[Quick Summary: Bumbling Chicago Det. Frank Drebin is on the case, trying to foil drug cartels and the assassinators of Queen Elizabeth II.]
My favorite part of any Zuckers-Abrams-Proft script is the number and variety of jokes stuffed in every page - visual jokes, verbal jokes, puns, slapstick, gags, etc.
For example, in this scene below, Frank is in the lab with his boss Ed and Mr. Olsen, the head of the lab:
INT. POLICE LAB - DAY
...AL enters. Since he's seven feet tall, his head is OUT OF FRAME. He's holding a shoe box. [Visually funny and interesting because we only see a torso.]
AL: Here's the package you wanted, Chief.
He sets it on the desk.
ED: Thanks, Al.
Al turns to leave. Ed stops him.
ED (cont.): Al, you're out of uniform again. Regulation headgear only. You know that.
AL: Sorry, Chief, I was just trying something different.
He places a large Mexican sombrero down on the desk and exits. Frank looks after him, a bit puzzled. Olsen opens the shoe box. He pulls out a man's shoe. [This gag is both verbally and visually funny. We don't expect a police officer wearing a sombrero, nor a tall man wearing a tall hat.]
MR. OLSEN: Here's something we developed only yesterday. To the casual observer, an ordinary shoe. But in actuality...
INSERT - SHOE
A knife springs out of the toe like a switchblade. [This is a genre joke. It's expected, but only if you've seen this contraption before in other spy or James Bond films.]
INT. POLICE LAB - DAY
MR. OLSEN: It makes quite a handy weapon...
Now Olsen swings out more knives, various tools, scissors, bottles opener/screwdriver, corkscrew, etc. [This is a heightened joke, playing off of what we'd expect and then adding to it.]
MR. OLSEN (cont.): ...And everything a cop in the field would need. We call it the Swiss Army Shoe. [Pun of "Swiss Army knife."]
WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I noticed two simultaneous things:
First, the number of the jokes per page seemed to create its own propulsive energy, and made me want to see what happened next.
However, over time, the sheer density of jokes per page became wearying to read. I think what was really helpful was to have a different rhythm in there, i.e., Frank falling in love, to break up the same-ness of tone.
The Naked Gun: From the Files of the Police Squad (1988)(12/10/87 revised)
by Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Pat Proft
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