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 26, 1987
Running time 106 min.
Country United States
Language English
Budget Unknown
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Dragnet is a 1987 film starring Dan Aykroyd, Tom Hanks, Christopher Plummer, Dabney Coleman, Harry Morgan, and Alexandra Paul, directed by Tom Mankiewicz. The screenplay is written by Dan Aykroyd, Alan Zweibel, and Tom Mankiewicz. The original music score was composed by Ira Newborn. The film was marketed with the tagline "'Just the Facts.'"

Contents

[edit] Overview

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 televangelist 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 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 is performed with bassist/ vocalist Glenn Hughes and guitarist Pat Thrall. The track is played over the film's closing credits. The best selling single, also had a music video shot for the track, which was played in heavy rotation on MTV in the summer of 1987.

[edit] Plot summary

Sgt. Joe Friday's nephew is involuntarily assigned to a smart-alecky, street-wise partner, Pep Streebeck, and they are charged to investigate a series of religious cult crimes in Los Angeles. The two cops follow the trail to a phony televangelist, the Reverend Jonathan Whirley. From there, they are only a step away from uncovering an Orange County-based religious cult calling itself P.A.G.A.N. (People Against Goodness And Normalcy). After sneaking into a secret ceremony, Friday falls in love with the sacrificial virgin Connie Swail. So much so that even his superior Captain Bill Gannon orders him off the case, but Friday continues on.

[edit] Main cast

Actor Role
Dan Aykroyd Sgt. Joe Friday
Tom Hanks Det. Pep Streebeck
Christopher Plummer Reverend Jonathan Whirley
Harry Morgan Captain Bill Gannon
Alexandra Paul The Virgin Connie Swail
Jack O'Halloran Emil Muzz
Elizabeth Ashley Jane Kirkpatrick
Dabney Coleman Jerry Caesar
Kathleen Freeman Enid Borden
Bruce Gray Mayor Parvin
Lenka Peterson Granny Mundy

[edit] Box Office

  • The film was a moderate success earning 57,387,000 dollars at the box office.


[edit] Trivia

  • Granny Mundy's house is the house that was used most famously for The Munsters.
  • Dragnet represents the most recent time (as of 2007) that Tom Hanks appeared in a leading role in a movie and did not receive top billing.

[edit] Memorable Quotes

  • Whirley (during pagan ritual): "A virgin! Pure and clean and white as snow! From Orange County, here we go!"
  • Joe Friday (narrating): "After losing the two previous vehicles we had been issued, the only car the department was willing to release to us at this point was an unmarked 1987 Yugo, a Yugoslavian import donated to the department as a test vehicle by the government of that country and reflecting the cutting edge of Serbo-Croatian technology."
  • Pep Streebeck (interrogating Emil Muzz) "Now it's just you...and me...and your balls...in this drawer." (slams shut the desk drawer.)

[edit] External links


Preceded by
The Witches of Eastwick		 Box office number-one films of 1987 (USA)
June 28, 1987 – July 12, 1987		 Succeeded by
Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise