Dragnet (1987)
As with so many movies that would be written and starring SNL alums, Dragnet is a case of an amusing sketch comedy idea dragged out beyond its ability to truly entertain in a feature film. It’s an updating of the earnest-in-tone television show from the 1950s (also a radio show before that), starring Jack Webb, which dramatized how real police cases came together. That long-running show proved to be so popular in its time that they also made a theatrical film for their audience after just two seasons of its 1950s run, also called Dragnet. The 1954 film, directed by Jack Webb himself, would become the very first movie based on a TV show. Webb would also return as a star and director in his iconic role for the made-for-TV movie, “Dragnet 1966” (a pilot for the series which didn’t air on television until 1969), which led to him returning to series work for a second television run as Sgt. Joe Friday from 1967 to 1970.
The origin of this parody of the show came from the mind of producer David Permut in the early 1980s after he caught a rerun of the original TV show from the 1950s and fell in love with it. The premise involved how Joe Friday might operate in the world of today. Dan Aykroyd was the actor he had in mind for the Joe Friday character from the get-go based on a parody of the Jack Webb character he had seen Akyroyd do in a send-up of “Dragnet” for a skit he did on “Saturday Night Live” in 1976 (Season 2, Episode 3, with Eric Idle hosting). Permut pitched the idea to Univeral Pictures, who owned the rights to the show, by just singing the first four notes of the iconic theme song, “DUM-de-DUM-DUM”, and they gave the project a green light without needing much more. Permut contacted Aykroyd and he loved the concept, and he got to work on a preliminary script to be used for the film while absorbing himself into as many reruns of the old show as he could (Aykroyd estimates he watched 100 episodes covering both runs). As with most of Aykroyd’s solo scripts, it was over 300 pages and would need three times the length of a standard movie to shoot, so he knew he would need to weed out what wasn’t necessary. Aykroyd immediately went to work on a tighter revision, this time bringing in a writing partner from his days on “SNL”, Alan Zweibel. Zweibel would describe the collaborative process a unique one because Aykroyd spent much of his time as they wrote their drafts of the script in the character of Joe Friday.
Frank Price, chair of the MCA Motion Picture Group that owned Universal Pictures, thought Aykroyd and Zweibel’s script needed work, bringing in script doctor Tom Mankiewicz to fix the perceptible problems. He coordinated with Aykroyd and Zweibel to come up with new ideas and get rid of dead ends, working so well with them to patch things up that he was offered the role of director after the originally slated director, Ted Kotcheff, did not like their script. Mankiewicz had just signed a development deal with Universal that allowed him to write and direct his own films. Price offered Mankiewicz the chance to make revisions to Dragnet which the screenwriter felt did need more connective tissue, but it was already quite funny. He just didn’t want to go right back to script doctoring. Aykroyd sat down with him and told him he could get him out of it, but after they talked and reminisced about their experiences watching the show, they realize they were on the same page and Mankiewicz decided to give it a go. Although one would gather the title of the film would be a no-brainer, the film had originally been slated to be called Dragnet ’87 and then Dragnet 1987 before it was shortened to the much better title not long before it was released.
Dragnet would mark Mankiewicz’s first time directing a feature film, though he did have some experience earlier in his career directing thirteen episodes of the TV show, “Hart to Hart”, including its pilot. Mankiewicz knew that a direct translation of the old show would not fly for modern audiences, who would likely have laughed at it, where Friday’s staccato delivery and stodgy demeanor might seem woefully out of place. He decided that comedy was the best approach was to embrace it as a comedy, so that audiences would be laughing along with it rather than at it.
The first order of business in casting would be in who would play Friday’s stereotypically 1980s era loose cannon partner, Pep Streebeck. John Candy was originally sought as of 1985, but things didn’t pan out schedule-wise, moving on to Aykroyd’s choice of Jim Belushi in 1986, which also didn’t work out. Albert Brooks, who Aykroyd enjoyed working with for their parts in Twilight Zone: The Movie, turned it down because he was not interested in it. Eventually, Tom Hanks was offered and accepted the role, despite not being very familiar with the TV show, because he felt the script was funny, he thought it would be fun to play a cop in an action flick, and he liked the people involved, despite already being a lead performer by this point in his career. He had felt drained by the experience of doing dramatic work in Nothing in Common and the little-seen Every Time We Say Goodbye and thought Dragnet would provide a breather, especially since most of the success of the film wouldn’t rest solely on his shoulders. It would also provide a good chance to be back into a financially lucrative film, as he had been on a slide since his breakthrough in Splash three years prior.
