#357. Leslie Nielsen

Most actors will know early in their career which genres work best for them. Whether it’s John Wayne and westerns or Boris Karloff and horror, these actors will usually excel in their respective genres for their entire career. Other actors may find that they can act in a particular style, but can’t seem to achieve success doing so. In these instances, some actors will switch genres to determine a fit that works for them. In terms of changing styles, many comedic actors can sometimes find success in drama, but the opposite is rarely true. Comedy requires a different understanding of acting, including facial expressions, deadpan deliveries, and . . . timing. And yet, while the transition from drama to comedy is rare, actors like Leslie Nielsen have found success in doing so. This week’s two films highlight two of Leslie Nielsen’s best comedies.

Airplane!
Year: 1980
Rating: PG
Length: 88 minutes / 1.47 hours

If I told you Leslie Nielsen didn’t act in a comedy until 24 years into his career, you’d likely respond with, “Surely, you can’t be serious!” And yet, this is the honest truth (and don’t call me Shirley). From films like Forbidden Planet (1956) and The Poseidon Adventure (1972), Nielsen managed to develop a career as the “serious” archetype. So, when a movie like Airplane! (1980) came along, many thought the film was going to be a serious “disaster” film along the lines of The Towering Inferno (1974) or the aforementioned The Poseidon Adventure. Leslie Nielsen’s deadpan acting of comedic lines merely accentuated the silliness that is contained in this disaster parody. One would almost wonder if Nielsen could have entered comedy earlier without developing the more serious personas to play against for maximum contrast and maximum comedy.

Dr. Rumack (Leslie Nielsen) is on a flight from Los Angeles to Chicago when many of the passengers start to show symptoms of food poisoning. Rumack can make the diagnosis because, between the options of steak or fish, he had the lasagna. Unfortunately, the flight crew all had fish, so now it’s up to flight attendant Elaine Dickinson (Julie Hagerty) to find someone who can fly the plane. As it just so happens, her former boyfriend, Ted Striker (Robert Hays), is aboard and has the skills as a former fighter pilot to land safely. Of course, his PTSD has affected his nerves, leading to his “drinking” problem. Dr. Rumack pulls Striker aside to let him know what’s at stake here. Through a bit of coaxing and encouragement, Rumack convinces Striker to fly the plane just as they come within range of landing at Chicago.

The Naked Gun
Year: 1988
Rating: PG-13
Length: 85 minutes / 1.42 hours

After the success of Airplane!, the directors gave Leslie Nielsen a starring role in a television parody of detective shows known as Police Squad! This show eventually spun off into The Naked Gun film series, which included From the Files of Police Squad! (1988), 2½: The Smell of Fear (1991), and 33¹/₃: The Final Insult (1994). By the time these films were concluded, Leslie Nielsen’s association with comedy was undeniable. He would go on to act in a number of other parodies, including Mel Brooks’ Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995), the James Bond parody, Spy Hard (1996), as well as a number of pop culture collage parodies like Scary Movie 3 (2003) and Scary Movie 4 (2006). Nielsen’s ability to never take himself that seriously was even exemplified after his death in 2010, with the epitaph on his gravestone being a simple fart joke: “Let ‘er rip.”

Upon returning from his vacation to Beirut, where he inadvertently foiled the plans of all of America’s enemies, Lieutenant Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen) must exonerate the Police Squad from drug charges before Queen Elizabeth II (Jeannette Charles) arrives in Los Angeles. As the Queen’s security for the visit, any negative press on the Police Squad could be detrimental to the whole department. Meanwhile, drug lord Vincent Ludwig (Ricardo Montalbán) had developed a plan to create a sleeper assassin to take out the Queen. In a plan reminiscent of The Manchurian Candidate (1962), Ludwig hopes to use a beeper to trigger his assassin. To keep the Police Squad from foiling his plans, Ludwig assigns his assistant, Jane Spencer (Priscilla Presley), to distract Lieutenant Drebin. Through Drebin’s bumbling, he manages to save the day, while also preventing his own death at Jane’s hands by proposing to her.

2 sum it up: 2 films, 2 laugh-filled Leslie Nielsen roles

Bacon #: 2 (Nuts / Eli Wallach -> Mystic River / Kevin Bacon)

#156. Gene Hackman

You can often tell a lot about an actor by the movies on his resume. If they only appear in serious, “Oscar bait” films, you wonder if they ever have any fun while acting. Those actors who can transcend multiple genre boundaries must love what they do. Whether it’s a courtroom/police drama, a superhero adventure, a western, or a comedy, someone who can successfully act in all of these genres can be hard to find. Gene Hackman is just such an actor. His repertoire is vast and includes many well-known films, such as The Poseidon Adventure (1972), Bonnie and Clyde (1967), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Young Frankenstein (1974), Hoosiers (1986), and three of the first four Superman (1978) films, amongst many others. This week’s two films showcase Gene Hackman’s acting talent at both ends of his career. One thing’s for sure: he’s no hack!

