Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol

"People just don't understand me."

"Maybe if you talked slower..."

"No, I mean who I am.  Man, now I have to worry about my diction too?"

Commandant Lassard (Gaynes) of the Police Academy has a new idea: Citizens on Patrol (C.O.P.) to help his understaffed officers.  The purpose of C.O.P. is to have citizen volunteers working alongside the police officers in Lassard's officers.  The governor loves the idea and sends Lassard to England to present a seminar on the topic.  Lassard leaves the C.O.P. program in the hands of his favorite officers: Mahoney (Guttenberg), Hightower (Smith), Jones (Winslow), Tackleberry (Graf), Callahan (Easterbrook), Hooks (Ramsey), Sweetchuck (Kazurinsky), and Zed (Goldthwait).  Commissioner Hurst (George R. Robertson) leaves command of the Academy to Captain Harris (Bailey).  Harris and his bumbling assistant Proctor (Kinsey) hate the idea of the C.O.P. program and plans to destroy the program.

The C.O.P. volunteers include gun-enthusiast senior citizen Mrs. Lois Feldman (Bird), overweight Tommy "House" Conklin (Thacker), inept lawyer Milt Butterworth (McGrath), photographer Laura (Bohrer), skateboarding delinquents Kyle (Spade) and Arnie (Backer).  The program also draws the attention of reporter Claire Mattson (Sharon Stone), who follows the group for a story.  Can the officers and volunteers work together to bring Lassard's dream to fruition?

The fourth (of 7) films in the Police Academy franchise: Police Academy in 1984, Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment in 1985, Police Academy 3: Back in Training in 1986, Police Academy 5: Assignment: Miami Beach in 1988, Police Academy 6: City Under Siege in 1989, and Police Academy 7: Mission to Moscow in 1994.  The franchise also included 2 TV shows (one live action and one animated).

The Good:

The main characters from the prior film, excluding Officer Fackler (and his wife) and villain Commandant Mauser, return for another adventure.  The characters all hit the same marks from the previous films: soft spoken Hooks shouting, Jones' incredible sound effects, Smith's intimidating presence, terrorizing Harris, outsmarting Proctor, etc.  They also continue the tradition of Lassard and his goldfish.  These pieces will familiar and necessary, without being overly tired.  The pairing of Tim Kazurinsky as Officer Sweetchuck and Bobcat Goldthwait as Officer Zed is great... in the previous films (2 and 3) they were at odds, but here they are mostly friends who fight.

The new characters add to the story, and give the film a reason to be at the Academy and training new recruits.

The Bad:

While the cast is good, there are too many characters (including the brief scenes with the Kirklands and Nogata) to have good stand-out moments for anyone.

Other Comments:

-This was the final appearance of Steve Guttenberg in the franchise, although the character of Mahoney appeared in the animated Police Academy television show (1988-1989).  It is also the final appearance of Kazurinsky and Goldthwait.  Officers Sweetchuck and Zed also appear in the animated show.

-Film debut of actor David Spade

-Tony Hawk is one of the skateboarders in the film.

-Theme song "Citizens on Patrol" that plays at the beginning of the film and again over the end credits is performed by Michael Winslow and the L.A. Dream Team.

-Nominated for a Razzie (Golden Raspberry Award) for Worst Original Song for Brian Wilson's "Let's Go to Heaven in My Car"

-Not bad, but also not great.

Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol (1987) 88 minutes

Director: Jim Drake

Starring: Steve Guttenberg as Sergeant Carey Mahoney

Bubba Smith as Sergeant Moses Hightower

Michael Winslow as Sergeant Larvell Jones

David Graf as Sergeant Eugene Tackleberry

Tim Kazurinsky as Officer Carl Sweetchuck

Leslie Easterbrook as Lieutenant Debbie Callahan

Marion Ramsey as Sergeant Laverne Hooks

Lance Kinsey as Lieutenant Carl Proctor

G.W. Bailey as Captain Thaddeus Harris

George Gaynes as Commandant Eric Lassard

Bobcat Goldthwait as Officer Zed McGlunk

Derek McGrath as Milt Butterworth

Billie Bird as Mrs. Lois Feldman

David Spade as Kyle Rumford

Brian Backer as Arnie Lewis

Tab Thacker as Tommy "House" Conklin

Corinne Bohrer as Laura