The 5 Finest Leslie Nielsen Spoof Films Ranked

For the majority of his profession, Leslie Nielsen was greatest identified for his stern, dramatic roles. His tall stature and low voice had casting administrators providing him components as commanders, leaders, and even heavies. Many would possibly recall Nielsen’s stone-faced flip in 1956’s “Forbidden Planet” because the captain in “The Poseidon Journey,” or taking part in a cop within the 1972 cop drama “The Daring Ones: The Protectors.” In 1977’s “Day of the Animals” he performs a manly outdoorsman who loses his thoughts and, fairly darkly, declares insane dominion over animals and ladies. Some would possibly recall that he can maintain his breath a very long time, as he declared in “Creepshow.” Many will likely be shocked to witness Nielsen beat and assault Barbra Streisand within the 1987 drama “Nuts.” 

Nonetheless, Nielsen did seem in a handful of comedies, most notably, taking part in Dr. Rumack within the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker farce “Airplane!” The parody proved that he had a expertise for deadpan comedy, and he was in a position to say the silliest potential issues with a straight face. Later, the ZAZ workforce would faucet Nielsen to play Lieutenant Frank Drebin on their spoof 1982 TV collection “Police Squad!” That led to a 1988 movie adaptation referred to as “The Bare Gun: From the Information of Police Squad!,” successfully altering the course of Nielsen’s profession. From that time ahead, he was greatest often known as a humorist. On condition that Nielsen favored to convey fart machines to interviews, it was a shift he clearly embraced. 

After “Airplane!,” Nielsen starred in 16 spoof films, proper up till his demise in 2010. A few of them had been embarrassing misfires (he appeared in terrible, latter-day spoofs like “Stan Helsing,” “2001: A House Travesty,”  and the politically irresponsible “An American Story”), however others have been official comedy classics. Beneath are his 5 greatest spoof films, ranked for functions of playful debate. 

In Rick Friedburg’s 007 spoof “Spy Laborious,” Nielsen performs Dick Steele, agent WD-40, who takes on a mission to rescue an harmless kidnapping sufferer named Barbara Dahl (Stephanie Romanov). Oh wait. Barbara Dahl. Barbie Doll. I get it. The villain he faces is the depraved Basic Rancor (Andy Griffith), who had robotic arms and who can connect varied weapons and instruments to his shoulders. Dick Steele’s boss is play by Charles Durning, and “Spy Laborious” additionally has supporting roles for Barry Bostwick, Marcia Homosexual Harden, and Curtis Armstrong. Ray Charles hilariously performs a bus driver, and there are cameos from Hulk Hogan, Fabio, and Mr. T. 

“Spy Laborious” got here proper earlier than spoof films tipped into idiocy, making it one of many higher examples of the last decade’s style.

Nielsen’s spoof films have all the time been stronger once they’re parodying one style or movie particularly, permitting them to face aside from the wave of Friedberg/Seltzer spoofs that contaminated the 2000s. “Spy Laborious” lampoons James Bond films, sure, nevertheless it additionally folds in tropes from nearly each espionage cliché the style has to supply. “Spy Laborious” additionally allowed Nielsen to play his position comparatively straight, which was all the time his biggest comedic expertise. 

Maybe the very best a part of the movie is that “Bizarre Al” Yankovic sang the opening theme track, riffing on James Bond music stylings, which immediately earns it further factors. “Spy Laborious” was actually extra profitable (though not nearly as good) as Yankovic’s personal 1989 spoof “UHF.” 

Few like Mel Brooks’ 1995 rendition of Bram Stoker’s vampire traditional, however I admit a weak point. There’s a daring, theatrical melodramatic tone to “Dracula: Lifeless and Loving It” that makes it earnest and, dare I say, hilarious. Nielsen performs Dracula, as soon as once more using the road between an earnest efficiency and a foolish one. He bonks his head so much, slips on bat poop, and mugs a lot, however the bulk of the film sees him doing an earnest Bela Lugosi impersonation. 

Nielsen can be surrounded by a number of glorious comedic performances. Lysette Anthony bites into her position as Lucy, whereas Amy Yasbeck is having enjoyable as Mina. Steven Weber will get to participate in one of many biggest vampire staking scenes in cinema historical past (A lot blood!), and Peter MacNicol deserved an Oscar for his flip as Renfield. The scene the place he denies consuming bugs in entrance of Dr. Seward (Harvey Korman) is comedy on par with Harold Lloyd. It additionally helps that “Dracula” is a attractive film, possessed of a bawdiness that solely Brooks may deal with effectively. When Dracula’s brides try to seduce Renfield, he declares that it’s fallacious … earlier than screaming that they need to fallacious his brains out. 

