Police Academy were an almost constant feature growing up - the number of sequels watched, and in what order, was something of a badge pride in those days! For my part, my scorecard was completely out of synch - Parts 2 and 6 on VHS, the original on terrestrial, etc. Anyway, I have a bit of affection for Part 4 (for all its shortcomings) as the only chapter I ever saw in a cinema, one summer holiday in 1987, St Andrews, Fife. The story is daft, the acting variable (GW Bailey makes a welcome return, while George Gaynes aces it as usual), the jokes are hit and miss, and the series has quite clearly ran the course....but I'll always associate this one with warm summer evenings and pristine white sands. To be enjoyed as a bit of nonsensical and undemanding fun.
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wilsonstuart-323461 January 2019
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Smells_Like_Cheese22 July 2008So I watched Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol last night, the one thing I really noticed here on IMDb is that the ratings just keep going down after each movie. But I still wanted to see them and judge for myself, I loved the first Police Academy, the second and third are cheesy, but they were fun still. Now onto Citizens on Patrol, I honestly liked this film, I know it was cheesy and cliché, but with G.W. Baily back in his game, you can't go wrong. Again, one of the things that surprised me is that they've been able to get the same cast back over and over again, we also have two of my new favorite characters: Zed and Sweetchuck. It was great to have the old gang back together, even if the movie needed a little work, they still made the movie very enjoyable.
The Police Academy is given a new assignment, there is a new program called C.O.P., Citizens on Patrol, taking regular people off the streets and turning them into cops. Mahony has taken a few misfit punks off the street and made them join, there's an old lady, there's the average or less then average people in the program as well. But Captain Harris hates this program and will do anything to shut it down, but when there is a jail outbreak, he may just have to rely on the C.O.P. program to help him out.
Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol has it's good laughs here and there. I always love to watch the jokes the gang plays on someone, my favorite this time was how they super glued the mega phone onto Harris's lips. I would recommend this if you are looking for a couple laughs, I think people are bing a little too harsh on these films. They're the Police Academy sequels, they're light hearted and fun, they're meant to just relax and laugh for a bit at the stupid stuff. But I did feel like this is the weakest I have seen so far out of the sequels, it could have had more laughs, but it is worth the watch.
5/10 -
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! -
mentalcritic29 December 2003Indeed, that is the question many were asking in 1987, as the series soon turned into too much of a not so good thing. Sadly, it was only going to get worse from here. I've tried no less than three times to sit through Mission To Moscow, and it is just impossible. About the only reason to bother with episodes three through six is so you can see the final episode where Cast Member X decided they'd had enough. Or when Event Number X that was referenced in a sequel took place.
Another big problem with PA4 (and boy, there are many) is the change in target audience. Sure, episodes 1 through 3 could be enjoyed by children with two digits in their age, but the primary audience was adults who didn't have very high standards. Unfortunately, someone in the film studio must have decided that the writers have to please everybody, and so they watered down the humour as far as they could without getting a G rating. That, more than anything, is what hurts Police Academy sequels 4 onwards.
Steve Guttenberg must have taken one look at the finished product and wondered why he didn't quit about three films ago. Bob Goldthwait picks up the slack in terms of comedy, but his act is also watered down a tad too far, ditching any vocal expression of his character in favour of shouting and screaming at anyone and everyone. Which might work for a comedy about mental patients who have been neglected by the system for too long, but not when your character is meant to be a police officer. But then again, the whole premise is built on a notoriously shaky ground.
Every Police Academy film has at least one celebrity (other than George Gaynes) who wishes they had never appeared in the film. Sharon Stone gets her turn her, and despite what they say about her appearance in everything after Basic Instinct, at least she looks capable of acting. But amongst this lot, I'm sure a dead goldfish would appear to be emoting effectively.
