Friday, 25 February 2011

Oscar Party!

During this time of year I'm always in the mood to pop in a special movie related to the closing of the season, and Leslie Nielsen's Frank Drebin always puts a smile on my face, especially during the very fun last third of...
Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult
It's the 66th annual Academy Awards in Hollywood, and Lt. Frank Drebin of Police Squad needs to stop a mad man from blowing up the Oscar's in a terrorist bombing attempt.
The bomber, Rocco Dillon, is going to plant the bomb in the Best Picture envelope, but only with the help of his girl Tanya -- a sober(!), sexy Anna Nicole Smith, and his trigger happy Ma. 
All Tanya has to do is try to distract the man guarding the envelopes, which she does attempt well...
...but no dice.
Meanwhile, the first award -- Supporting Actress -- is presented by Elliot Gould and Mariel Hemingway, and the nominees are...
.... an ecstatic Mary Lou Retton...
...a hopeful Morgan Fairchild...
 ....Shannon Dohrety...
...and the favorite, Florence Henderson -- as Frank says, "Florence Henderson's going to win it, and it's about time!" I love how they put random TV actress' and freakin' gymnast's in the mix! Makes for an interesting crop of ladies.
We take an outside break to see a couple coming in, who's gown is made entirely out of Cool Whip -- this is great because sometimes when I see outfits at the ceremony and something different about them catches my eye. And some do look like desserts or toppings.
Inside, Frank takes Phil Donahue's place as a presenter with Raquel Welch, but just misses the moving stairs and hangs off the edge. Only to tumble down them...
...to accidently push Raquel into the mic...
 ...and have her nearly choke on it! The shot above of Frank giving her the heimlich always cracks me up!
Then Phil...I mean Frank, goes on by reading the whole TelePrompTer himself without Raquel's help.
Things go hilariously wrong when Frank thinks the bomb is in the envelope and tries to stall by swiping it from Raquel's hand and making ridiculous social statements to the world. 
But Raquel's had enough of it and demands that envelope and runs off with it before Frank, in a desperate attempt to stop her, tackles his co-presenter to the ground in a scuffle.

 Luckily it's just a false alarm and Frank runs offstage. 
But he's back on stage in time for the big musical number with Pia Zadora, where he, of course, is doomed to wreck havoc...
...not catch Pia...
...and have her slide gracelessly off stage.
Though makes up for it in the exciting finale!
Before dropping poor Pia into the tuba below.
The fun-filled night is finished off with the Best Picture, and it's important to note that all of the nominees were a box office hit, except for one.
And the award goes to the bomb!
-- 
I love this movie, and especially this whole big sequence which gets Oscar night started for me! How about you? 

1 comment:

  1. That Academy Awards segment is one of the funniest in the history of comedy films!

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