Police Academy 3: Back in Training (1986) Warner Bros./Comedy RT: 83 minutes Rated PG (language, crude humor, comic violence, some sexuality) Director: Jerry Paris Screenplay: Gene Quintano Music: Robert Folk Cinematography: Robert Saad Release date: March 21, 1986 (US) Cast: Steve Guttenberg, Bubba Smith, David Graf, Michael Winslow, Marion Ramsey, Leslie Easterbrook, Art Metrano, Lance Kinsey, Tim Kazurinsky, Bobcat Goldthwait, George Gaynes, Shawn Weatherly, Brian Tochi, Debralee Scott, Andrew Paris, David Huband, Bruce Mahler, Scott Thomson, Brant Van Hoffman, George R. Robertson, Ed Nelson, Georgina Spelvin, R. Christopher Thomas, David James Elliott, Arthur Batanides, Jack Creley, Rita Tuckett, Chas Lawther, Lyn Jackson, Doug Lennox. Box Office: $43.5 million (US)
Rating: ***
In August ’85, I learned that Police Academy 3: Back in Training was a go from a very reliable source, co-star Bubba Smith. I met him when he was promoting a fitness video at the local Rite Aid. I told him how much I loved the first movie. He grinned and told me that they would start filming the third movie at the end of the month. My first inside source, a true milestone!
Police Academy 3 has the distinction of being the first “green movie” seeing how it recycles gags from the first one, sometimes copying them exactly. It’s also the first to receive a PG rating. It finally dawned on producer Paul Maslansky that kids were the primary audience for the silly slapstick movies. He started a trend of sorts as other comedy franchises followed his example and toned down their sequels so they’d receive softer ratings and attract younger audiences. Both National Lampoon’s European Vacation and Revenge of the Nerds II were PG-13 sequels to R-rated movies.
I went to see Police Academy 3 opening day with my father and I’ll never forget what he said as we left the theater. He thought it was okay, but asked, “Who the hell was that idiot that screamed through the whole movie?” Of course, he’s referring to comedian Bobcat Goldthwait who reprises his role as Zed. It’s an amusing movie that isn’t as bad as critics made it out to be at the time. However, it does lend credence to the moniker “Police Lobotomy” as the cost of watching it is a few IQ points. In other words, it’s incredibly dumb!
The state (whichever one it is) can no longer afford two police academies, so one of them will have to be closed. But which one? Will it be the one run by Cmndt. Eric Lassard (Gaynes) or the one run by antagonist Cmndt. Mauser (Metrano)? The Governor (Nelson, Peyton Place) will make that decision based on the findings of a committee he appoints to evaluate both academies. Mauser, ever the conniving jerk, recruits Sgts. Blankes (Van Hoffman) and Copeland (Thomas) to help him sabotage Lassard and his latest group of cadets. Lassard calls back members of his favorite graduating class to help train the new recruits: Mahoney (Guttenberg), Hightower (Smith), Tackleberry (Graf), Jones (Winslow), Hooks (Ramsey) and enemy-turned-ally Lt. Callahan (Easterbrook). Among the new cadets are meek store merchant Sweetchuck (Kazurinsky) and now-reformed Zed. Their relationship (Zed drives Sweetchuck up the wall) is the funniest part of the movie. The new cadets go through regular training with Mauser and dim-witted partner Proctor (Kinsey) trying to make them look bad in front of the committee at every turn. Naturally, they turn things around when a group of thieves stage a robbery at the annual Governor’s Ball and the leader takes him hostage as a means of escaping.
The new cadets are as follows: Karen Adams (Weatherly, Baywatch) who becomes Mahoney’s romantic interest, equally accident prone Mrs. Fackler (Scott, Angie), dopey rich guy Hedges (Huband, Cube Zero), Tackleberry’s brother-in-law Bud (Paris) and Japanese exchange recruit Nogata (Tochi, Revenge of the Nerds) who develops a relationship with super-busty Callahan.
Director Jerry Paris (The Dick Van Dyke Show) copies the first Police Academy movie almost to the letter in terms of narrative structure and specific gags. The scene where Sgt. Fackler (Mahler) tries in vain (and pain!) to prevent his wife from joining the police force is exactly like the scene in the first movie with a gender switch. The rich guy sees Fackler hanging onto the car for dear life as they drive down the highway just like Kim Cattrall saw Mrs. Fackler do the same in the first one. Jones, once again, imitates an actor from a bad kung fu flick. Tackleberry engages in excessive force by firing his gun at a pay phone after trying to deal with an uncooperative operator.
It’s all familiar stuff, but Police Academy 3 does have its moments. Mahoney and company play another malicious prank on the buffoonish Mauser; this time it results in him losing his eyebrows. The hooker (Spelvin) from the first movie shows up and helps Mahoney pull a prank on Proctor that results in him finding himself butt-naked at the Blue Oyster Bar (the gay leather joint from the first movie). I do like the bit where the gang from Lassard’s academy entertains the guests at the policepersons’ ball with a really fun song.
Some of the jokes in Police Academy 3 don’t work; it all seems kind of thrown together without much thought. It also looks kind of cheap. However, enough of it is amusing that it isn’t a complete waste of time. None of the Police Academy movies are exercises in intellectualism; Police Academy 3 is irrefutable proof of that. But sometimes dumb is fun. I guess that’s the best way to describe this third movie, dumb but fun.
