Ah, comedy! Remember when Hollywood made comedies? I know it seems like an eternity ago, but at one time in the dim and dark past, despite the dysentery and the covered wagons, studios thought that comedies were a worthwhile enterprise. They figured that audiences might pay to laugh at something on the big screen. And while there is indeed humor in a current film factory cranking out yet another non-blockbuster with a $350 million budget and an additional $175 million in marketing, it just doesn’t tickle in the same way as an actual, honest-to-goodness intended-as-a-comedy film can, IF done right. (Remember that IF,dear reader; I’ll return to it in a later paragraph. Ooooh…tantalizing, isn’t it?)
My childhood was littered with amazing and not that amazing comedy movies. Just cataloguing the myriad films that I absorbed from various Saturday Night Live and SCTV cast members would be fairly sizeable. Look at the filmographies of Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, John Candy, Bill Murray, and Eddie Murphy from 1978 to 1990 and that just about sums it up. Throw in work from Mel Brooks, Steve Martin, Monty Python and of course, the legendary Steve Guttenberg in the Police Academy series and it truly was a rich cornucopia of comic bliss that I harvested as a child!
Aside from being incredibly blessed in having me as a father, my children will never have anything close to that kind of comedy experience. Their generation gets their comedy fix from memes where they don’t get the original reference and…well, that’s about it. Meanwhilst, I sit like one of the Old Ones, speaking about Caddyshack and The Man with Two Brains and Beverly Hills Cop in hushed, reverential tones around the fire, remembering R-rated comic wonders from my underage viewing childhood.
So imagine my thrill this past week, when my brood wanted to dive into the comedy pool by watching Hot Shots! After a quick assessment where I ignored the PG-13 ratings for both films, we jumped in feet first. Hot Shots! went over well, but then my moppets clamored for the sequel. I was a smidge worried because in this case, I am one of those who love Part Deux more that the first film. Would it hold up or would it fall like a blind roofer?
The Sequel: Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993)
Original Movie: Hot Shots! (1991)
Key Cast/Production Staff Returning from 1st Installment:
| Charlie Sheen | Topper Harley |
| Valeria Golino | Ramada |
| Lloyd Bridges | President Tug Benson |
| Jerry Haleva | Saddam Hussein |
| Jim Abrahams | Director/Co-Writer |
| Pat Proft | Co-Writer |
| Bill Badalato | Producer |
To Start With:
Michelle: “Mr. President, this is Topper Harley.”
President Tug Benson: “Topper Harley, of course. The son I never had. No wonder I didn’t recognize you then.”
That is a big IF to be sure. (See? I told you I would get back to that IF. I’m nothing if not reliable when it comes to my foreshadowing.) However, the well-established and well-earned street cred that Jim Abrahams and Pat Proft had by 1993 all but ensured a solid comedy outing. Abrahams was a co-founder of Kentucky Fried Theater, co-wrote on Kentucky Fried Movie, co-wrote and co-directed Airplane!, Top Secret!, co-directed Ruthless People, and co-created Police Squad!. Proft was also in Kentucky Fried Theater and wrote on Police Squad!, Police Academy, Bachelor Party, Moving Violations, and the Naked Gun series.
After the rollicking success of The Naked Gun, Abrahams and Proft teamed up to bring the world Hot Shots! in 1991. On the surface, the film is a parody of Top Gun, but it also took plenty of other shots as well. This was straight out of the playbook from the previous films that Abrahams created with Jerry and David Zucker. However, I’m not the biggest fan of Top Gun, so while I was always amused by Hot Shots!, I didn’t love it. However, being a fan of big dumb explosive action films of the 1980s and early 1990s, I was immediately more interested in Part Deux.
Hot Shots! was successful and 20th Century Fox, eager to replicate success Paramount had with the first two Naked Gun films, greenlit a second Hot Shots! Rather than rehash Top Gun, Abrahams and Proft instead decided to cast a wider net to include some action films of the past decade. Films where Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger ruled the box office as well as our hearts. Clint Eastwood and Charles Bronson all brought action-filled wonderment to our eyes. Steven Seagal and Jean Claude Van Damme were like members of the family. Mel Gibson and Bruce Willis not only sat at our dinner table but also used our restroom! It was a time of wonderment to be sure.