Overall, PA4 gets a 2 out of ten from me. It stands as a good relic of what happens when you try to appeal to everyone, and it does have some genuinely funny moments, but it just cannot hold a candle to its predecessors, especially the first. -
adamjohns-425754 October 2021Watching it as a ten year old I remember finding Bobcat Goldthwait a lot funnier, but as a forty year old, he doesn't do much for my sense of humour. Add that to the slapstick and it is starting to get a tad tired having been repeated in and from the previous films.
There are too many characters once again here, so we don't get to enjoy them all individually and Sharon Stone being in it was almost completely pointless.
And it's such a short film that they could have easily filled it out with a proper story and more character development.
I've actually never understood why they don't set up the bad guys from the beginning in a more traditional way like that of 'Naked Gun' (1988) or such. There is too much academy and not enough police on the beat.
This is probably the weakest of the series so far, but I will see what 5, 6 and 7 bring as I watch them. I can't recall 'Mission To Moscow' (1994) being that good.
316.15/1000. -
gwnightscream16 July 2012Steve Guttenberg, Bubba Smith, Michael Winslow, David Graf, Marion Ramsay, Leslie Easterbrook, Tim Kazurinsky, Bobcat Goldthwait, G.W. Bailey, Lance Kinsey and George Gaynes star in this 1987 comedy sequel. In this installment, Commandant Lassard (Gaynes) begins a program called, C.O.P. (Citizens On Patrol) where members of the community help stop crime and learn techniques the police use. Mahoney (Guttenberg), Hightower (Smith), Jones (Winslow), Tackleberry (Graf), Hooks (Ramsay), Callahan (Easterbrook), Sweetchuck (Kazurinsky) and Zed (Goldthwait) help instruct them. Bailey returns as Harris who thinks the program is a bad idea, Kinsey returns as Proctor who now works for Harris, Sharon stone (Basic Instinct) is also featured as reporter, Claire and David Spade (Tommy Boy) plays skateboarder, Kyle. This is a semi-decent sequel, it's nice to see Bailey back as Harris, but it's too bad it's Guttenberg's last appearance in the series. The only issues I have is the bland bad guys and mysterious disappearances of Hightower and Hooks in the last act of the film, but still recommend this.
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jboothmillard24 September 2008The first film deserved to be an international success, so sequels were pretty inevitable, and they seem to get worse as they go on, still with few things to laugh at. Basically Cmndt. Eric Lassard (George Gaynes) decides the Police Academy is overworked and understaffed, so he comes up with the "Civilians On Patrol" (COP) program, allowing civilian volunteers to help the police. Obviously ex-graduates Sgt. Carey Mahoney (Steve Guttenberg) and old friends, Sgt. Moses Hightower (Bubba Smith), Sgt. Larvelle Jones (Michael Winslow), Sgt. Eugene Tackleberry (David Graf), Officer Zed (Bobcat Goldthwait, you may remember him being the bad guy in the 2nd film), Lt. Debbie Callahan (Leslie Easterbrook), Sgt. Laverne Hooks (Marion Ramsey) and Officer Sweetchuck (Tim Kazurinsky) are in charge of training the new recruits. Capt. Thaddeus Harris (G.W. Bailey) wants Lassard's job, so he is determined to see the COP program fail. Besides that, it seems the main villains are some skateboarding troublemakers, hardly what you'd call evil master criminals, just naughty kids. What surprised me was the appearance of young pre-Total Recall Sharon Stone, as Claire Mattson, a small love interest I guess of Mahoney. Also starring Derek McGrath as Butterworth, Colleen Camp as Mrs. Kirkland-Tackleberry, Home Alone's Billie Bird as Mrs. Lois Feldman, George R. Robertson as Police Commissioner Hurst, The Emperor's David Spade as Kyle and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective's Randall 'Tex' Cobb as Zack. Guttenberg hardly has any highlights, well, neither do many of the other regulars, and you could tell Guttenberg wanted to move on to other films, Winslow adds some entertainment with his self-made sound effects, including a rap while some civilians are exercising, but it's very pointless. It was nominated the Razzie for Worst Original Song for "Let's Go To Heaven In My Car", why wasn't it nominated any others, same for the two previous and just as awful sequels. Poor!
