Police Academy Collection Blu-ray Review: The Right to Remain Funny

When I last revisited the Police Academy franchise on DVD, I marveled at how good the slapstick comedy was executed. It’s timeless so it’s nice to have the films on Blu-ray. Maybe they’ll be on 4K one day.

New behind the scenes featurettes go through all the sequels. My pet peeve is when they only do the first in a long series, so that’s not an issue here. 3 and 7 get a little skipped over, but the archival DVD extras did them one by one so they are still represented.

Lance Kinsey’s audition stories include a very famous competitor, and they explain why in 6, Tackleberry couldn’t shoot anyone.

Citizens on Patrol gets a new commentary track from historian Russell Dyball. Duvall is speaking my language analyzing the emergence of sequel culture since the Godfather movies.

He’s read up on G.W. Bailey, Steve Gutenberg and even Sharon Stone for facts. He’s always aware of script drafts where plots and jokes were shifted from other sequels. His own observations and analysis are valid too, especially his take on the Bill Murray comedy hero archetype of the ‘80s. And there are no dead spots. He can fill 80 minutes.