Police Academy (1984) on Netflix
Carey Mahoney avoids jail by enrolling at the police academy, where he plans to misbehave until he is expelled. Lieutenant Thaddeus Harris, who drills the recruits, wants him out.
- Netflix3.5/5
- IMDb6.7/10150,678 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes58%
Trailer
Plot summary
Short of officers, an unnamed city's mayor orders its police academy to admit every willing applicant, whatever their suitability. Hundreds apply. Carey Mahoney, arrested for another petty crime, is given a choice by Captain Reed, who knew his late father: complete the training course or go to jail. Mahoney intends to behave badly until he is thrown out, but Commandant Eric Lassard tells him he cannot leave before training ends. Chief Henry Hurst and Lieutenant Thaddeus Harris oppose the new policy and want the recruits gone. Fellow cadets include Karen Thompson, Moses Hightower, Larvell Jones, Eugene Tackleberry, Laverne Hooks, Douglas Fackler and Leslie Barbara.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Police Academy (1984)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Producer Paul Maslansky got the idea for the film after witnessing real, oddly unqualified police cadets being drilled by a frustrated sergeant in San Francisco while working on The Right Stuff; the sergeant explained the mayor had ordered the department to accept a broad spectrum of recruits and just wash out the unfit ones.
- Before Steve Guttenberg was cast as Carey Mahoney, the producers considered Michael Keaton, Tom Hanks and Judge Reinhold for the role, and Bruce Willis auditioned for the part as well.
- When director Hugh Wilson and producer Maslansky delivered their toned-down rewrite of the script, the Ladd Company rejected it and nearly shelved the project entirely; it was only greenlit again after dozens of original writers Neal Israel and Pat Proft's gags were put back in.
- The police academy in the film is actually the former Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital in Etobicoke, Ontario, now Humber College's Lakeshore campus, and the raunchy Blue Oyster Bar scenes were shot at Toronto's real Silver Dollar Room on Spadina Avenue.