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That is the Citizens on Patrol (Program) ... which sounds a bit like what they were doing in part 3 ... but calling it something else. So Part 1, 3 and now 4 has giving people (viewers) new students and their "adventures" in making it through the ranks ... well actually just throwing them some bones to have something to laugh throughout the movie.
Talking about this: the joke from movie number one with the podium .. it still gets ... referenced (milked) ... and why not? It is the most memorable of the jokes of the whole series. I feel a bit bad for the Proctor character ... he is the butt of many of the jokes and has to walk quite the fine line. Him and his boss ... well they do not have the easiest job, but they make it look easy. There is a feeling of decline ... and of course there is - because overall what new jokes are there to tell? You even get the family back that likes to hit each other (I suppose that is meant to be funny ... maybe it is for some I reckon) ... Anyway, let's not fret and while this has overstayed its welcome at least there are so many of the original cast leftover that you may not mind ... also you have appearances from Sharon Stone (clothed - a lot!) and David Spade as skater ... which is quite insane in and of itself ... but also a short cameo by none other than Tony Hawk himself. It kinda feels like the first appearance from either of those ... or at least one of the first ones they did, I might be wrong ... do we care? It's just fun to see them I guess. -
Mister-629 June 1999Attention, all units; be on the lookout for a criminally bad sequel to a slowly devolving "comedy" series. All involved give new meaning to the term "bad cop".
But let's be fair...momentarily.
The first one was actually funny.
The second was negotiable.
The third had a lot more sight gags (I love sight gags).
But "Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol" began to show the wear that the series and its regulars was going through. As a rule, every even-numbered sequel usually isn't very good and this one carries on the tradition.
At least while watching it, it gives you time to consider certain plot points:
a) How do complete idiots stay on the police force for so long?
b) Sharon Stone? David Spade? How desperate were they to get their bills paid?
c) I wonder what Steve Guttenburg is doing nowadays?
d) How many drugs did they let Bobcat Goldthwait take between scenes?
e) Why doesn't Leslie Easterbrook do more scenes standing in a swimming pool with a soaked-through t-shirt and no bra?
f) Corrinne Bohrer is kind of fetching when she stares into the camera, isn't she?
g) Tim Kazurinsky really SHOULD get contacts.
h) Does anyone else notice that the more writers it takes to write a movie, the worse it is?
i) Really, what IS Steve Guttenberg doing nowadays?
And by the time you've thought all these points through, you've actually generated more plot than this entire movie could muster in its whole running time. Congrats.
Just a couple of stars this time, guys. And seriously, just watch the first three PA movies; you'll be a lot better off.
By the way, if anyone can figure out what happened with Steve Guttenberg, let the rest of us know. -
The-Sarkologist16 June 2019Actually, I found this one to be quite amusing, and the stunts at the end, well, they were pretty good as well, considering we do have Tackleberry jumping from a plane to land on top of a Balloon. Once again, some of the cast have been whittled down, though of course we still have Sweetchuck and Zed, who are now full fledged officers. Oh, and Sharon Stone also joins us as a reporter, and of course she gets paired off with Mahoney at the end (who else).
The story is that Lesard has this idea to recruit citizens to perform some of the duties that police officers perform, though not to the same extent. It is sort of falling halfway between Neighbourhood Watch, and the actual police force. Well, some people think that it is a great idea, while others are worried it is just a means of undermining the police force.
Lt Harris returns in this movie, and Lesard ends up in London for a conference, so Harris is left in charge. Of course it turns out that Harris is one that doesn't like the idea, so of course he is doing everything in his power to undermine it, while running it anyway. However, as it is also the case, our heroes from the first movie are here to provide a helping hand.
Yeah, this film actually turned out to be much funnier than the previous two, maybe because I hadn't really seen it. I think I originally tuned out after the third movie, though I do have to admit that this may be the reason. Yet, in many cases it once again seems to be a complete rerun of the first film, with a lot of similarities. Mind you, Blankes and Copeland are now gone, but we have that really annoying Proctor turning up, who happens to be the guy that runs around after Harris, thinking that he is the most wonderful person in the world.