Although playing Sgt. Joe Friday’s nephew, Dan Aykroyd is doing a spot-on stoic caricature of Jack Webb throughout this modern take. He even provides the voice-over narration akin to the old radio and TV shows, though Hanks notably does a riff on this by narrating a sequence later in the film when Friday is kicked off of the force. The entire premise is carried only by the comic performance of Aykroyd, and a colorful supporting cast. Aykroyd was a huge fan of the TV show and Jack Webb’s portrayal, listening to cassette tapes on his Walkman of the old radio show while on the set to keep the inflections and delivery fresh in his mind at all times, while also taking lessons on how Webb walked from Marco Lopez, who doubled for Webb on the 1960s version of the TV show.
In addition to his love of Webb and “Dragnet”, Aykroyd also loves all things to do with cops and criminal justice, having studied criminology for four years at Carleton University in Ottawa prior to leaving college to pursue a comedy career. In fact, one of his proudest of hobbies is his collection of police badges from a host of different municipalities from Canada to Mexico. His fandom for cops even got him an honorary membership to the Long Beach Police Officers Association. Despite loving law enforcers, Aykroyd himself is not one to always faithfully obey laws (he would smoke copious amounts of pot long before it would be legal), but he is fascinated by police procedurals. In Tom Mankiewicz’s memoirs published posthumously in 2012 as, “My Life as a Mankiewicz: An Insider’s Journey Through Hollywood”, he reveals that “SNL” producer Lorne Michaels once quipped that, “Dan Aykroyd’s ultimate fantasy would be to commit the perfect crime and then arrest himself.”
It’s funny in spots, but not enough hold together the entire way, as the ridiculous plot and unappealing sitcom direction by Mankiewicz keep the film in the realm of bland at best and awful at worst. The movie isn’t so much a spoof of the old television show as it is a one-joke premise. How funny would it be if the Jack Webb character of the TV show were fighting crime in a modern-day cop film (a la Beverly Hills Cop and Lethal Weapon), with all of the smut, vice, and depravity that goes along with it?
Aykroyd isn’t playing Webb’s character, Joe Friday, in this film, but rather, his nephew, with the same name and personality. On the original show, Friday’s partner was very much on the same page. The screenwriters make a concerted effort to keep his partner grounded in the world of today because the key to the comedy is that Friday and his world view of a cop in the 1950s and 60s was unique. Finding another cop like him should be extremely rare, and having two partnered with each other would be too much for an audience to believe. Instead, he’s assigned a roguish new partner named Pep Streebeck (Hanks) with which to fight crime with, though he’s a modern breed of a cop, not respecting the rule of law that Sergeant Friday does to his core. Streebeck was the one we had to identify with in order for the comedy and banter to work, as he recognizes and comments on Friday’s out-of-date attitudes and behavior.
Their first case together sees them trying to crack a slew of recent murders in Los Angeles, ostensibly done by a mysterious cult known merely as P.A.G.A.N. (People Against Goodness and Normalcy) as the calling cards they leave behind at the scenes of their crimes suggest. Signs begin to point in the direction of a smarmy TV evangelist named Rev. Jonathan Whirley (Plummer) and a shady smut merchant named Jerry Caesar (Coleman). Friday and Streebeck rescue a sacrificial virgin, Connie Swail (Paul), at one of the P.A.G.A.N. gatherings, and for the first time in his life, Sgt. Friday has found someone wholesome enough to consider as his girlfriend, though he has now become too involved to think clearly — or play things by the book when the heart is involved.
