. This guy, Izzy thinks, is all wrong. He’s nice, she muses, but he and his job aren’t “with it.” He and his whole way of life arc stuck in the old neigh borhood, she concludes. She later learns she's the one who’s got some learning to do concern ing what' s cool and what isn’t. Throughout the film, these ro mances snare the spotlight with true lo-lifc instances seldom seen on the big screen such as a self-defense class, a circumcision ceremony and a freaky woman in a hot dog stand. Bubbie’s self-defense class is one of the funniest scenes in the movie. She and about 20 other elderly ladies practice warding off muggers and end the class marching in parade-style fashion, practicing their “non-vic lim” walks. The circumcision ceremony shows, seemingly unintentionally, parts of Izzy’s past, and informally mircxHices the viewer to some of Soft CROSSING on~9