Still, it is interesting to see how the characters have developed because once again they are so much not like the characters that we have seen in the first two films. In a way they have matured and become so much more competent. However, the jokes where Sweetchuck gets bashed around do get a little tiring after a while. -
As was said in my review for 'Police Academy 3', The best of the 'Police Academy' films will always be the original by quite some way. It isn't great and will never be a favourite comedy or overall film of mine, but it clearly knew what it wanted to be so it was easy to take it for what it was and what it set out to do.
It was followed by six sequels, and none of them were as good or even on the same level as the first, though admittedly some are worse than others. Most of them are actually being pretty bad or worse and lose what was enjoyable about the original in the first place. Worse was to follow in the series than 'Police Academy 4', but it was from this point in particular when the 'Police Academy' series felt stale.
'Police Academy 4' is not entirely irredeemable, it has its moments. It is enlivened by the welcome and much needed presences of George Gaynes and returning (and much missed in the previous two sequels) G.W. Bailey. Bobcat Goldthwait also tries his best and doesn't try as too hard as in the third film.
These two also have the best very sporadic moments, the most coming from Gaynes while Bailey's Harris' deodorant/mace gag being the funniest the film got, mean-spirited of course but it was one of the few moments that were actually funny. The music is infectious enough, with the exception of the god awful "Let's Go to Heaven in My Car" (which got a deserved Razzie nomination, losing out to "I Want Your Sex" from 'Beverly Hills Cop II').
Most of the humour really doesn't work. A lot of it feels laboured, and much of it was an uncomfortable mix of gross smut and juvenile immaturity. Am aware this is 'Police Academy' we're talking about, where one shouldn't expect too much and not take it seriously, but this was intelligence-insulting dumbness without an ounce of energy to make it slightly more tolerable.
Story is even thinner than the previous three films and with the pacing being so leaden it was difficult to forgive. Too many of the subplots are not interesting at all and not that well paced or resolved.
Apart from Gaynes, Bailey and to a lesser extent Goldthwait, the rest of the cast are not worth mentioning. Steve Guttenberg completely goes through the motions and it was clear that he didn't want to do another film in the series. David Spade has been much funnier and better since in a poorly written role, and Sharon Stone is lifeless as a character that couldn't have been more thankless. Jim Drake's direction is not as inept as that of the previous film but it does lack momentum and it does nothing with making the incredibly cheap-looking production values look more appealing.
Overall, pretty weak and the series was showing signs of being particularly stale at this point, but worse was to follow. 3/10 Bethany Cox -
iwatcheverything10 December 2003Why is this movie rated so low? I admit that it is the fourth in the series and that is getting pretty ridiculous but this one has many memorable moments in it. Also where else can you go see Sharon Stone, David Spade, and a speacial appearance by a young kid at the time named Tony Hawke. No where else can you get so many people in one of their first movies. It is also still highly entertaining and causes me to laugh often. This is where you should stop watching the series however b/c they lose Steve Guttenburg and he is the only reason the series kept on for as long as it did. So don't give this a low score. Help it get out of the lowest 100 where other real horrible films belong.
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SkullScreamerReturns16 September 2021Ok, I the first three Police Academy movies were all quite good. I had a vague memory that part 4 is still somehwat good. But when watching it again, I was surprised that most that happens in the movie had been forgotten completely. I mean, the previous films felt very familiar with all the legendary jokes that seem unforgettable. This movie had also some good jokes but...I think it is more forgettable. It starts promising, introducing new interesting characters. But towards the end the plot (if there was much of it in the first place) disappears and the movie becomes quite random.
Pros: Harris from the first film is back. He's a great opposing force, better than Mauser from parts 2-3. This is also the first time Harris and Proctor work together. Harris shouting "Proctor!" is classic. Also nice to see more of Zed. The best new character is Mrs. Feldman, the old lady who has Tackleberry's attitude.
