Foster: ‘It’s Enrico Pallazzo!’ The inside story of ‘The Naked Gun’ baseball game
From SABR member Jason Foster at The Sporting News on August 28, 2018:
At no point during the first two acts of “The Naked Gun” is there any hint that viewers will spend the final minutes of the film caught up in the minutiae of a baseball game. But the entire plot of this classic film hangs on hardball.
Every joke, every sight gag, every frame of celluloid in the first 59 minutes 45 seconds is just a brick on the path that leads to one of the most inspired finales, combining sport and comedy, ever put on screen.
For the young or otherwise unaware, “The Naked Gun” is a 1988 slapstick parody based on the short-lived 1982 TV series “Police Squad!”, which was produced by the creative team behind the all-time-great parody “Airplane!” The series starred Leslie Nielsen as Lt. Frank Drebin, a bumbling but straight-faced police detective, and, much like “Airplane!”, relied heavily on humorous wordplay and zany sight gags.
So, “The Naked Gun” plays like a feature-length version of “Police Squad!” and co-stars otherwise-serious performers including George Kennedy, Ricardo Montalban and Priscilla Presley.
One might expect a police parody to end with an over-the-top car chase or perhaps a crazy shootout. But not this movie, not in the hands of four baseball nuts with a penchant for zaniness.
Read the full article here: http://www.sportingnews.com/us/mlb/news/naked-gun-baseball-game-scene-national-anthem-angels-mariners-dodgers-stadium-enrico-pallazzo/zztjoa4obui818oo9waqjyf34
Originally published: August 28, 2018. Last Updated: August 28, 2018.