Dragnet (1987)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Tom Mankiewicz

Writers:

Dan Aykroyd (written by) and
Alan Zweibel (written by) ...

Release Date:

26 June 1987 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime

Tagline:

They're so bad at being bad... but so much worse at being good!

Plot:

The equally-straight-laced and "by the book" nephew of Joe Friday must work with his more laid-back partner to solve a mystery.

Plot Keywords:

Zoo | Police | Police Commissioner | Detective | Strip Club

Cast

Dan Aykroyd	...	Sgt. Joe Friday
Tom Hanks	...	Pep Streebeck
Christopher Plummer	...	Reverend Jonathan Whirley
Harry Morgan	...	Captain Gannon
Alexandra Paul	...	Connie Swail
Jack O'Halloran	...	Emil Muzz
Elizabeth Ashley	...	Jane Kirkpatrick
Dabney Coleman	...	Jerry Caesar
Kathleen Freeman	...	Enid Borden
Bruce Gray	...	Mayor Parvin
Lenka Peterson	...	Granny Mundy
Julia Jennings	...	Sylvia Wiss
Lisa Aliff	...	April
Joe Altmark	...	Milkman
Nina Arvesen	...	Lady Motor Cop

Runtime:

106 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:12 | USA:PG-13 (certificate #28649) | Australia:M | Finland:K-12 | Norway:11 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Backlot, Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company:

Applied Action

Trivia:

In real life, Dan Aykroyd is a huge fan of Jack Webb, the original Joe Friday, and as a tribute to him Aykroyd gives many of his characters the ability to spit out complex technical jargon the way Joe Friday recites laws and police procedures. Examples are in Ghost Busters (1984) (when Ray Stanz "orders" the demi-god Zuul to leave New York), The Blues Brothers (1980) (when Elwood describes the specifications of the "Bluesmobile"), and 1941 (1979) (when he explains the function of the anti-aircraft gun to Ned Beatty).

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Cables used to pull the fiberglass cow from the roof of the "milk factory" can be seen as Friday and Streebeck ram the door

Quotes:

[Friday is about to eat a chili dog]
Pep Streebeck: You know the kinds of things that can fall into an industrial sausage press? Not excluding rodent hairs and... bug excrement?
[Friday gives a disgusted look]
Joe Friday: I hate you, Streebeck.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Jeopardy!: (#26.26)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

Dance or Die

Passable spoof of a serious '50s police series.

Those who actually remember, or were fans of, the '50s cop show Dragnet might be a little alarmed to find that this 1987 homage is played predominantly for laughs. Those who do not know the original show, whether that be because they are too young or simply because they never watched it, might enjoy this version on its own merits. Dan Akroyd and Tom Hanks certainly strike an agreeable comic partnership, though the story is rather hackneyed even at spoof material level.

Sgt Joe Friday (nephew of the Jack Webb character from the original TV series, and played here as a by-the-book stickler by Dan Akroyd) is paired with a new partner, the loud and cocksure Pep Streebek (Tom Hanks). Together, they drive the streets of L.A in search of crime and criminals. The mismatched duo find themselves drawn into a case involving a sect of demented cultists who go by the acronym P.A.G.A.N (People Against Goodness And Normalcy!) The P.A.G.A.Ns are fronted by a powerful leader whose identity is kept from them as he wears a goat's head mask during cult gatherings and rituals. Friday and Streebek infiltrate one of the P.A.G.A.N ceremonies and rescue a virginal young beauty, Connie Swaile (Alexandra Paul), who is to be sacrificed by the cultists. In the ensuing fracas, Connie discovers that the goat-headed cult leader is actually Rev Jonathan Whirley (Christopher Plummer), and for the rest of the picture the trio of Friday, Streebek and Connie try to prove to the doubters that the greatly revered Reverend is actually a criminal mastermind of considerable repute and depravity.

At 106 minutes, the film is pretty brisk and never really taxes one's patience. As mentioned, the plot is hackneyed and in truth is never used as anything more than a backcloth against which to highlight some comic set pieces. The comedy itself is amusing though never more (I certainly can't think of a line or sequence which I would call "hilarious"). There was an opportunity here for some witty interplay between the two heroes, but generally-speaking the film tends to reject this opportunity in favour of a more physical and frantic brand of humour. Akroyd is good as the absurdly rule-abiding Friday, and Plummer gives an enjoyably villainous turn as the film's sinister, smirking bad guy. But the film mainly belongs to Hanks, still in the relatively early days of his film career, who brings energy and confidence to his role. There's nothing remarkable about Dragnet, but it passes the time painlessly enough.