Chapter Two
ZAZ (Not ZAZ) Part Deux-and-a-Half!
By Brett Ballard-Beach
February 16, 2012
Chapter Two proudly continues with the second and final installment in a look at sequels to films in which the writing/producing/directing team of Zucker Abrahams Zucker was involved. Last month’s column contemplated Airplane II: The Sequel and Amazon Women on the Moon (follow-ups in which they had no overt involvement.) This week, it’s a tale of the tape as two franchise sequels - in which ZAZ had some part - go head to head. It’s Frank Drebin vs. Topper Harley. Leslie Nielsen vs. Charlie Sheen; Priscilla Presley vs. Valeria Golino. Entertainer Robert Goulet vs. - um . . . pardon me while I check IMDb - perpetual Saddam Hussein impersonator Jerry Haleva. Co-writer Pat Proft vs. himself!
It’s Hot Shots! Part Deux vs. The Naked Gun 2 ½: The Smell of Fear. This week, folks, you’ll want to keep a scorecard, if for nothing else than to tally up the overabundance of exclamation points that is sure to give my spell check a fit.
But first a minor embarrassing addendum to the last column in which, five paragraphs in, I laid out a trail of synchronicity and connection among the creative parties involved that dazzled even me with its interwoven narrative web. (Take the time to re-read it. Now is the perfect opportunity.) As is often the case when I allow even a modicum of smugness to cross my brow, I missed a chance to dot my I’s and cross my T’s, which only became apparent to me when I watched the Police Squad! series last week, for only the second time in my life, and saw William Shatner - plain as day - as one of the ill-fated weekly “Special Guest Stars.” Not feeling so smug anymore.
To begin this week, here is a selected filmography of theatrical features directed by members of ZAZ, post-Ruthless People (their last collaborative directing credit in 1986):
Jim Abrahams - Big Business (1988); Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael (1990); Hot Shots! (1991); Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993); Jane Austen’s Mafia (1998).
David Zucker - The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad (1988); The Naked Gun 2 ½: The Smell of Fear (1991); BASEketball (1998); An American Carol (2008); Scary Movie 3, 4, and 5 (2003, 2006, and scheduled for 2012, respectively)
Jerry Zucker - Ghost (1990); First Knight (1995); Rat Race (2001)
In all fairness, I don’t want to give the impression that this tells the whole tale. All three gentlemen have been involved in production, executive production, screenwriting, etc. consistently over the last 25 years. And it isn’t as if they haven’t been in collaboration with each other on projects, DVD commentary, and the like. But I think you’ll agree that there are some interesting patterns to be observed in the above and . . .
Holy fuck! Does that really say that Jerry Zucker, of ZAZ, directed Ghost? Oscar-winning Best Picture nominee featuring pixie-haired Demi Moore; "ditto"-uttering Patrick Swayze; tragic-whacky Whoopi Goldberg; sexy/disturbing Righteous Brothers-soundtracked pottery wheel shenanigans; and the most gruesome villain dispatching (death by sharded window) ever featured in an ostensibly gooey living world/afterworld romantic drama Ghost? That one?
Not to put too fine a point on it, but since the co-founder of this site recently revealed to me that this was news to him, I didn’t want to presume that there might not be others out there walking around with similar veils cast over their shared cinematic viewings. Jerry Zucker was not nominated for best director (that would have been perhaps too mind-blowing, although conversely more people might then have been aware of the fact two decades later) but I don’t bring that fact up to needle him. Hands down, he directed the most financially successful (and one of the most acclaimed) of the ZAZ team’s individual projects.
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