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Review of The Naked Gun Trilogy – 3 CD Limited Edition Score

Music From the Motion Pictures

Naked Gun Trilogy

The Naked Gun Trilogy

The Naked Gun Trilogy of slapstick comedies are films I’ve always loved. Because they do parody very well. SO well in fact that all three films have a cameo by the “Dare to be Stupid” king of parody Weird Al! La La Land Records has put together a three disc set of soundtracks. For the entire franchise. Let’s brandish our naked guns and listen in to see what they are all about.

1988, 1991, and 1994 were all huge years for films. Especially one comedic slapstick series entitled The Naked Gun! I’ve loved these films since seeing them as a kid. They are extremely funny, they bring the funny to slapstick comedy to the late 80s early 90s as the Stooges did in their day. I still can’t believe I saw the first film when I was eight or nine years old. I know it was once the film hit video stores that I saw it. Sadly I’ve never seen it in theaters. That would be amazing. The Naked Gun films have something very special about them. They are wonderfully fresh, and very charming. SURE by today’s standrds they may be dated movies. However after watching them and listening to this three disc set

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Disc 1: Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!

Total Disc Time: 59:47

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Ahh The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad. Ira Newborn put together as masterfully funny yet emotional score. The main theme for Lt. Frank Drebin is a musical masterpiece. It sets up the entire film, and gives the main hero an epic theme. The composition and timing of the music on this disc is great. I really felt as if I was watching the movie while listening to this. It’s something I talk about often, I LOVE hearing the music from a movie, tv show, or videogame outside of the media itself. Hearing the music on it’s own is a wonderful thing. Because it brings you into the film or other media it’s from. When hearing the first track on this disc I can so envision the opening scene of the film. One of my favorite tracks is Track 8 “Beeper Doc/The Exciting Chase” This track has that sinister type of music when the mind controlled human has been activated. i love that sense of dread right there. That is some amazing music!!!! Take Track 10: “Drebin Acrobat/Meat Miss Spencer” This scene is where Drebin is flipping and vaulting all over the apartment, before he finds Jane in the kitchen, with nothing on but one of his shirts. I love the action in the scene when Drebin is trying to clear his apartment.

For this release La La Land Records and the album producers Dan Goldwasser and Neil S. Bulk have put together an amazing first disc here. Tracks 1-18 are the original score, then we have Tracks 19-26 which are all the Source Cues and The Baseball game, and finally we have 4 bonus tracks with Tracks 26-29. These bonus tracks are alternates of some of the original soundtrack songs. Very awesome. That’s what I love about the producers that put stuff together for La La Land Records. They go the extra mile to give us the fans the most enjoyable experience in recapturing music! Some of my favorite tracks from this score are Beirut Vacation, Drebin the Hero, and the Main title. I like other tracks as well, like the baseball cues… that was a nice touch that they put in. Overall the score for the first Naked Gun film is great. As I’ve already stated it has everything you could ever want as far as music for a awesome slapstick comedy!It even has Herman’s Hermits “I’m into Something Good” (End Credits Version) Again going back to what I was saying about these producers getting everything from the film that they possibly can.

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Disc 2: Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear

Total Disc Time: 57:32

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After rewatching the 2nd Naked Gun film, I found that for me it doesn’t hold up as well as the first one. I’m not sure why. I found the first film still very enjoyable after all these years. However with The Smell of Fear, I dunno I felt that I couldn’t get the joke or something. I’m not saying that the 2nd Naked Gun film is bad, but it wasn’t what I thought it was going to be. I think that with this trilogy for me the first and the third films are the best. The 2nd one is good, just not my comedy taste I guess. I wanted to see more with Ted and Ed and the gadgets than the actual plot of the film.

However Ira Newborn conrinues to knock it outta the park with the music. This score is amazing. As I said with the first film’s score…. I can really envision each see of the 2nd film in my head as I’m listening to the music. Some of my favorite tracks from this disc are “Frank Moves In / Frank’s Bust Is Busted”, “Hotel Sting / Hapsburg Moves On Jane”, and “Staying Here With You / A Real Bomb” These tracks represent the scenes in the film that I really enjoyed. I also love the bonus cues like “Hail to the Chief” and Leslie Nielsen singing “Besame Mucho” That was just some great fun. You wouldn’t think that Lt. Frank Drebin could sing, but Nielsen does a great job. Overall I enjoyed the music from Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear, but I might need to watch the film again to see if I appreciate it more. As I said above I did watch it before writing this review, but I duhnno I wasn’t into it.

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Disc 3: Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult

Total Disc Time: 70:57

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Now Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult I absolutely loved. It was great seeing all these actor’s on screen together. The third Naked Gun film is a film “movie 43” should have been looking at if it wanted to be successful. Because The Final Insult takes all these wonderful actors and puts them in a story that works to each of their strengths. Some of my favorite tracks on this disc are “Prison Fight”, “Tanya, Tanya, Tanya”, “Best Picture Award / It’s The Bomb / The Final Straw / Give Up Rocco / Happy Ending To Awards”, and “Thelma & Louise Jane” Ira Newborn outdid the scoring for 33 and 1/3. The music is epically awesome, along with the film it’s attached to. The way the instruments all come together fluidly to craft funny and sometimes emotional music tracks is great!!!!

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What I love about these La La Land Records releases is the liner notes that come with the albums. Not only do you get cool images from the project, but you also get insights from the people crafting the music. That is just a nice little addition that this soundtrack company does!!

Overall this entire 3 disc set is great. For anyone who grew up watching The Naked Gun Trilogy, you are gonna wanna get this set. It’s like reliving the films without watching them. But you should still go watch them!

You can get this awesome score from LA LA Land Records directly! You can also find the track listing there!

Review Overview

Join Lt. Frank Drebin as he fights crime with epic musical accompaniment

If you LOVE The Naked Gun Trilogy this is the soundtrack set for you!

The Naked Gun Trilogy was done in an era of filmmaking where spoof and parody is what we wanted from comedy films. Ira Newborn crafted three very wonderful scores to go along with each film. They are definitely worth a listen!

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TFG1Mike

TFG1Mike is a geek with many interests. He has been podcasting for over a decade, and sees no stopping point in sight. From Transformers, He-Man, Batman, Comics, movies, video games, cartoons, and so much more, Mike has a zeal for the things he loves, and he will bring the hammer down on the things that he has a disdain for. He's generally a postive person, but negativity can creep in there. Mike is all about the innuendos and innuendon'ts too. You'll hear him on many of The GCRN podcasts!

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