Overall it's not a very solid movie but it does have some good comedy moments. Recommended only for fans of the earlier films. -
Aaron137512 April 2009Of the Police Academy movies the worst of the bunch for me is the final movie in the series to star Steve Guttenberg as Mahoney. The jokes are the same, the cast is the same the only difference here is they are training citizens to help fight crime in a neighborhood watch type deal. Mauser is gone, replace once again by Harris and I liked Mauser better as he and Proctor to me worked better. Bobcat is back which is bad, as is most of the jokes in this very forgettable movie. Seriously, other than a plot point or two here and there it is very hard to recall this movie other than I did not care for it except for when Proctor ends up letting a whole slew of criminals escape and we have our typical Police Academy ending. I also remember the end with a hot air balloon and Harris. This one also tries to introduce new characters to the gang one overweight dude and an older lady stands out in my mind and for some reason in the next movie the overweight guy would be a cop which makes no sense.
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drumnbasslova29 July 2006Okay, back in 1987 I was only five years old, but I was a little 'actress' at the time, and I did shoot a scene for this movie. Thing is, I think they cut the scene but I'm not sure because I haven't seen it since I was a child. If anyone's seen P.A. 4 lately, please let me know if there's a scene with a mom, a little boy (in a stroller) and a little girl eating an ice cream cone. The mom is talking to one of the cops who takes of his hat to say hello, and the little girl (me!) dumps her vanilla ice cream into the cop's hat. Not looking, the cop (I don't remember which actor it was) places his hat back on his head, and the ice cream splatters everywhere. It was a funny scene, so I don't know why they would have cut it! Lots of fun for me to shoot because they gave me a new ice cream cone for every take, and I laughed as the actor had to clean his head each time! LOL. Any help would be appreciated, thanks! Tabitha. (btw, I'm not in the credits... I looked!)
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LeRoyMarko13 January 2007Police Academy 1 was good, 2 wasn't bad, 3 was bad, this one is worst. Why keep watching? Well, to rate it! There's only a few laughs in Police Academy 4, a movie that should have a lot more. Painfully long scenes like the one where the kids are skateboarding themselves into trouble or the final chase on the sea-doos. The acting is the only bright spot (although some of the actors look tired). Good to see Harris back with his sidekick Proctor, but it's not enough to save the day. Don't rent this one. Take it out for free at your local library like I did.
Seen at home, in Toronto, on January 2nd, 2007.
58/100 (*) -
s-woodier2 October 2007This is a hard Academy movie to define. The humour is generally more smutty, keeping up the standards of the original, yet it also has awful gags about people slipping on skateboards and pidgeons secreting on policemen's shoulders. There are also jokes about farting, a sure sign of desperation. On the plus side, we see the return of G.W.Bailey as Captain Harris. That's about it on the plus side. The whole film looks rushed and is mostly set at night or on grey skied days that make it look awful. Not a pleasant film to watch. However, the public, including myself, flocked to see it. But, hey, you don't know what you're gonna get until you have paid your admission.
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fishersislander25 April 2020For the first hour and change, this is just every other police academy movie rehashed with slightly different jokes. Just like PA2 and PA3, the climax, resolution, and ending don't happen until there are ten minutes left in the movie. Only this time, the lack of literally any antagonist make this trip down memory lane a complete waste of time. While I kind of thought that PA2 and PA3 could have been episodes of a tv show, this one literally felt like a half assed episode of the series. Even the quintessential blue oyster bar scene was so telegraphed that the usual patrons didn't even give it their usual oomph. The whole movie was a bore. Honestly I didn't even remember that David Spade and Sharon Stone were in it until the credits.
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jaxson-27 February 1999"Citizens On Patrol", the fourth installment of the Police Academy is again shaped in the same mold as it's follow-ups: the slapstick, the crude humor, and sexual innuendos.
It's too bad that the writers of these movies couldn't think of something different than the same old thing, but what works works!