Aykroyd delivers one of his best comic portrayals in Dragnet, which at first glance, seems like a superficial impression. However, he embodied Jack Webb so much in his performance that, according to others on the set, he could have literally been him all day and night without breaking character. Harry Morgan, who starred with Webb on the second “Dragnet” TV run, said that when he closed his eyes when Aykroyd was performing, he’d swear Jack Webb was there in the room with him again. The only difference is that Webb often performed from a teleprompter whereas Aykroyd riffed much of his dialogue because he felt a teleprompter would screw up his performance. Once you follow Joe Friday for a bit, you begin to appreciate the subtle ways that Aykroyd manages to get in laughs through such a deadpan delivery. Raising of an eyebrow, a lengthy stare — Aykroyd manages to convey something more inside Friday’s head than just an adherence to the law, and the result is some good chuckles along the way, mostly at his expense.
Tom Hanks plays a rare second fiddle role, offering a geniality and modernity to counter the antiquated demeanor of Friday. He’s gracious enough to let Aykroyd hog the spotlight, playing the setup man for Friday’s increasing digressions into silliness. He’s a little miscast, as Hanks has always seemed rather clean-cut himself as an actor. Even if our first impression of him is of a scuzzy slob, it’s not easy to buy him in the role, especially as he is cleaned up in appearance for the remainder of the movie.
Mankiewicz would have to film several takes because of his observances of the differences in approach between Aykroyd and Hanks. Aykroyd comes from the world of sketch comedy, so his first take is usually his best and most inspired, with subsequent takes not as lively or interesting going through the same motions. Hanks is a seasoned actor, so he gets better with more takes. Mankiewicz made a pact with them that he would do several takes for each scene to let Aykroyd riff in the early takes, while Hanks can nail down his reactions in subsequent ones. What worked best would be edited together in postproduction.
The best performance of the film other than Akyroyd’s comes from a lively and engaged one from Christopher Plummer playing the televangelist, which was a hot topic at the time with scandals involving the likes of Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart. Plummer studied televangelists for a couple of weeks prior to shooting his scenes and was struck in particular by Pat Robertson’s habit of smiling and giggling at his own jokes or internal thoughts as he spoke to his audience. He based his role on Robertson’s manner of delivery. Mankiewicz states that his only direction for someone of Plummer’s experience was to just tell him to turn up the level his performance up or down for certain scenes, and the rest was his to do. Same went with Dabney Coleman, who he didn’t have to direct at all. Unfortunately, this did lead to a rather lackluster Coleman performance, who adapted a comic lisp for the part that only adds to the semblance of comedy without actually making it funny. Coleman says he added the lisp to differentiate his Southern-accented delivery from the one he used in 1981’s Modern Problems. At least he comes off much better than cranked-up Jack O’Halloran as the highly exaggerated comic-book henchman, Emil Muzz.
Friday’s private life was never explored on the TV shows, but there is a concerted effort in this film to give his nephew a love interest. Many actresses were interested in the “Virgin Connie Swail” role, including Aykroyd’s wife, Donna Dixon. Mankiewicz nixed most of them because he wanted a fresh “virgin” face, ultimately going for former model Alexandra Paul after seeing her in a small role in American Flyers. Despite her inexperience, which he felt might be good for the role, Mankiewicz chose her. She found the experience of it initially intimidating, perhaps too much, as she wasn’t engaging with the rest of the cast or crew. Mankiewicz encouraged Aykroyd and Hanks to make an effort to make her feel welcome and included in their conversations and socializing, which they did. Soon she was feeling much more a part of the set and made a solid contribution to the film.
The film would come in over budget and behind schedule, which made Universal quite nervous, especially when they learned that the editing process might also go beyond schedule. One thing that Mankiewicz had to contend with was the sheer amount of footage he had captured for filming, spooling off about 30,000 feet of film to edit out about two-thirds of it. After the shoot, there came a slew of test screenings to see what worked and what didn’t. Mankiewicz asked for audiences to just watch the film without having opinion cards or studio reps there. However, the son of Universal Pictures’ president Sid Sheinberg did catch a sneak preview and declared the film a disaster that wasn’t playing enough as a comedy and ran far too long. Edits would have to be made and scenes reshot to lower the run time and to reduce scenes that came across as a tad too serious in tone.
