This is the city. And it's in big trouble, Mister. There is a scheme underway that threatens to undermine the fragile fabric of personal freedom and individual well-being that this teeming metropolis has always typified.
Combating this insidious inversion layer of corruption are the dedicated defenders of justice from the Los Angeles Police Department. And two of the finest of L.A.'s Finest are about to begin finding out the facts of this potentially calamitous caper.
Just the facts, Ma'am.It's deadly business--but it's not too serious--with Dan Aykroyd and Tom Hanks as his hip partner Pep Streebek in Universal Pictures' action-comedy "Dragnet," also starring Christopher Plummer, Harry Morgan and Dabney Coleman.
Tom Mankiewicz, whose screenwriting credits include the James Bond thrillers "Live and Let Die," and "Diamonds are Forever" along with "Superman," "Superman II" and the epic "Ladyhawke," makes his feature film directional debut from a screenplay by Dan Aykroyd, Alan Zwiebel and Tom Mankiewicz. The producers are Robert K. Weiss ("The Blues Brothers") and David Permut ("Blind Date"). Bernie Brillstein ("Ghostbusters") is executive producer.
"Our film is a comedic homage to one of the truly classic television shows," explains Mankiewicz. "With the utmost reverence toward our source material we've created some new characters and a plot of much grander scale than anything the TV show could ever have attempted."
Aykroyd, whose former starring vehicles include the box office smashes "Ghostbusters" and "Trading Places," most recently teamed with Chevy Chase in the comedy "Spies Like Us." The actor fulfills a longtime fantasy by starring as the nephew of the no-nonsense police detective made famous by the late Jack Webb.
"I've had a fascination with Joe Friday since I was a kid," says Aykroyd. "Next to Clouseau, he's the most famous cop in the world. I've studied his speech inflections, his mannerisms, his walk. During filming, I'd listen to tapes of the old shows. I even started dreaming in character. If there was ever a character I'd always wanted to play, it was this one."
Hanks, who most recently starred opposite Jackie Gleason in "Nothing in Common" and previously scored in the comedy hits "Splash" and "The Money Pit," plays the straight-laced sergeant's streetwise partner Pep Streebek.
"I read the script and found myself laughing out loud, states Hanks. "I loved the idea of working with Dan and I liked the character of Streebek. "He's loose, quick, a little unconventional; the perfect balance to Friday."
Starring with Aykroyd and Hanks are veteran actors Christopher Plummer as the ambitious Reverend Whirley and Dabney Colemen as soft core porn king Jerry Caesar. Alexandra Paul stars as the chaste, charming Connie Swail who falls for Friday. Rounding out the starring cast, Harry Morgan reprises his role as Bill Gannon, Joe Friday's partner in the 1960s' television program, whose years of service have now earned him the rank of captain. Co-starring are Elizabeth Ashley as the austere police commissioner Jane Kirkpatrick, and Jack O'Halloran as the pagan henchman Emil Muzz.
The character of Joe Friday was first introduced on the NBC radio program "Dragnet" in 1949. As conceived by the late Jack Webb, the show was based on real police cases and procedures. This brought an innovative contrast to the caricature cops who were then dominating the airwaves. The entertainment world's most recognizable four-note theme (Dum-de-dum-dum) heralded the series' television debut on January 3, 1952 after a special preview airing on "Chesterfield Sound Off Time" on December 16, 1951. It ran for seven-and-a-half years, then left the air to return in January of 1967 before stamping its final Mark VII trademark in September 1970.
Two feature lenght, dramatic films based on the series were produced--one released theatrically in 1954, the other made for TV in 1969. The show also inspired two hit records in 1953, Ray Anthony's recording of Walter Schumann's theme and Stan Freeberg's comedic takeoff "St. George and the Dragonet" which sold over a million copies.
"That series set the tone for all realistic police shows that followed," says Aykroyd. "All of those shows took their inspiration from, 'This is the city. Los Angeles, California. Four thousand square miles of modern humanity.' That introduction established an attitude that helped reshape television programming.
"I believe good comedy should have a base in realism. I think that's why the 'Dragnet' show lends itself so well to a comedic interpretation. It also had a very recognizable style. So, we've got more here than simply my doing the character of Joe Friday. Zwiebel, Mankiewicz and I are using Jack Webb's writing style and the deliberate pacing of that show. I'm a tremendous fan of Webb's. I basically just loved everything he did."
As much of a Webb afficionado as Aykroyd was, he never actively pursued the prospect of making a feature film based on his favorite boyhood police drama.
"'Dragnet' was something I'd always wanted to do but I never thought the opportunity would come up because I didn't know who owned the rights to the idea," he recalls. "When Universal called and said they were interested in doing it, I think I made a deal to write the script the next week."
One of the producers, David Permut, first approached the studio with an idea to make a feature comedy based on the characters from the popular TV series.
