Police Academy 3: Back in Training (dir. Jerry Paris, 1986)
Remembering that their series is called Police Academy, this third part returns to, well, a police academy. This film is probably the funniest of the series, and its obvious peak. It still doesn’t have much of a story, but in terms of comic timing, comedy set pieces, and funny characters, Police Academy 3 is spot on. It falls closer to the comedies of Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker, and probably was the precedent for getting The Naked Gun greenlit. If you’re only going to see one Police Academy movie, you’ll likely find this one the most enjoyable. Not necessarily a classic comedy, but enjoyable nonetheless.
So returning to the idea of an “academy,” part three resembles part one in many ways. The opening scenes all follow the new recruits, this time involving a few characters we’ve seen before. Mrs. Fackler (still Debralee Scott), whom we last saw on the hood of a car in part one, now gets to drive to the academy with Fackler on the hood of her car. Zed, wanting to absolve himself from his life of crime, joins the academy. Mr. Sweetchuck (Tim Kazurinsky from the previous film) also decides to join. There’s also a Japanese cadet (Brian Tochi) who is there as part of an exchange program. His character is less racist than you might imagine, although he’s still a collection of Asian oddities more than a character (he sleeps on a bed of nails, f’rinstance). Oh, and Commandant Lassard is still there, is course. Oh, and Tackleberry’s new brother-in-law (Andrew Paris, who was also in part 2) is also a cadet. His running gag is that he is constantly getting into fistfights with his father.
The setup is as follows: The-still-unnamed city is running out of money, and one of the city’s two police academies must be closed. A board of clipboard-wielding office wonks is there to size up the respective academies. One of the academies (The “Mid-Town” Academy) is, inexplicably, run by Mauser from the last film, and Procter is there in tow. Mauser has all the best computer equipment and uniforms, and runs his institution like the army. Lassard is more laidback, but seems to be slipping further and further into insanity. He recalls all the old characters to train the new cadets, and, true to form, the bulk of the film is comic training montages.
Sweetchuck rooms with Zed, and they hate each other. Oh, and here’s something weird: Brandt Van Hoffman and Scott Thompson return as well, and play stoolies to Mauser, hoping to get Lassard’s academy closed. This is essentially the story of the first film all over again, but well worn, like a comfy pair of sneakers.
Mahoney also has a new love interest in this film (Kim Cattrall is long forgotten), and she’s played by Shawn Weatherly. Sadly, she leaves little to no impression. At this point in the series, it began to occur to me that Lassard’s academy characters were not just the protagonists out of necessity any longer, but were our heroes because the filmmakers assumed we have genuine affection for them. We want to see them succeed over adversity less because they are anarchicly relatable ne’er-do-wells, but because we’ve gotten to know them so well over the course of the last two films. We’re familiar with their jokes and their sense of humor, and now want to return to a comfortable place.
This, sadly, was kind of a miscalculation, as the characters were never strong, and the stories never involve any real adversity. Sure we may love Guttenberg’s charms, Winslow’s wacky jokes, Graf’s delightful overacting, and Easterbrook’s game ballbusting, but I’m not so sure I’d go so far as to call these characters my filmic family. I’ll still root for them if the film is funny enough, but I think the filmmakers were taking our sympathy for granted.
Anyway, what else? Proctor gets seduced by the hooker from the first film, and is sent out nude into the streets of Toronto. He winds up in the Blue Oyster bar. Oh yes, The Blue Oyster was in the last film as well. Gotta love them wacky homosexuals. I admire Lance Kinsey, as he’s willing to make an ass of himself for a laugh. That’s a dedication a lot of comedians and actors don’t have. There’s also a scene in which Mauser has his eyebrows ripped off.
Third act action: A group of criminals dressed as busboys tries to take over some sort of luncheon with the police chief and Lassard and all the clipboard wonks attending. Mahoney and crew get on jetskis and save the day. The jetski sequence can seem more like an ad for jetskis and less like an actual action scene, but it’s actually kind of fun, in a groggy-late-night-cable sort of way. The clipboard wonks vote for Lassard’s academy, and all is well.
Like I said, perhaps not a great comedy film, but the height of the Police Academy series. After this, this kind of taken a downward turn.