Runaway Jury
Year: 2003
Rating: PG-13
Length: 127 minutes / 2.12 hours

Even though Hackman has acted in many genres, there seems to be a tendency to stick with a genre for a few years. For instance, in the same early 1990s timeframe, he acted in four westerns in four consecutive years: Unforgiven (1992), Geronimo: An American Legend (1993), Wyatt Earp (1994), and The Quick and the Dead (1995). Following that stint of westerns, he acted in some comedies, including Get Shorty (1995) and The Birdcage (1996). However, the genre that started off Gene Hackman’s resume for the ’90s was that of the courtroom drama. Starting with Class Action in 1991, two years later he appeared in The Firm (1993), one of the best-known films based off of a John Grisham novel. A decade later, Hackman made it back to the courtroom in another John Grisham adaptation: Runaway Jury (2003).

In Runaway Jury, Gene Hackman portrays Rankin Fitch, a jury consultant who is assisting the defense attorney of Vicksburg Firearms, a gun manufacturing corporation that is being accused of gross negligence after a workplace shooting. Even though Fitch tries to get the entire jury needed to acquit Vicksburg Firearms, a few outliers like Nick Easter (John Cusack) get through. When Fitch and the prosecuting attorney, Wendell Rohr (Dustin Hoffman), are offered the verdict to the first person to pay $10 million, Fitch wonders if this mysterious woman named Marlee can actually make it happen. While Fitch gets his proof, he quickly loses control of the jury when they’re placed in sequestration. Now it’s up to whoever will provide the bribe needed to sway the verdict to determine the outcome of this heated trial.

The French Connection
Year: 1971
Rating: R
Length: 104 minutes / 1.73 hours

While his performance in the aforementioned Unforgiven (1992) earned Gene Hackman an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, it was hardly his first Oscar. Ten years after the start of his acting career, Hackman won the Oscar for Best Actor for his portrayal of Detective Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle in The French Connection (1971). In fact, despite acting in many different genres, Gene Hackman did play many roles as a part of the police force. The only other roles that surpassed those of detectives and sergeants were those of the military. He ran the gamut of ranks, including Sergeant, Captain, Major, Lieutenant Colonel, Colonel, Brigadier General, Major General, General, and Admiral. On top of those positions, he has also portrayed an FBI Special Agent, a Senator, the Secretary of Defense, and even the President of the United States.

As a narcotics Detective in the New York Police Department, Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle (Gene Hackman) and his partner, Buddy “Cloudy” Russo (Roy Scheider) make a few links between drug transactions and some well-to-do people to learn that a big shipment of heroin will be arriving in New York City soon. That shipment was arranged by Alain Charnier (Fernando Rey), a Frenchman who has used the car of an innocent friend to ship the drugs to the United States. After Charnier finds out that Popeye knows about the shipment, one of his henchmen attempts to assassinate Popeye, but ends up being chased by the detective in an intense sequence involving an elevated train and a commandeered vehicle. Meanwhile, the drug car is taken apart, and the drugs are found inside and removed. When the car is put back together, nobody’s the wiser as the film reaches its exciting conclusion.

2 sum it up: 2 films, 2 Hackman highlights

Bacon #: 2 (Enemy of the State / Scott Caan -> Novocaine / Kevin Bacon)

#132. Inverted World

Have you ever had to climb up a down staircase? Have you ever danced on the ceiling? Chances are you’ve never done these things because it would require you to exist in a world inverted from the one we regularly live in. Such everyday occurrences like walking through a room suddenly become strange and bizarre encounters when what usually is up is down and down is up. Things we take for granted evolve into unique challenges when our world is inverted. And yet, some people have no options when it comes to dealing with an inverted world. The situation is thrust upon them in the aftermath of a disaster. Others will willingly forego their comfortable, right-side-up world to pursue their passions in a world not meant for them. This week’s two films look at settings in inverted worlds.

The Poseidon Adventure
Year: 1972
Rating: PG
Length: 117 minutes / 1.95 hours

Most boats are not designed to operate when capsized and for a good reason. Sure, many pieces of furniture are bolted to the floor to allow for stability in an unsteady sea, but much of the infrastructure of a boat needs gravity to be acting in the correct direction in order to operate. While plumbing is the first thing to go in this situation, don’t think there won’t be any water. It will most likely be filling in the floors, starting from the top and working its way to the hull. Vaulted ceilings soon become impassable canyons, and tight ventilation shafts are the only spaces that remain relatively unchanged in an inverted setting. And yet, even though a capsized boat is not the ideal environment for anything, people will adopt a survival instinct and do whatever it takes to escape the flipped, floating deathtrap.

At midnight on New Year’s Eve, when the clock strikes 12, a tidal wave strikes the SS Poseidon, causing it to capsize. Since most of the passengers were at the New Year’s Eve gala on the top floor of the ship, they are now well undersea, and the water level starts to rise quickly. A group of survivors acted quickly and were able to escape to the galley door far above them, but most were not so lucky. Working their way through the upturned interior of the ship, they come across another group of survivors led by the ship’s medic. Unfortunately, the other group is headed toward the bow: the exact opposite direction from the engine room. At this crossroads, the first set of survivors allows one of their members to find the engine room, which ends up being their salvation, even if many of the group gave their lives so the others could live.

