Movies - Police Academy

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	Movies - Police Academy

Police Academy was a series of comedy films made in the 1980s.

The series opened with Police Academy (1984) which started with the premise that a new mayor had announced a policy requiring the police department to accept all willing recruits. The movie followed a group of misfit recruits in their attempts to prove themselves capable of being police officers.

In general, all of the movies and television shows depended on low-brow humor, usually based on simple characterizations and physical comedy. As with many similar movies, the theme was a group of underdogs struggling to prove themselves while various stereotyped authority figures tried to suppress them. The films have not been well received by critics over the years; indeed, in 2004 the magazine Total Film said that making more than one Police Academy was the 8th "dumbest decision in movie history".

The series has been mocked at least twice on The Simpsons. In one scene Homer describes the first film as "painful and disturbing", whilst when Bart is accused of shoplifting, he criticises his son by explaining mockingly "we live in a society of rules. Why do you think I took you to see all those Police Academy films? For fun? I didn't see anyone laughing, did you?"

The first film grossed $81.2 million in North America, with the following films earning $150 million in total. It spawned five sequels, released in consecutive years. A straight-to-video seventh installment was released in 1994.

An eighth installment is reportedly being filmed in 2006, that will feature most of the regular cast except for David Graf, who passed away in 2001.

Main characters

Carey Mahoney

Played by: Steve Guttenberg

Mahoney is the lead character of the first four movies of the series. A troublemaking, womanizing cad with a heart of gold, Mahoney was forced to join the police accademy as an alternative to jailtime after several minor run-ins with the law. He is best known for protecting Cmndt. Lassard and playing practical jokes on Harris, Mauser and Proctor as the three view Mahoney to be not worthy of being a police officer due to his carefree attitude about life. Despite his womanizing and his habit of breaking the rules, Mahoney is portrayed as being a good person willing to help those in need, regardless of the consequences.

Moses Hightower

Played by: Bubba Smith

Featured in six of the seven films, Hightower was a florist before joining the academy. He is best known for his immense stature and inhuman strength. (Hightower practices for his driving test by ripping the front seat out of a compact car, and steering comfortably from the back.) His character often breaks things or uses force to threaten the bad guys. He can also drop easily into bad-cop mode, to gain the trust of crooks he's about to arrest.

Eugene Tackleberry

Played by: David Graf

Tackleberry is in all seven films and is best known for his love of firearms. He is portrayed as a Rambo-type figure in the movies. In the second film, it is revealed that alhough he is 28 years old, he is still a virgin. However, upon meeting his police partner, a beautiful and equally gun-nut woman, Kathleen Kirkland, he falls in love and they eventually get married. This leads to a series of gags involving the Kirkland family, in which the son and father love to fight each other, often involving brutal punches. The mother is fairly oblivious to all this. The chance for a reprise of this character is unlikely, as the actor who portrayed him, David Graf, died of cardiac arrest in 2001.

Larvell Jones

Played by: Michael Winslow

Jones is one of the key characters in the series and is famous for making sound effects with his mouth. He is one of the characters often remembered from the films as he uses his ability to make noises to play pranks on the criminals and the antagonists, namely Captain Mauser and Captain Harris. Jones also excelled in martial arts. Larvell is the only character to appear in all of the movies, the television series and the animated series.

Laverne Hooks

Played by: Marion Ramsey

Laverne is a quiet woman who often has trouble putting people in line, until she yells. She is often portrayed as unassertive.

Debbie Callahan

Played by: Leslie Easterbrook

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