"When I thought of Dan Aykroyd playing Joe Friday it just seemed perfect," states Permut. "This very stylized dramatic show suddenly seemed like the kind of thing that would ideally lend itself to comedy. I talked to Dan and (executive producer) Bernie Brillstein and they were enthused. Dan wrote the first draft of the script and then Alan Zweibel and Tom Mankiewicz added elements of their own.
" What we needed at that point was a partner for Friday. The chemistry between Friday and his partner is what made 'Dragnet' work in its earlier form. The chemistry between Aykroyd and Hanks is what makes this picture work."
Coming off the critical success of his teaming with Gleason in "Nothing in Common," Hanks was delighted by the prospect of joining forces with Aykroyd.
"I've always been very lucky in being matched up with first-rate actors througout my career," states Hanks. "Dan and I met each other and instantly knew we were going to have a blast making this movie. Also, it was nice working again with someone from Second City. I'd worked with Jim Belushi and John Candy and I've always felt very comfortable around the folks from that group."
Collaboration and teamwork were key to what went on behind the scenes too:
Producer Robert K. Weiss provided the next vital link in this creative assemblage. Having previously worked with Aykroyd as producerof "The Blues Brothers"--and only shortly after finishing directing a number of segments of the upcoming comedy feature "Amazon Women on the Moon"--Weiss was brought in to put the remaining pieces of the production puzzle together and guide it through to completion.
"Danny worked very hard to put the script together with Alan (Zweibel)," notes Weiss. "The final piece was added to the puzzle when Tom Mankiewicz came it. He crystallized the story in its approved from and contributed many ideas as a director. With a script, schedule and budget we were off and running in a cloud of dust.
"We really couldn't have done it without Mank," Aykroyd agrees. "We couldn't find another director who had a better understanding of what we were trying to do. Yes, it's a comedy but we want it to be true to the old 'Dragnets' and we want people to walk out of the theatre feeling, 'Well, even though Friday's a block of ice, no doubt he's going to go out and vote the straight Republican ticke, he's really an o.k. guy.'"
For Mankiewicz, a long distinguished career of writing for motion pictures--as well as writing and directing television--takes on a new dimension with his direction of "Dragnet."
"The script is largely Mr. Aykroyd's," Mankiewicz states. "But it involved working in collaboration. For me, the utter joy in the process of making this picture has been that whenever Dan is in front of the camera--which is most of the time--and whenver I'm directing--which is every day--we have two of the three writers on the set. So you never have that awful feeling that the filmmakers are compromising a scene you've painstakingly constructed."
Despite the fortunate fact that the screenplay was consistent with the visions of its director and star, the action-packed comedy was not an easy one to film.
"The script called for a good deal of night shooting, a lot of physical action and some tongue-twisting dialogue that Dan had to deliver in that stacatto style of Jack Webb's," notes Mankiewicz. "He and I were constantly saying that if we could get our hands on the writers, we'd strangle them."
Hanks' contribution to the collective effort was in fleshing out the part of Friday's partner, the irrepressible Pep Streebek. Hanks gave Pep a multi-textured personal history.
"In 'Dragnet,' audiences will be seeing two of the world's most famous fictional cops, Joe Friday and his partner," comments Hanks. "But who was his partner anyway? "You gotta have some kinda spin going in. Sometimes there's a little more written out about the guy but in this case there wasn't. So, between talking with Dan and making up a bunch of stuff myself, we managed to put this guy together.
"I always figured he was in the air force or something and he came really close to being thrown out. Now he's in the police department and he's really close to being thrown out. He's someone who likes being a cop but he's easily bored by what he perceives as the trivialities of the job: filling out forms, following proper procedure. The sort of things that Friday thrives on."
The contrasting styles of Friday and his partner are a major source of the comedy in "Dragnet." While Aykroyd's Friday is the same by-the-book police detective portrayed by Jack Webbb in the TV series, Streebek is a drastic deviation from Webb's partners.
"He's a great guy, a good cop," explains Hanks. "He likes police work when it's like a TV show, you know, with guns blazing and tires squeling. He's just not a Joe Friday kind of cop. Friday is Americana. It was very appropriate that when Jack Webb passed away they gave him a full page obituary in Rolling Stone Magazine because, really, for two generations of Americans he was the embodiment of fair play and honesty and playing by the rules. The incorruptible cop."
The filmmakers have striven to maintain that integrity within the movie's comedy format.
"We've maintained the framework of working policemen going through investigative procedures," says Weiss in comparing the big and small screen depictions. "In that sense we're faithful to the original. Dan is playing Joe Friday's nephew; not the same guy. However, they do share attitudes, haircuts and suits.
"There are notable differences in Friday's partner. The character Hanks plays is a pretty wild individual. He's been transferred out of vice for practicing somewhat exotic polic techniques. He also has a major problem with authority and rebels against the establishment.