Upside Down
Year: 2012
Rating: PG-13
Length: 100 minutes / 1.67 hours

Gravity is one of those undeniable laws of nature we never question: we just know how it works. Now, suppose everything we knew about gravity was wrong. Let’s assume two worlds can exist side-by-side and not be affected by the other’s gravity. Let’s assume each world has its own gravity and that everything on that world will always be pulled toward that world’s core. If something were to exist in the other world, it would appear upside down, mainly because it won’t fall to the ground, but rather to the sky. Because of this strange phenomenon, you’d think we could take advantage of it by harnessing materials from the other world to induce levitation. But it’s not that easy: anything that comes in contact with the opposite world will burst into flames. This is just one of the three rules of gravity for these planets.

Since it is forbidden to interact between the two worlds, Up and Down, the only chance people from the poverty-stricken Down can interact with those from the wealthy Up world is through TransWorld. Even though the Down are oppressed by the Up, who have taken the oil from the third-world planet and used it to make themselves wealthy, Adam (Jim Sturgess) has another reason to work for TransWorld: a girl. Many years ago, Adam met Eden (Kirsten Dunst) in the mountains that come close to Up. After thinking she had died, Adam sees her on TV, working for TransWorld. While there, he uses a family secret to create an anti-gravity cream for facelifts while also stealing Up clothing so he can date Eden. Unfortunately, interactions of this sort are forbidden, and both Adam and Eden must escape the authorities again if they want to live happily ever after.

2 sum it up: 2 films, 2 flipped worlds

#131. Disaster Cruises

Say you want to get away from it all. What better way to remove yourself from the hassles of life than to take a cruise out in the middle of the ocean? And yet, the isolation from the world you find on a cruise might actually be a detriment when something goes wrong. The further away from land you are, the slimmer your chances for survival are if a disaster were to happen. There’s a great sense of helplessness when you’re floating in the middle of the ocean, waiting for help to arrive and knowing that, not only can you not possibly swim to shore, but that it’s just a matter of time before you succumb to the elements, sharks, or exhaustion. In only moments, your life goes from one of luxury to one of pure survival. This week’s two films look at some famous disasters involving cruises.

Titanic
Year: 1997
Rating: PG-13
Length: 194 minutes / 3.23 hours

When we try to oppose the laws of nature, bad things happen. Sure, there are workarounds for gravity, but the one law that will most vehemently refuse to be broken is Murphy’s Law. Case in point, if you build a ship that you declare to be “unsinkable,” Murphy’s Law will immediately doom its fate to one of ironic consequences. Not only will all the procedures and technology you put in place to make the boat unsinkable fail, but they will actually fail in such a way as to make the boat sink faster. Even though the demise of such a ship is laced with irony, the simple fact of the matter is that cruise ships have a lot of passengers, so the chances of everyone on board surviving ends up being very slim, thus adding to the tragedy that can befall anyone who attempts to oppose the most powerful law of the universe.

On the maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic, everyone who is someone is on board to experience the trip of a lifetime across the Atlantic Ocean on the largest and most “unsinkable” boat ever built. Of course, when you make a boat this large, it tends to be a little difficult to steer, which means that, when an iceberg shows up in your path, you’ll end up hitting it with a glancing blow, tearing open the side of your vessel. As the hull fills with water due to the failure of some air-tight bulkheads, the entire rear-end of the Titanic lifts out of the ocean and into the air. This causes the boat to break in two, and the two halves now speed on toward their watery grave. Unfortunately, because a disaster of this magnitude was not anticipated, there were not nearly enough lifeboats to save all the passengers, and many died in this historic event.

The Poseidon Adventure
Year: 1972
Rating: PG
Length: 117 minutes / 1.95 hours

OK, so let’s say you make a ship absolutely unsinkable. What’s the worst that could happen now? Oh, I don’t know, maybe the whole thing will flip over, and you’ll be trapped in an inverted world with no power and a steady flow of water. Lifeboats won’t do you much good when the only part of the ship above the water is the hull. When a ship capsizes, the only way to get out is to climb all the way to the bottom of the boat (which is now the top). A lot of things don’t work quite the way they should when they’re upside down. What once was a welcoming environment soon becomes a twisted deathtrap. Plus, I’ve already mentioned that, once you get out of the overturned ocean liner, you’re still stranded in the middle of the ocean.

It’s New Year’s Eve on the SS Poseidon, and everyone’s having a great time as they head from New York City (much akin to the Titanic’s destination). While the clock gets closer to striking 12, an enormous tidal wave is headed toward the ship. Right after midnight, the wave hits and capsizes the boat. Now, in order to escape, everyone needs to climb to the bottom of the ship, which is now many stories above them. A rag-tag group of passengers set out to navigate their way through the overturned maze of rooms and corridors, climbing ever closer to freedom. Of course, the journey takes its toll on a few of the members of the group so that, by the time they reach the hull, only six people have survived the tragic event, many of the group having given their lives so that the others could continue on toward freedom.

2 sum it up: 2 films, 2 sinking ships