And so, after $25 million was spent, Hot Shots! Part Deux was unleashed on the world in 1993. The public responded and it raked in $133 million worldwide. While not earning as much as the first installment, Part Deux was a tremendous return on investment for 20th Century Fox. But cold hard cash isn’t the only indicator of a successful comedy; was the film funny?
Anything Done Better than the Original?
“Thank you, Topper. I can kill again! You’ve given me a reason to live.”
I think taking a loving poke at the wider scope of action films with Part Deux was a great choice. The 1980s through the mid-1990s were a halcyon time for testosterone filled films blessed with a tremendous volume of gratuitous explosions. What a magnificent time to be alive! (Well, unless you had to face Chuck Norris that is! Hah, suck it, terrorists!) I could watch bad guys get mowed down left and right by a heavily armed, one-man army all day long. And Part Deux gleefully embraces the genre with its own muscular hero, blasting away with reckless abandon.
To that end, Richard Crenna, fresh off being the great Colonel Trautman in the Rambo films, essentially reprises his role in everything but name. He not only fit right into the proceedings like a glove, but Crenna also had a knack for comedy. He was a great addition to Part Deux.
Rowan Atkinson is a welcome sight even if his role is rather small. He didn’t need much to give a great impression and in two minutes, you knew his character. Atkinson is always a solid addition to any cast. And yes, he really was a wiener in the film.
Jerry Halvera made a cottage industry of playing Saddam Hussein in films for a time. His brief time at the end of Hot Shots! has been expanded to full main villain role here and Halvera is great. The real Butcher of Baghdad only wished he could be as charming and fun as Halvera. I only wish the real Saddam’s death involved dropping a piano on him.
And finally, the score by the late great action composer Basil Poledouris is simply fantastic. Poledouris has previously written scores to Conan the Barbarian, Conan the Destroyer, Red Dawn, RoboCop, Iron Eagle, and The Hunt for Red October. He certainly knew his way around a typical action film. Like the best of the parody scores, it is a serious score without hints of jokiness or wacky moments. You could use the score to Hot Shots! Part Deux in a serious action film without skipping a beat. Another fabulous score from Poledouris.
Anything as Good as the Original?
“I had to come. It was a sequel.”
Can we just take a moment to acknowledge how great Charlie Sheen is in the Hot Shots! movies? After more serious fare like Platoon and Wall Street, he was willing to just go for it without caring how he looks or sounds. Sheen was an atypical casting choice when these movies first came out, but he has shown solid comedy chops in the years since. Also, he went the extra mile or hundred to ensure he looked like the best of what’s left of the shirtless action hero. Charlie Sheen is an essential foundational piece for these films, a wonderful asset throughout.
The other foundational piece is the returning Lloyd Bridges. Bridges is an absolute delight in both films. I could make an argument that he’s even better here in Part Deux, but regardless, Lloyd Bridges is a treat. (I know that he was initially confused why he was cast in Airplane!, since he knew that he wasn’t a comedian. But the Zuckers and Abrahams knew that Bridges along with Robert Stack, Leslie Nielsen, and Peter Graves brought a gravitas that helped the jokes land better.) Also, Bridges isn’t mugging in a way that Leslie Nielsen was a bit guilty of doing as the Naked Guns progressed. Instead, Lloyd Bridges plays it as sheer blatant befuddlement, not caring if his character gets confused or not.
Anything Not-So-Good as the Original?
“We’ll settle this the old Navy way: the first guy to die, LOSES!”
If I had to nitpick anything, it would be a similar flaw that the first film has. Some of the jokes fall short with an audience that isn’t aware of the reference. Granted, I understand that this is only a flaw if the audience doesn’t have the cultural reference baggage packed to receive the joke with open arms. (Just because I wholeheartedly laugh because I know that Martin Sheen was not only in Apocalypse Now but also was in Wall Street with Charlie Sheen doesn’t mean current audiences would know any of those references. They might not even know who Martin Sheen is in the first place for that matter.) However, to counter my own point so I can argue with myself yet again, Abrahams and Proft keep Part Deux moving from one joke to the next. Even if a joke might land flat with someone unaware of whatever was somewhat relevant in, around, and by 1993, we don’t linger and keep on going to the next joke.
