TODAY'S NUGGET: Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear (1991) - Exceeding the Audience's Expectations with Escalating Sight Gags

[Quick Summary: Lt. Frank Drebin must stop his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend who is trying to kidnap a scientist whose solar power research will change lives.]

I'm a sucker for clever sight gags in which the writer understands the audience's expectation and doubles down on it with a twist that exceeds that expectation.

Today's script has a good example: 

EXT. HOTEL ROOFTOP - NIGHT

ANGLE

Hapsburg forcing Jane at gunpoint into the control room. 

FRANK

FRANK: He's got Jane!

BLAM! A bullet ricochets off a girder just inches from Frank's head. He ducks behind a garbage can and FIRES back. Ed does likewise. [The audience expects a big, explosive battle.]

NORDBERG 

BULLETS ZING around him. He jams a clip into his 9mm pistol. Clips on infrared scope. Then a longer barrel...  [The audience expects Nordberg's bigger gun to make a bigger bang.]

THUG

FIRING away, takes cover behind a garbage can.

FRANK

SHOOTING away.

GOON

SHOOTING.

ANGLE 

Frank and gun are only three feet apart. [This is one of my favorite gags. We expect this intense gun battle, but definitely further than 3 ft. apart! It upends our expectation.]

NORDBERG

attaching more stuff to the pistol. It now resembles an M-60 with an ammo belt threaded through. He's starting to mount it on a huge turret. [The escalation of Nordberg's gun is amusing because it's now enormous.]

GOON

The goon's gun is out of bullets. He throws his gun at Frank. Frank throws his gun at the goon. They continue to throw guns at each other. [A gun allows shooters to aim from far away, with bullets. We do not expect the fight to end as a throwing match with the actual guns, close up.] 

FRANK: Cover me! I'm goin' in!

Frank charges in, FIRING two guns simultaneously a la Butch Cassidy.

CONTROL ROOM DOOR

The door is BLOWN AWAY. Frank stops, looks behind him.

FRANK'S POV

Nordberg, in World War II helmet, is mounted on what now looks like a a World War II cannon with crank-style turret and spider's web sight. [This final escalation is funny because it's overkill for the job.]

FRANK

runs to gaping hole in control room wall.  

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I liked how the writers started with what's familiar, then added a twist that escalates or exaggerates the situation, and we're surprised. 

Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear (1991)(8/17/90 w/revisions) 
by David Zucker and Pat Proft