Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol (1987)

The misfit Police Academy (1984) graduates now are assigned to train a group of civilian volunteers to fight crime once again plaguing the streets.

Director:

Jim Drake

Writers:

Neal Israel (characters), Pat Proft (characters)

Stars:

Steve Guttenberg, Bubba Smith, Michael Winslow

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Steve Guttenberg	...	Mahoney
Bubba Smith	...	Hightower
Michael Winslow	...	Jones
David Graf	...	Tackleberry
Tim Kazurinsky	...	Sweetchuck
Sharon Stone	...	Claire Mattson
Leslie Easterbrook	...	Callahan
Marion Ramsey	...	Hooks
Lance Kinsey	...	Proctor
G.W. Bailey	...	Captain Harris
Bobcat Goldthwait	...	Zed
George Gaynes	...	Commandant Lassard
Derek McGrath	...	Butterworth
Scott Thomson	...	Copeland
Billie Bird	...	Mrs. Feldman

Storyline

A new batch of recruits arrives at Police Academy, this time a group of civilian volunteers who have joined Commandant Lassard's new Citizens on Patrol program. Although the community relations project has strong governmental support, a disgusted Captain Harris is determined to see it fail.

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Plot Keywords:

cleavage | blonde | voyeur | police academy | fourth part | 

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Taglines:

On land, on sea, or in the air, no place is safe from them!

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 April 1987 (USA)

Also Known As:

Police Academy IV

Filming Locations:

Gator Bowl Stadium, Jacksonville, Florida, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$8,482,487, 5 April 1987

Gross USA:

$28,061,343

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Steve Guttenberg's final appearance as Mahoney, until his announced return to the franchise over three decades later in the eighth Police Academy movie.

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Goofs

Positioning of extras changes when Kyle skateboards through the mall crowd while being chased by Sgt. Copeland.

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Quotes

Sgt. Moses Hightower: Yamma, yamma, yamma, yamma, yahhhhma. Fools! They think they can kill the brother of Medula!
Cadet Tommy 'House' Conklin: I never thought that.
Sgt. Moses Hightower: Oh, if I could reach into the belly of a yak and rip out its heart...
Kyle: That would bring him back to life?
Sgt. Moses Hightower: No, man. I'm hungry!

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Alternate Versions

Although the cinema version was intact the UK video version was cut by 8 secs to remove shots of Mahoney displaying a tube of Super Glue before administering it to Harris's megaphone. The cuts were restored in the upgraded 12 certificate DVD.

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Connections

Referenced in The Jack and Triumph Show: Triumph Comes Home (2015)

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Soundtracks

Citizens On Patrol
Performed by Michael Winslow and The L.A. Dream Team
Produced by Steve Tyrell
Written by Michael Stuart Ani and Arthur Funaro
The L.A. Dream Team appears courtesy of MCA Records

User Reviews

Another great movie gangster of the 1980s – David Spade!!

So what's happened so far? A gaggle of society's goofiest citizens have taken advantage of a new policy to loosen hiring standards at the police force and actually made it through despite efforts from all directions to get them thrown out. They embark on their first assignment, which is to turn around Commandant Lassard's beloved precinct 16, which has been dubbed the worst precinct in the city and given 30 days to turn around or suffer some major employee turnover, a fate which is relentlessly helped along by the eternally butt- kissing Captain Mauser. They display a spectacular feat of water-borne police work, saving the academy and then return in the next movie to beat the city's other police academy when it turns out that the governor decides it's not worth the money to keep them both open.

Oh, and of course you all realize who is in this thing, right? None less than Sharon Stone, David Spade in his first film, and Tony Hawk in an early stunt-skateboarding role! You gotta see this!

This time, Commandant Lassard has come up with a scheme he calls Citizens on Patrol (C.O.P. Get it? Get it?), in which he elaborates slightly on the plot of the original movie. You see, the police force has been stretched a little too thin and the public has developed a negative opinion of them due to the fact that they can't be everywhere at all times to stop every single crime in the city. So the natural solution, of course, is to train the public as deputy police officers and basically have briefly trained undercover cops all over the city.

In fact, so close is the resemblance to the first movie that we are even treated to a couple characters who are forced to join the police academy or face jail time – an idea suggested, of course, by Mahoney himself.

This is the best part of the movie, by the way. There is a hilarious gang of skateboarding punks who are disturbing the peace left and right, headed by none other than David Spade, who is a hardened urban predator if I've ever seen one. Thug life, baby!!

Sharon Stone also has a relatively small role in the film, although probably one of the ons that she would like to forget about, and Lieutenant Harris is back after being gone for the last two movies. All of the other relevant cast members return, with the addition of a new group of misfits, like the token fat black guy, David Spade and his idiot skateboarder friend, and Tackleberry's FATHER-in-law. Remember that guy? Who is always gleefully punching out his son? I can't wait until the grandparents start joining!

But don't worry, until then we have Mrs. Feldman to hold us over. Here's this sweet old lady living in a nursing home/military barracks and who has more of a love of all things camouflaged than Tackleberry himself. In fact, I was waiting the whole movie for her to tell her that she's his long lost mother, but no such luck. Something went wrong with the screen writing in there somewhere, but ultimately she turns out to be one of the most consistently funny characters in the movie. She's played with a good-natured smile by Billie Bird, who clearly enjoyed herself while making the movie. You can always tell when the actors are having a good time, and it always makes the movie better, which is good because this movie needs a lot of help!

Of course, it's not much different than the last three movies as far as being worth watching. Bud and his father are still trading punches and it's still more groan-inducing than laugh- inducing, people are still accidentally wandering into the Blue Oyster Club, which hasn't been funny for three movies by now (Proctor inadvertently wandering in naked was the high point of this gag, but also the point where it becomes the most clear that the joke has lost its steam), and Jones is still doing that Bruce Lee impersonation which was funny in the first movie when I was a kid, but as an adult not so much… But, Callahan has a great wet t-shirt scene that makes the whole movie worthwhile!

Oh, and was Mahoney's mischievous grin ever amusing? That poor guy, man. His reputation has for some reason become so tarnished that he is seen by most of the public as even more of a washed up has-been than, umm, well no one else really comes to mind. Bill Paxton? Nah, he's cool, I think. I never needed to forgive him for Weird Science, but Guttenburg unfortunately has a whole string of bad sequels to make up for, and Cocoon and Short Circuit are just not gonna cut it! At any rate, super-gluing the loudspeaker to Harris' face was funny, but why they missed out on the opportunity to have Harris screaming through it at high volume at the doctors in the hospital I just can't understand. The screenwriters are not scoring many points in this one!

But still, this is one of the better Police Academies so far. This one and part 3 are the best ones in the series that I've seen so far, despite the hilarious 1980s badness (there's a boot- legging crime lord, for example, who operates his illegal warehouse standing around with a fistful of cash and a hula hoop around his shoulders), but there definitely are some fun gags. Harris macing his armpits is one is one of the more memorable gags in the whole series, along with Mauser getting his hands glued to his hair, and I have to admit that I enjoyed some of the scenes of the original recruits trying to recruit the public for the new C.O.P. program. It's not a good movie, but it's a good Police Academy movie!