Police Academy 6: City Under Siege (dir. Peter Bonerz, 1989)
Directed by the unfortunately named Peter Bonerz, another long-time TV vet.
Strangely, Police Academy 6 is the most cinematic of the series, which one may not expect when one is this far along. It was made a mere year after part five (indeed, there had been one Police Academy film a year for a while there), but it feels like a lot of time has passed since the last one. Like this is a reunion of sorts. And indeed some people return.
Matt McCoy is back, and our usual gang, but also Billie Bird (now named Mrs. Stanwyck) from part 4, and Bruce Mahler as Fackler. Mahler is in one of funniest scenes of the film. Fackler, you see, is a klutz who can’t turn around without unwittingly knocking something over, hitting someone, or setting something on fire. There are two scenes in which he walks through an office and essentially wreaks havoc along the way. He opens doors, and there is someone injured behind him. The scene in question shows Fackler strolling through the office, and each and every person dives dramatically out of the way, causing just as much havoc as Fackler would have otherwise. It made me laugh.
Anyway, Police Academy 6 has an actual story, so let’s get to it. The mayor (Kenneth Mars) has noticed an uptick in crime recently, and enlists our heroes to get on the case. Evidently there is a trio of thugs (Gerrit Graham, Brian Seeman, Darwyn Swalve) robbing banks and museums with an efficiency unseen in Metropolis. They receive their orders in a darkened basement room from a shady mastermind who is unnamed and only seen in silhouette. There is some grand scheme at work.
There is time and space for all the usual gags. Tackleberry (David Graf) is still well-armed, and now he has a young son who appears in one scene. Harris is glued to his chair in one scene. There’s a lot of glue in these movies. The story, however, rather than being relegated to the third act, is always in play. The bad guys institute a city-wide blackout, and our heroes must calm the populace, which is represented by Jones (Michael Winslow) doing (not very good) standup comedy in a darkened club. Hooks (Marion Ramsay) is given a bad computer guidance system, and accidentally instructs some peers into a river. Or did that happen in a previous film?
Eventually, thanks to some actual detecting, the police track down where the thugs have been hiding out. The thugs are well-prepared to face off against the cops. The mystery boss even has a Batman-1966-style sealed room with a deadly gas pump. Thug #1 is a firearms expert, and he and Tackleberry get to have a showdown. Thug #2 is a martial arts expert, and he and Jones get to have a showdown. Thug #3 is named Ox and is huge, and he and Hightower (Bubba Smith) get to have a showdown. Eventually the identity of the mastermind is revealed. I won’t say who it is, but line “Don’t shoot me, shoot him! HE’S the imposter!” is actually uttered.
In terms of comedy and quality, this film is about average, but in terms of story and filmmaking, it’s surprising how well Police Academy 6 stands up in the face of the others. I think that the filmmakers and actors felt that this was going to be the last hurrah, and the film ends with a feeling of relief. Like we’ve come to the end of our journey.
Ah, but we haven’t quite yet.