Kudos again to Michael Winslow and his vocal effects. Also thanks goes to the writers for giving Zed (Bobcat Goldthwait) a new love. -
EijnarAmadeus9 March 2005The movie starts off with a howling theme song and from there on; this movie is just as typical as the three before. POLICE ACADEMY maybe never tried to be even original or that cool, but it least it had have been trying to be entertaining, and sometimes funny. But the laughs are so un-original and poor, that it all simply falls into nothing of a movie. The story is as in all of the others (despite the first) very little interesting.
And the characters; they're so boring and finished already! The "cool" making-sounds Negro doesn't charm, and neither does certainly not the big guy, the big breasted chick, the crazy former rebel, the cruel sergeant, the shrieking little woman... they're so freaking tired! POLICE ACADEMY 4: CITIZENS ON PATROL is the last movie of the series that makes you laugh out sometimes because it's a slim twist between ridiculous funny and harmless, after this it went even more downhill than it already had. -
SnakesOnAnAfricanPlain29 December 2011I certainly laughed a bit more than I did with the previous sequels. Once again it's all a bit overcrowded, with characters from the previous 3 outings now being mixed together. Bailey is a welcome return as the antagonist, but he is joined by the sidekick of the last two films' villain. This kind of works, as we get the best of both worlds. On top of this we are also given new characters, everyday citizens wanting to help out. This looks interesting at first, with David Spade and a skateboarding buddy forced into the program, but they are soon lost in the background. An entertaining airborne finale is rather impressive as well. So, with Bailey back, and this being Guttenberg's last, this may be a good stopping point for most viewers that made it this far.
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Leofwine_draca19 September 2016The fourth instalment of the POLICE ACADEMY series is far from the worst. It actually had me chuckling in a couple of places and I think the mix of old and new talent is a good one. Certainly there's nothing that feels very fresh or alive in this film but somehow it just about hangs together and it's one sequel that feels most like the original movie.
The likable Steve Guttenberg appears for the last time in the series and seems to be enjoying himself, as do the supporting players like Michael Winslow and Bubba Smith. Bobcat Goldthwait is still an acquired taste but there you go. The gags, which come thick and fast, are a mixture of slapstick and lowbrow jokes, but I particularly enjoyed all the humour at the expensive of G.W. Bailey's character - that megaphone gag remains a good one. Even though it's very much an average kind of 1980s comedy, in the world of POLICE ACADEMY movies, POLICE ACADEMY 4 stands out as being miles ahead of the execrable previous instalment. -
Commandant Eric Lassard comes up with an idea to recruit civilian volunteers to the police force.The program is called Citizens on Patrol (COP).Captain Harris is very much against the idea and wants to see it fail.Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol (1987) is directed by Jim Drake.This is the last part where Steve Guttenberg stars as Mahoney.Of course we can't tell yet if he will be seen in one more part in the future.Then there are those familiar faces Bubba Smith, Michael Winslow, David Graf, Tim Kazurinsky, Leslie Easterbrook, Marion Ramsey, Brian Tochi, Lance Kinsey and George Gaynes.G. W. Bailey makes a return as Capt. Thaddeus Harris again.George R. Robertson is Hurst.Bobcat Goldthwait does his crazy Zed again.Corinne Bohrer plays his love interest Laura.Sharon Stone, before her bigger stardom, plays Claire Mattson.Derek McGrath plays Butterworth.Scott Thomson plays Chad Copeland.Billie Bird plays the tough old lady Mrs. Lois Feldman.David Spade is seen on a skateboard playing Kyle Ault.Backer, remembered from Fast Times at Ridgemont High, is his buddy Arnie.Also Tony Hawk does a cameo.The late Tab Thacker plays Tommy "House" Conklin.Randall 'Tex' Cobb is Zack.The Kirkland family is there again with Colleen Camp, Andrew Paris, Arthur Batanides and Jackie Joseph.The movie has a lot of fun stuff, even though not all of the jokes work.But I really liked Zed getting all romantic with that cute chick.And Jones doing some ninja action.And all the action including hot air balloons and airplanes in the end.The rap song by Michael Winslow and the L.A. Dream Team is really neat.
