Dragnet (1987 film)

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Dragnet

Dragnet movie poster
Directed by Tom Mankiewicz
Produced by Bernie Brillstein
David Permut
Robert K. Weiss
Written by Jack Webb
Dan Aykroyd
Alan Zweibel
Tom Mankiewicz
Starring Dan Aykroyd
Tom Hanks
Christopher Plummer
Harry Morgan
Alexandra Paul
and Dabney Coleman
Music by Ira Newborn
Cinematography Matthew F. Leonetti
Editing by William D. Gordeon
Richard Halsey
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date(s) June 27, 1987
Running time 106 min.
Country United States
Language English
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Dragnet is a 1987 film starring Dan Aykroyd, Tom Hanks, Christopher Plummer, Dabney Coleman, Harry Morgan, and Alexandra Paul. Acting as both a parody and homage to the long-running Dragnet television series, Aykroyd plays a very-accurate Joe Friday (nephew of the late Joe Friday from the series) while Hanks plays Pep Streebeck, his brand-new and very unconventional partner. Harry Morgan reprises his role of Bill Gannon (partner of Joe's late uncle), now their captain. Alexandra Paul plays The Virgin Connie Swail while Plummer plays the villain, a soft-spoken "priest" who manages to get under nephew Friday's skin. Coleman plays the publisher of a skin magazine called Bait; his character is a direct parody of Larry Flynt.

As did the original TV series, the movie begins with Sergeant Friday's voice-over narration about Los Angeles and (nearly) ends with a mug shot of the villain and a stern voice-over describing the sentencing.

The title credits featured an update to the series original theme by the British beatbox sample group Art of Noise. They set the Dragnet theme against a hip-hop style breakbeat with soundbites such as Friday's "Just the facts, ma'am" timed to the music.

The soundtrack is also notable for one of its original songs, "City of Crime." The track features a hip-hop style collaboration between Dan Aykroyd and Tom Hanks, and played over the film's closing credits. There was also a music video shot for the track, which was played in heavy rotation on MTV in the summer of 1987.

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