“Dracula” is a bit stodgy when in comparison with Brooks’ extra common (and significantly better) “Younger Frankenstein,” nevertheless it’s nothing to sneeze at. Certainly, /Movie even wrote a missive as soon as rightly declaring that it very a lot would not suck. 

Bob Logan’s 1990 spoof “Repossessed” would possibly function an unofficial sequel to “The Exorcist” in addition to a spoof of it. Linda Blair returned to the style, this time to play Nancy Aglet, a girl who was possessed by the Satan when she was a woman. Blair is not simply recreation, however she’s hysterical as each the repressed Nancy and the randy Devil. Nielsen performs the Father Merrin character, now named Father Mayii (sure, it’s possible you’ll), and he’s joined by the Karras stand-in, Father Brophy (Anthony Starke). 

/Movie has puffed up “Repossessed” up to now, and our write-up rightly identified that spoofs perform greatest once they’re sending up one thing earnest. The error of many latest spoof films is that they send-up absolutely anything that is common, ridding themselves of a viewpoint and hoping to take advantage of laughs from little greater than the sock of recognition. “Repossessed” delves into the grim, horrifying story of “The Exorcist,” nevertheless it additionally faucets into the trendy phenomenon of depraved, shallow Evangelical televangelists (Ned Beatty and Lana Schwab play Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker varieties). 

However the movie, just like the ZAZ movies earlier than it, cracks the whip on the jokes, placing in a pun or a visible gag each three seconds or so. “Repossessed” is relentless, and many of the jokes land amazingly effectively. Some gags have not aged effectively, after all — it is to be anticipated for a 35-year-old movie — nevertheless it’s largely impeccable.

One of many funniest movies of all time, ZAZ’s “Airplane!” is a spoof of an obscure catastrophe film nobody has heard of. The story goes that Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and David Zucker lets their brand-new VHS recorders operating all evening, eager to see what bizarre rubbish runs within the wee hours of the late Seventies. They discovered Corridor Bartlett’s “Zero Hour!,” an airplane catastrophe film starring Dana Andrews. Utilizing “Zero Hour!” as their template, ZAZ made “Airplane!,” a spoof that borrows characters and features of dialogue wholesale from its supply. 

Catastrophe films had been very a lot in vogue within the late Seventies, and Leslie Nielsen even starred in the most effective: “The Poseidon Journey.” He returned to play the very severe Dr. Rumack in “Airplane!,” a movie about dangerous fish inflicting a breakout of sickness and nausea on an evening flight to Chicago. A former soldier with PTSD, performed by Robert Hayes, has to take management of the airplane when the pilots all take in poor health. He should additionally reconnect with Julie Hagerty, who performed his ex-girlfriend. Peter Graves, Kareen Abdul-Jabbar, Robert Stack, and Lloyd Bridges additionally seem. 

I might relate a number of the gags right here, however it might be to repeat gags you already know. The movie is extensively identified, and it usually tops lists of the funniest films ever. If you have not seen it, please accomplish that instantly.

Some purists could object to “The Bare Gun” being on the high of this checklist, as it’s essentially completely different from “Police Squad!,” the TV present that impressed it. “Police Squad!” noticed Nielsen’s character, Lieutenant Frank Drebin, undergo hard-boiled cop drama with a stone face and a taciturn demeanor. “The Bare Gun” lets him be much more broad, partaking in pratfalls, farting into microphones, and sporting full-body condoms. The humor, as such, is little extra apparent consequently. 

However I say “feh” to the purists, as “The Bare Gun,” regardless of the shift in tone, is unbearably hilarious, and it strikes an ideal steadiness between the intense and the slapstick. The plot entails an evil billionaire ,performed by Ricardo Montalbán, plotting to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II (Jeannette Charles) utilizing a mind-control system. Frank Drebin turns into concerned with a femme fatale (Priscilla Presley) in his investigations. 

“The Bare Gun” was a large success, making over $150 million on a $12 million finances, roughly assuring that spoof films would reside on for no less than one other decade. They usually did! We acquired some good ones alongside the way in which too. Due to the success of “The Bare Gun,” Nielsen, beforehand a heavy, was now a beloved comic to a brand new era. “Airplane!” could have redirected Nielsen’s profession towards comedy, however “The Bare Gun” made him immortal. 

This yr, The Lonely Island’s Akiva Shaffer (director of “Sizzling Rod” and “Popstar: By no means Cease By no means Stopping” is bringing again “The Bare Gun” with Liam Neeson set to play the son of Frank Drebin. He appears to be a good selection, as Neeson additionally has a expertise for deadpan supply. The brand new “Bare Gun” is due in theaters on August 1, 2025, and it is one among our most anticipated films of 2025.