Local police had been involved in security and to close off portions of the city for the shoot. The portrayal of the LAPD had then Los Angeles police chief Daryl Gates concerned about their image. He’d send some of his assistants to attend preview screenings to see how they came off. Luckily, those assistants said there was nothing to worry about because it is a comedy that plays up with affection rather than ridicule.
For the purpose of promoting safe sex in an era where the AIDS epidemic had been a spotlight in the media, an additional scene was shot and inserted into the film after principal filming had completed; Streebeck is contemplating sex with a fellow female LAPD offices, reaches into a box for a condom and disappointed to find he is out, thwarting his desire to go forward with his notions. Although most audiences today might not view this scene as anything special, at the time of release, it would be well-publicized that Dragnet was the first film to directly respond to the AIDS epidemic by promoting safe sex. Mankiewicz had been editing the film and had cut a couple of scenes out, needing another scene as a bridge. He and Hanks came up with the idea to further contrast the modern realities of sexual behavior at the time, contrasting Friday’s abstinence with Streebeck’s promiscuity, but also offering that Streebeck is ultimately a responsible person underneath the rock-and-roll lifestyle.
Dragnet is at its best when Joe Friday engages in straightlaced, by-the-book dialogue and exceedingly judgmental attitude, whether with his partner, questioning a witness, interrogating a suspect, or briefing his boss, Captain Gannon (played by Harry Morgan, who appeared playing Friday’s partner on the television show’s return in the 1960s). It loses most of its appeal when Friday is off of the screen, or when the film devolves into extended chase/action sequences that feel padded to please action fans. It adheres to a standard buddy cop formula, including a scene at a strip club that feels oddly out of place for the demographics of the film, and though it is comical, it’s not nearly as funny as you’d think it should be for long stretches at a time.
The soundtrack, starting with Art of Noise’s modernized electro-hip hop version of the “Dragnet” theme song, is terrible, as exemplified by the abominable rock-and-rap song performed by Aykroyd and Hanks over the end credits called, “City of Crime”, written by Peter Aykroyd, Dan’s brother. Aykroyd and Hanks came back for a couple of days to shoot a promotional music video for the song, choreographed by Paula Abdul, which is actually quite fun and can be found on YouTube here.
Although Siskel and Ebert would give it their blessing of “two thumbs up” (with Siskel boldly suggesting Aykroyd’s performance should get Oscar consideration), the film generally has received mixed reviews and audience reactions at the time of its release, Dragnet would prove to be a lucrative venture. It held the number-one spot at the box office in its first two weeks of release, besting the debuts of other silly comedies like Spaceballs and Innerspace. It racked up over $57 million in the United States and an additional $9 million internationally, placing it as the 13th highest-grossing films of 1987, off of an estimated budget of $20 million.
Universal wanted to make a sequel, but Hanks turned from a star to a superstar in 1988 after his performance in Big, making a return to the sidekick role of Streebeck practically out of the question. They again suggested John Candy play a new partner, but neither Aykroyd nor Mankiewicz were interested in writing a new script. Before they were famous, the Farrelly Brothers were commissioned to come up with a draft script, which Mankiewicz says didn’t quite work but does admit there were some funny bits in it.
Aykroyd fans will like this more than most, and perhaps those a little nostalgic for the old-time police drama. However, except for Aykroyd finding laughs at the ever-serious Joe Friday’s expense, the facts are that this is standard to substandard stuff in most other categories. As for me, while I don’t consider Dragnet to be a good film overall, it is a film I’ve returned to frequently for those elements I do like. I guess you could call this my one vice, the equivalent of chili dogs.
Qwipster’s rating: C+
MPAA Rated: PG-13 for brief nudity, violence, a drug reference, and language
Running time: 83 min.
Cast: Dan Aykroyd, Tom Hanks, Christopher Plummer, Harry Morgan, Dabney Coleman, Alexandra Paul, Jack O’Halloran, Elizabeth Ashley, Kathleen Freeman, Bruce Gray
Cameo: Shannon Tweed
Director: Tom Mankiewicz
Screenplay: Dan Aykroyd, Alan Zweibel, Tom Mankiewicz