Police Academy

"The new police recruits. Call them slobs. Call them jerks. Call them gross. Just don't call them when you're in trouble."

1984 1h 37m EN

👍

6.7

SOLID

★6.7TMDB · 3,119

ComedyCrime

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

New rules enforced by the Lady Mayoress mean that sex, weight, height and intelligence need no longer be a factor for joining the Police Force. This opens the floodgates for all and sundry to enter the Police Academy, much to the chagrin of the instructors. Not everyone is there through choice, though. Social misfit Mahoney has been forced to sign up as the only alternative to a jail sentence and it doesn't take long before he falls foul of the boorish Lieutenant Harris. But before long, Mahoney realises that he is enjoying being a police cadet and decides he wants to stay... while Harris decides he wants Mahoney out!

“The new police recruits. Call them slobs. Call them jerks. Call them gross. Just don't call them when you're in trouble.”

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Cast

Steve Guttenberg
Carey Mahoney
Kim Cattrall
Karen Thompson
G.W. Bailey
Lieutenant Harris
Bubba Smith
Moses Hightower
Donovan Scott
Leslie Barbara
George Gaynes
Commandant Lassard
Andrew Rubin
George Martin
David Graf
Tackleberry

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Hugh Wilson
Writers: Hugh Wilson, Neal Israel, Pat Proft
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $4.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $81M — a 18.0× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

42 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Police Academy Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CAST

Did you know

241+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Hugh Wilson, shot by Michael D. Margulies. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Robert Folk. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Zach Staenberg shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Hugh Wilson directs. Michael D. Margulies behind the camera. Robert Folk scores. Zach Staenberg cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $4.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Grossed $81M — a 18.0× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
342 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
4Part of the "Police Academy Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
5241+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
6Directed by Hugh Wilson, shot by Michael D. Margulies. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Original score by Robert Folk. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
8Editor Zach Staenberg shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
9Steve Guttenberg and Kim Cattrall and G.W. Bailey carry the top of the cast.
10Marketing tagline: "The new police recruits. Call them slobs. Call them jerks. Call them gross. Just don't call them when you're in trouble.".
11IMDB entry: tt0087928 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography: Michael D. Margulies
Original score: Robert Folk
Editing: Zach Staenberg
Production design: Trevor Williams
Costume design: Christopher Ryan
Makeup / hair: James D. Brown
Sound: Don MacDougall
Stunt coordinator: Joe Dunne
Runtime: 97 min · 1h 37m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $4,500,000
Box office: $81,198,894
Return: 1804% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Police Academy (1984)

Part of

Police Academy Collection

A series of American comedy films, the first six of which were made in the 1980s. The seventh and to date last installment, Mission to Moscow, was released in 1994. The series opened with Police Academy (1984) which started with the premise that a new mayor had announced a policy requiring the police department to accept all willing recruits. The movie followed a group of misfit recruits in their attempts to prove themselves capable of being police officers. The main character, Carey Mahoney (Steve Guttenberg), was a repeat offender who was forced to join the police academy as punishment.

Also by

Hugh Wilson

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Filipe Manuel Neto2022-09-20
★ 7/10
A comedy landmark. I have no doubt that this film inaugurates what was one of the comic franchises that most marked the 80s and 90s. I remember that, until the dawn of the new century, films from this franchise were a regular presence on TV channels, and they still make routine appearances on movie or comedy channels. Unlike many other film works from this era, I feel they are aging well and haven't fallen by the wayside. The script helped a lot, because it was very well written, considering that it is a light film and does not lack great depth: after a municipal decision to open police training courses to all those who wanted to, regardless of physical, mental and psychological requirements, the Police Academy was swamped by the most inept aspirants. Now, there will be a declared effort to get them to give up, and one of them is prevented from doing so, no matter how much he wants to. If I'm told that the film's script is quite simple and that it's not exactly good, I would surely agree. However, it served perfectly for the intended effect and held up well to the film and the successive jokes that were happening. Many of them are predictable, many are overly sexual, but many of the jokes work reasonably well. There is some female nudity here, but it's nothing that current cinema hasn't shown in much more abusive ways in other films. Still, parents be warned! There are several actors of great quality here who do an excellent job. Despite being many years old, it is the great film in the career of Steve Guttenberg, who shone in the franchise in the role of the irreverent Mahoney. The actor made the best use of the opportunity and reaped the rewards of that commitment. G.W. Bailey also deserves a round of applause for an inspired, funny and beautifully executed work. Despite speaking very little, Bubba Smith also stands out, using his physical grandeur and serious air. The actor was excellent. Even more impressively, David Graf is really funny and steals attention whenever he appears. As with Graf, Marion Ramsey also had the culmination of her career in these films, and made the best of it with an extraordinarily good performance. Michael Winslow and George Gaynes also did an excellent job. Kim Catrall is beautiful, but she is very little used in the movie, as are other actors because the cast is just huge! The film was made in an old psychiatric sanatorium and the buildings have a beautiful, somewhat institutional appearance, which lends credibility to the atmosphere of the academy. The cinematography is regular and doesn't bring us anything new or original, but it works well, and the soundtrack has one of the most recognizable main themes in comedy films. The film has a very good pace and is not tiring.
r96sk2025-03-23
★ 6/10
<em>'Police Academy'</em> is proper lacklustre. I didn't find any of it amusing, even so I can usually see why a film may actually work for others - not here. Given I've heard of this franchise, I assume folk enjoy these so I am a tad surprised. To me, it's just all a rather limp effort. The characters have one joke associated to them (e.g. tall man, quiet woman, wannabe war guy etc.) and it's just repeated numerous times throughout the movie; it doesn't get any funnier. How many times do they play the theme song, btw? It is catchy to be fair, but damn. Michael Winslow is the only plus that I have for this. I wasn't aware of him until this very moment, those voice sounds are outrageously brilliant; even had me questioning if they were dubbed over sound effects. Awesome talent! Of the rest of the cast, Donovan Scott is the 'best' (?). I found lead Steve Guttenberg to be more annoying than anything else, shame we never got Bruce Willis instead; he auditioned for the role, so I read. Elsewhere, Kim Cattrall is underused; interesting to see her <em>'Mannequin'</em> co-star G. W. Bailey in this though, he is OK. Despite everything, in the end when the credits rolled around I didn't hold any annoyance or anything towards the flick. The feeling is more so how lame and low quality it comes across, I expected snappier comedy. Lastly, how are there 7 of these movies?! I'm in for a ride...