"So we take him and put him with a straight-arrow guy like Friday and that's where we have some fun. These two try to get along and during the course of the film they not only become buddies but actually start taking on some of each other's characteristics."
Another relationship that the movie explores is the previously unchartered territory of Joe Friday's private life.
"In the TV shows, you never knew where this guy lived or what he went home to," explains Aykroyd. "I always got the feeling he was looking for the perfect girl. So we decided to exploit that and have him fall in love. I think it's funny and also rather touching to see this block of ice just melt in the presence of this girl who is simply everything he's always been saving himself for."
That charming young lady for whom Friday falls is an innocent beauty named Connie Swail, portrayed by Alexandra Paul.
"Connie is a virgin from Orange County," states the Colorado-born actress who had never been to that well known bation of Southern California conservatism before visiting to research the part. "She's the kind of girl who..well, for a summer job, she would have played Snow White at Disneyland. She's got a fiery sense of justice and truly believes that good always triumphs over evil. She also dutifully cleans up her room every day."
Friday meets this chaste maiden when he and Streebek are required to rescue her from the clutches of a maniacal band of hedonistic zealots who call themselves P.A.G.A.Ns (People Against Goodness and Normalcy). Our heroes suspect this outlaw organization of criminal intent the dimensions of which the city has never before seen.
The scope of the conspiracy they appear to have uncovered is tough to prove. But their courageous boss believes in them enough to support their invetigation for as long as it is in his power to do so. His name is Captain Bill Gannon. "Dragnet TV fans may remember Gannon when he was a detective sergeant, pounding the city pavement with Uncle Joe Friday. Then, as today, he is portrayed by Harry Morgan.
"Doing this picture feels like completing a cycle in my life," admits Morgan. "I think even Jack (Webb) might have enjoyed this. He had a great sense of humor. And it's certainly respectful to the character he created.
"I first heard from my agent that they were doing this movie takeoff on the show and wanted me to play my old role of Gannon. I was pleased they had elevated me to captain. I would have felt a little foolish back on the streets after all these years. When he said Dan Aykroyd, Tom Hanks and Tom Mankiewicz I said 'yes' without even reading the script."
Matching wits and wiles with the L.A.P.D. are three of the acting profession's most respected veterns playing three of L.A.'s most powerful citizens: Christoper Plummer as Reverend Jonathon Whirley, Dabney Coleman as soft porn king Jerry Caesar, and Elizabeth Ashley as Police Commissioner Jane Kirkpatrick.
"We were incredibly fortunate in the casting of this picture that everyone we got for each of the major parts was our first choice," says Mankiewicz. "With Chrisopher Plummer, Dabney and Elizabeth, my job becomes simply one of fine tuning because each one comes to the set with a very specific idea of what he or she will be doing in the scene.
"Our villains have the same wonderful chemistry as Dan and Tom immediately had. Christopher is a tremendous classical actor playing our version of a popular evangelical leader with a smooth, eloquent style. Dabney came over to my house on Saturday before we started shooting and revealed to me a cultured southern accent with a slight sibilance that made me fall off the couch.
Elizabeth, whom I've been friends with for many years, plays the commissioner with a contained rage that is absolutely required in the part. We designed her wardrobe to be angular, hard edged, like the character. She's such a talented actress, she can take this totally disagreeable character and add just enough pathos so that when you need the audience to feel some sympathy for her there's something there for them to sympathize with. Each one of these actors contributed something to their role and were almost always able to bring it in at exactly the right tone."
Shooting almost entirely on and around the streets of Los Angeles--where the TV series was also set--the cast and crew had a sampling of the best and worst of what the city had to offer for locations. Filmmaking took place on sunny Venice beach and then shifted to nights in the seedy section of downtown south of 1st street. Cameras rolled in front of the gates to the exclusinve Bel Air residential section and then segued to a barrio in the norther San Fernando Valley. Scenes were shot inside Pasadena's posh new Brown Derby Restaurant and outside in below freezing winds in the Mojave Desert.
One of the more unusual filming sites was Fort McArthur in San Pedro, a World War II artillery emplacement that was partially excavated and restored for the film.
"We've done our research and taken great pains to recreate and revitalize the form that Jack Webb created on television," concludes Aykroyd. "The essence of the film is consistant with what he believed in, the speeches are speeches he could have written himself and the delivery is the way he would have done it.
"It's all in the spirit of affection for a piece of American pop culture that my generation grew up on that's also had a significant impact on kids of today. I hope people who recognize the old show will get a laugh from the recognition. And I think those who are too young to remember will quickly discover the humor and pathos in these characters and, hopefully leave the theatre wanting to see some of those old programs. Then maybe they'll come back and find a whole other level of things to laugh about."
"Just smile down on us Jack," adds Hanks. "'Cause it's in the spirit of love and good fun. We're giving them the facts, Jack. Just the facts."