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This weekend thirty years ago, the world was introduced to Police Academy, a monster of a movie that would spawn a franchise destined to haunt audiences for the next decade. (I don’t have the facts, but I’d be willing to bet TBS showed a Police Academy movie every weekend between 1987 and 1996.) No other comedy franchise is more guilty of beating a dead horse than the Police Academy films. And as shamelessly bad as some of the later films were, the original Police Academy (and to some degree its first sequel) was a solid slapstick comedy with a cast of incredibly eccentric characters. Oh, and Steve Guttenberg, too.
To commemorate Police Academy’s 30th birthday, here are 10 facts about the movie that would give us a full decade of Michael Winslow.
1. Hooks’ voice was inspired by Michael Jackson. Actress Marion Ramsey developed Hooks’ unique voice after meeting the king of pop. In the movie’s DVD commentary she described the moment where her character stands up for herself yelling, “don’t move, dirtbag!” as catching the sound tech off-guard who was accustomed to Hooks’ much meeker voice.
2. Michael Winslow IS Police Academy. Having a Police Academy movie without the machine gun mouth of Larvell Jones would be sacrilegious. Winslow is the only actor from the movie to appear in each film of the series as well as the live action Police Academy: The Series. Oddly enough, Winslow bowed out of playing Larvell for the 1988 cartoon series, but later revisited the character for episodes of Tosh.0 and Robot Chicken.
3. Steve Guttenberg beat out some of Hollywood’s biggest future stars for the part of Mahoney. In the Lost Roles Of Bruce Wills we found out that Willis auditioned for Mahoney, but he’s not the only big name celeb who tried out for the role. Michael Keaton, Tom Hanks and Judge Reinhold were also considered for the role before losing out to Guttenberg. And damn if Guttenberg didn’t rock the hell out of that bun in the oven t-shirt.
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4. Spain has a Police Academy stunt show. Next time you’re vacationing in Madrid you could go to the Prado Museum, OR you could do the most ‘murica thing possible and check out “Loca Academia de Policia” at Warner Bros’ Movie World. Since 2002, audiences have been lining up to watch a stunt show that for whatever reason only features the recurring characters Commandant Lassard and Captain Harris, but does have bmx and car stunts.
5. The film achieved massive commercial success, despite poor reviews. The movie was shot over 45 days on a budget of $4.5 million and pulled in $81 million domestically, making it the sixth highest grossing film of 1984. That’s a pretty impressive feat for a movie that Roger Ebert loathed so much he gave it zero stars. Ouch.
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Page 3 sucks.
I learned nothing from Page 3.
It was my favorite page
Page 3 is next door to the Blue Oyster……
Page 3 is a lie.
I never realized how much Leslie Easterbrook looks like Julie Bowen.
Or how many other photos on Google Image Search are nippleriffic.
*of her
It took me a bit to realize she was in The Devil’s Rejects.
Also, Police Academy Leslie >>>>> Happy Gilmore Bowen
lots of “old” woman pics i see…
The Silver Dollar Room is an awesome, if mildly sketchy, live music venue in Toronto. The guy who’s been the main booker there since basically forever is something of a living legend in the Toronto scene for being one of those guys that is legitimately too rare to live and too weird to die.
Also, I guess #11 on this list could be that the entire film (and I think the first four) were all filmed in Toronto, because, I dunno, fuck yeah? Or something.
Torontoans look terrifying when they riot. I hope the Maple Leafs don’t lose Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals anytime soon.
First was def filmed in Toronto. We were in the Eaton Center and some black guys was making it sound like we were walking in crunchy leaves. It was Winslow, of course :)
Is no. 3 telling me that Judge Reinhold is still one of Hollywood’s biggest future stars?
When Mock Trial is a geniune thing he will be.
Love me some Police Academy 1 & 2. This isn’t a thing people might not know, but I just want to point out that the theme song is still one of the most iconic movie theme songs ever.
I saw michael winslow at a thing they used to do at the Alamo Drafthouse where they would have the sound of the movie off and people would be there to make all the dialogue and sound effects. He did one called Lady Terminator.
I still have a soft spot for for part 4 Citizens on Patrol. I was sad to see Mahoney go.
Citizens on Patrol was legit.
Failing to make a Police Academy/Robocop crossover was a missed opportunity.
Police Academy (part one) was fantastic because when you’re 10 years old, your parents think you’re renting a slapstick comedy. But it’s got tits!
I was about the same age first time I saw it (first R rate movie I got to see). Man was it an eye opening experience.
My son is about the same age; and there is no way I am letting him watch this movie anytime soon. What was my dad thinking letting a 10 year old watch this?
/get off my lawn
I’d be surprised if a 10-year-old in this day and age hasn’t already seen some tits. You should let him watch this cinematic masterpiece.
Dude , I rember when cable namely HBO first came out this was a staple on that channel, I was only like 7 and would watch it………..BEWBS!!!!
Anything without Justin Bieber in it, isn’t worth watching.
Only 10 facts? Lame…
I figured with 30 years there would be a ton gems about the first movie, but surprisingly there wasn’t that much. I’m assuming this is because Steve Guttenberg and Michael Winslow don’t talk about it much other than “yeah, i was in those movies.”
Number 4 is wrong. They don’t have the show at Warner Brothers Movie World anymore. It’s been at least a couple of years since they had it. The now have another stunt show there.
Surprised Ebert busted out his rare ‘zero stars’ rating for this. I mean, the original Police Academy isn’t a good movie but it’s not an abomination or anything; Ebert usually saved the ‘zero stars’ for the truly awful films.
Oh like Roger Ebert’s snobby elitist out of touch opinions ever actually mattered to anyone with a brain and a personality.