Dragnet the Movie- Why?
Who got their hands on this that shouldn’t have? Dan Ackroyd is one of the biggest stars of the 1980s. He dominated Saturday Night Live in its first golden era. See the skit about condensing the alphabet to 10 letters. Bassomatic. Ackroyd wanted this role. He bought tapes of the original Dragnet and studied Jack Webb’s voice and delivery.
Tom Hanks is still in his funny guy stage, likable but trying too hard some times.
Dabney Coleman plays everyone’s favorite villain.
It should be an 80s Classic.
No.
Dragnet was a 1950s radio and television show. Jack Webb was an actor with a list of small parts. One of those parts was in a suspense drama and he wanted to make the most of this role. It inspired him to see what police go through in an investigation. He looked into closed cases, rode with police officers on patrol, learned the criminal codes. That movie wrapped and it gave Webb an idea for a police show called “Dragnet.” The show was a procedural drama with no side love interests, no office drama, no over-acting for an Emmy. When it started on radio, it had this grizzled noir feel. It wasn’t there but it had this hard jazz vibe and lone narrator.
The show was serious and it took itself serious. People loved it. It had a successful 1950s television run. Then it came back in 1967 with the same formula and it worked again. Jack Webb was super serious, no extra storylines, no love interest. Real cases.
A show that takes itself so seriously is ripe for satire. Stan Freberg has some of the best satire/parodies of the show. You could check out “St. George and the Dragonet.” Next Christmas, you should hear “Christmas Dragnet.”
Where Freberg succeeds and the 1987 movie fails is that Freberg plays it serious in its absurdity. He’s straight with absurd characters and a belief that Cleveland is fake. Really “Christmas Dragnet” is great.
The movie just says wouldn’t it be funny to put this straight-edge guy at a Playboy mansion? Wouldn’t it be funny to have his silly dancing? In some instances like the strip bar coffee scene, it’s funny. Elsewhere, it’s Ok. The cults, sacrifice, Pagan? It goes out to add absurdity.
This would’ve been better with the Zucker Brothers that did “Airplane” writing and directing. The director, Tom Mankewitz had action movie credits. This movie didn’t have big action scenes.
To promote the movie, Tom Hanks and Dan Ackroyd did a video called “City of Crime.” It’s 1980s rap, but it works better than the movie. It has silliness but it plays serious and it’s amusing. All the best parts in 3 minutes.