Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment (dir. Jerry Paris, 1985)
Rated PG-13 now.
A mere year after the first film came this sequel, directed by Jerry Paris, which abandoned the idea of the “academy” altogether, and focused on our characters taking to the streets to stop a rogue gang.
Even though the setting has changed, and the antagonist is no longer a jerky teacher, the formula seems to be already in place: Introduce the characters, establish that they are “unconventional” and “playful,” subsequently introduce the bad guy, immediately have him do bad things to the heroes, and then spend two-thirds of the film depicting the indiginities doing cruel things in return. This is a dynamic taken from Bugs Bunny cartoons or Marx Bros. movies. Bugs/Harpo is given license to do whatever act of cruelty he can think of to his antagonist, as said foe has already abused him, the innocent, all but once. We see Mahoney on beach patrol (i.e. bikinis), Jones still making sound effects, Tackleberry being generally violent, Hightower being menacing, Fackler being clumsy, and Hooks being friendly.
Lassard’s brother Pete (Howard Hesseman) is in control of the most underfunded and understaffed (not to mention filthiest) precinct in The City. Crime is on the rise as a result of the police’s ill preparation, and a vicious punk gang led by the hysteria-driven Zed (Bob Goldthwait) has taken to ruling the streets. Say what you will about the incomprehensible screaming of Goldthwait’s comedy, he is actually a smart and savvy comedian, and he lends incredibly to this film. It’s no wonder that he was tapped for future installments. If you get a chance, I encourage you to find his stand-up. He may be high strung, but he’s not at all abrasive. Well, unless he’s being intentionally abrasive.
Anyway, Lassard, inexplicably, has fallen in love with the graduates from the first film, and assembles them to work for his brother. Since Harris is no longer around to be the butt of the joke, we are introduced to Lt. Mauser (Art Metrano), an insufferable brownnoser who, should the precinct fail, be allowed to lead it. He and his bumbling sidekick Proctor (Lance Kinsey, whom we will see in the future) try their hardest to make our heroes look dumb, but, naturally, end up looking dumb themselves in the process. Proctor is an interesting character, as he seems to be possessed of a child-like innocence and intelligence, and is more fascinated with kinder, gentler things than actual policework. Why do villains in this type of entertainment always choose bumbling sidekicks? It is to show what poor judges of character they are? Is it to show that only dummies will follow a villain? Whatever the origin, it’s in place here.
Each of the classic characters is teamed up with an old-timer, and the comedy gets a-rolling. Mahoney works with a fat slob named Shtulman (Peter Van Norden) who eats cat poop and owns a filthy dog. Fackler is so clueless that he lends his matches to a gang who is starting to start a car fire. Mauser insults them and belittles them and tries to make them look bad in small ways, and in return, Mahoney glues his hands to his head, by swapping his shampoo with epoxy. Tackleberry is teamed with a hot lady cop named Kirkland (Colleen Camp) who is just as well-armed as he, and he falls in love. There’s an entire subplot devoted to this romance, and it’s actually kind of sweet, thanks to the comic chops of David Graf and Colleen Camp. The two characters end up getting married at the end of the film. Oh, and, for a brief moment, Julie Brown is in this film. I love seeing her in anything. Tim Kazurinsky from “Saturday Night Live” appears as a nervous shop owner.
Third act story: Mahoney is eventually kicked off the force for his pranks and for botching a capture job at a city fair, but is, nonetheless, enlisted by Pete Lassard to go undercover as a gang member to find where Zed hides out. Mahoney puts on a fake moustache, leather vest and bandanna, and that’s enough to have him pass for a thug. He looks ridiculous, and the problem of buying Guttenberg as a tough guy is once again brought to light. Eventually he does find the bad guys’ hideout, and has a tête-à-tête with Zed. Even though Mauser wants credit for capturing the gang, it’s the good guys who are ultimately alerted, and rush to Mahoney’s rescue, since they like him so much. There is a shootout, Zed is arrested, Jones fakes everyone out with helicopter noises and all is well. Once again, how this arrest makes everything better remains unexplained. The good guys had a shootout, won, and all is well.
Oh, and there’s a scene where Winslow kung fu fights and moves his mouth as if he is being dubbed. This is an amusing moment, but it’s a shtick we’ll see many, many more times in upcoming films. Indeed, he’ll get a kung fu scene in each film. You’ll begin keeping a tally. There are also some racist Asian characters, but those of us who grew up in the 1980s will recognize that casual racism. It’s not as harsh as the “jigaboo” moment from the first film.
This film, like the first, is pretty dumb, but, I have to admit, has a few brief moments of actual camaraderie; we begin to sense why the script says everyone is friends. There are only a few incidental moments in this regard – like when people walk into a locker room, and they all briefly greet on another – but it feels like genuine friendship for a few flickering moments. It eventually devolves into sloppy slapstick action, but director Paris handled these moments with aplomb.
The filmmakers also began to see that the audience for these films was skewing younger and younger, so they laid off the hard material. There is no nudity or sex play in this film, and the cursing is kept to a relative minimum. All the rest of the films in the series will be rated PG. The next film is probably the strongest in the series…