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breakdownthatfilm-blogspot-com18 February 2019It's really something when a franchise begins its second trilogy. While many critics had found only the first Police Academy (1984) a mixed bag, the later sequels earned even less stellar opinions. Yet somehow, the series continued to push onward. While Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment (1985) was more or less retreading the same ground, Police Academy 3: Back in Training (1986) stepped back up to the plate for some fun. The cause of this was more of having the original cast learning new skills, which reminisced more of the first film. Here, the story is now putting them in the trainer shoes. All because of an idea their ever so absent minded commander had one day out of the blue.
Written by Gene Quintano, who also penned the prior entry, was the sole writer for this film. The story begins with Commandant Lassard (George Gaynes) having the brilliant thought of making relations better between the police and public by having a new program involving both. The program is called Citizens on Patrol (COP - how clever), and it would allow citizens to actively partake in making sure crime isn't committed. Seeing it as a lousy decision, Captain Harris (G.W. Bailey) returns with Proctor (Lance Kinsey) to fill in for Lassard as he makes his way to London to promote the concept. Meanwhile, it's up to Mahoney (Steve Guttenberg), Hightower (Bubba Smith), Jones (Michael Winslow), Tackleberry (David Graf), Hooks (Marion Ramsey), Sweetchuck (Tim Kazurinsky) and assorted others to make sure COP succeeds.
So the plot itself is really not very different. If anything the premise feels all too familiar because it's more or less a soft version of the first movie, which encouraged regular citizens to participate in the police academy. Here though, citizens do not become police officers but instead act more as like a subdivision of the department. The only new feeling is that now the original cast members are the ones doing the training, but that's where it ends. Jim Drake as the new director was okay, but there were scenes that felt too padded. What does work in the script's favor are the homecoming of familiar faces and jokes. Having G.W. Bailey come back for another entry was great because he was after all the first antagonist in the series. Plus, seeing him get acquainted with Steve Guttenberg's character brings back fun antics.
Although not all the jokes induce laughter, there are some better than average moments. One being actress Billie Bird who plays Mrs. Feldman, a charismatic old woman who enjoys the thrill of being a police officer. She produces some good laughs but she's literally one of very few new recruits in the COP program that stand out. The only other character that is a new addition and develops another character is Laura (Corinne Bohrer). While uneasy at first she develops a soft spot for the reformed gang member Zed (Bobcat Goldthwait). Aside from this though, no one else is really has development. There is however an appearance from a young Sharon Stone and a debut performance from David Spade.
For cinematography, Robert Saad shot for the film. While he provided additional photography for the first film, he really took over in the last sequel, which was shot differently. The same could be said here. There are scenes that are filmed in the city, but Saad also captured shots from the sky and it's impressive. Figuratively and literally, Saad has visually taken the series to a new height. Music has enjoyably remained the same, with another score composed by Robert Folk. The main title theme is always jolly and the rest of scenes work where they should. Now, all that is needed since the first film are the scores released for all the sequels that came out.
If you've been enjoying the films so far even after all the character swaps, this sequel should still provide some good laughs. The cinematography is still shot well, the music remains entertaining and the reunion of Mahoney and Capt. Harris bring back so good jokes. However, the plot feels very similar to the first, very few new characters receive development and the jokes don't always work. -
TheOtherFool3 April 2004There's nothing new, fresh or original in this fourth Police Academy, but that's all right, once you don't expect too much. If you didn't like the first PA, just don't watch the rest of them, as it will only get worse.
In this fourth offering, the familiar misfits such as Mahoney and Hightower want citizens to participate with the police. Hence 'Citizens On Patrol (COP)). And it shows not all lunatics already signed up for the police...
The fans of the genre and the series will probably love it, and loads of others will hate it. I'm a bit in the middle: I had my share of laughs, but not so much as in the first PA. I've seen worse movies though!
4/10.