For instance, there’s a dialogue scene between Ramada and Michelle that takes place as they are also suddenly competing on an American Gladiators-type obstacle course. Do my children know what American Gladiators is? Nope. Yet they laughed just because of the sheer absurdity of the situation, enjoying the joke despite being completely in the dark about American Gladiators. (Speaking of which, have you heard of that show? How old are you anyway? Does your mom know you read this blog? Could you get her to subscribe too?) This is where Abrahams and Proft as well as the Zucker Brothers usually excel where other similar parody films fail: they don’t overburden their films with dated references. Of course, there are a few that snuck their way into the movie, but those are mostly the outliers.
Anything Far Worse than the Original?
“These men have taken a supreme vow of celibacy, like their fathers, and their fathers before them…”
Sheesh, I was pulling at straws before in the last section and still ended up complimenting Part Deux in the end. Now I got to find something even worse? Hmmmm… Uh, the end credits need more jokes. At least Hot Shots! had some delicious recipes wedged in-between the lists of stuntmen and gaffers. Yeah, so there!
Oh, and there wasn’t enough Bob Vila for me! I know it’s a great cameo, but I would have loved having Bob chastise Topper for not putting enough sweat equity into this rescue mission at some point.
Whew! And here you thought that I wouldn’t find anything far worse. Hah, take that!
Now let’s go see what Norm is up to in the kitchen. Remember there’ll be a lot of fasting going on, so the cabinets don’t have to be too large.“
Follow-up installments?
“I’m not saying I don’t trust you, and I’m not saying I do. But I don’t.”
Part Deux was the last of the Hot Shots! series, which I’m fine with. I would rather have this end on a very high note, than something that ends up being tired and underwhelming. If only Naked Gun had taken a hint and stopped after the second installment of that series.
that any movie could ever give in the history of ever.
And Finally:
“War… it’s fantastic!”
So yes, I do love Part Deux more than the first film. I feel the same way about Naked Gun 2½ compared to the original entry. I wish I could explain it in a way that dives deeper than just my saying, “I find it funnier.” And yet, when you explain comedy, the odds are that any explanation kills comedy. I can’t explain why I think that John Belushi simply pouring a jar of mustard onto his toga-clad chest in Animal House is funny. If I did try to thoroughly examine and investigate why I find it funny, it would ultimately be fruitless.
A sense of humor is very personal, involving your mindset, your background, your wiring. Someone might agree with my thoughts on it, some might disagree, some might think we’re all full of it and go off and whine about how there is no happiness in life while there are social injustices going on every nanosecond on the Earth. (Those humorless folks are a miserable, joy sucking lot indeed. Often, if not always, they will unconscionably side with Dean Wormer and the bastard Omegas when watching Animal House.)
Jim Abrahams was responsible for some of the most fun I’ve ever had while watching a movie. When Abrahams passed away in late 2024, I was rather sad. Here was a fellow Wisconsinite who became a comedy legend together with the Zucker Brothers. I mean, he was the A in ZAZ. When he struck out on his own as a director, his films remained entertaining. Then he came back to his genre roots and with Pat Proft gave us the Hot Shots! films. And now, over thirty years after both movies came out, my children can laugh at the same films as I did, having a terrifically entertaining experience. For that cross generational opportunity alone, I thank you, Jim Abrahams. Rest in Peace. And here are some carefully paraphrased words from Admiral Tug Benson that I lovingly put in your memory:
Yes, Jim Abrahams is dead. So is Mo Green, Tattaglia, Barzini, the heads of all the five families. It is at moments like these, my dear friends, that we must ask ourselves: “How can this not be part of some larger plan?” Do good men like Jim Abrahams just blink out one day like a bad bulb? I mean, one minute you’re in bed with a knockout gal… or guy, and the next, you’re a compost heap. Doesn’t that bother any of you? Because it scares the living piss outta me!
President Tug Benson: “Here’s the target area.”
Gerou: “That’s Minnesota, sir.”
President Tug Benson: “Damn it, man, that’s the genius of my plan. Why go over there to fight? We can do it right here at home and get in some good fishing while we’re at it.”
Gerou: “Sir, the enemy is over there.”
President Tug Benson: “Then we’ll fly them over here. Their families too. We’ll teach them to skate… Do I have to think of everything?”
A Full Rich Blather 
Yet another excellent post. This movie’s a treasure more need to experience!
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