Frank Drebin

The character of Frank Drebin was first introduced in the six episodes that were aired of the 1982 Police Squad! series on ABC, starting with the episode "A Substantial Gift (The Broken Promise)." Drebin is a police sergeant with the rank of detective lieutenant and is a member of the Police Squad task force. The show was cancelled after four episodes, though two more were broadcast later.{{cite web | title=A Lost Script from the Files of the 'Police Squad!' | url=https://www.vulture.com/2017/07/a-lost-script-from-the-files-of-the-police-squad.html | author=Ramsey Ess | date=July 28, 2017 | access-date=June 21, 2020 | publisher=Vulture | website=vulture.com}}{{cite AV media | title=Police Squad! | people=Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker (producers) | format=DVD | url=https://www.amazon.com/Police-Squad-Complete-Leslie-Nielsen/dp/B000H7JCFK | date=November 7, 2006 | asin=B000H7JCFK}}

• The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)
• The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (1991)
• Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994)

Leslie Nielsen, playing the role, featured in 1990 TV adverts for the English cider producer Taunton Cider Company's Red Rock Cider brand.{{cite web | title=Leslie Nielsen, and the adverts that (sort of) let him become Frank Drebin again | url=https://www.filmstories.co.uk/features/leslie-nielsen-and-the-advertising-campaign-that-sort-of-let-him-become-frank-drebin-again/ | publisher=Film Stories | website=filmstories.co.uk | date=April 3, 2020 | access-date=June 18, 2020 | author=Simon Brew}}

Leslie Nielsen had mostly serious roles until the movie Airplane! (1980). Director David Zucker preserved this by having Nielsen play the straight man. Zucker based his character on Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood, while scriptwriter Pat Proft wrote all of Drebin's lines with nothing being improvised.{{cite web | title=Director David Zucker reflects on The Naked Gun at 30 | url=https://lwlies.com/articles/david-zucker-the-naked-gun-interview-frank-drebin/ | website=Little White Lies | author=Simon Bland | date=December 2, 2018 | access-date=February 29, 2020}} The character's surname Drebin was picked randomly by Zucker from a phonebook.{{cite video|people=Zucker, Jerry; Abrahams, Jim; Zucker, David; Weiss, Robert K.|title=Police Squad: The Complete Series: Audio Commentary for "A Substantial Gift (A Bird in the hand)"|medium=DVD|publisher=CBS Paramount}} Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker felt that Leslie Nielsen would be perfect for the role, as he had previously acted in many of the types of serious roles that the trio were parodying.{{cite news|title=Badge of Humor – Short-Lived 1982 Series that Spoofed Cop Shows Comes with some Great Extras|date=November 10, 2006|author=Werts, Diane|page=11|work=Lexington Herald-Leader}}

{{Tone|date=June 2023|section}}

Frank Drebin has been described as a "detective with a heart of gold and a brain of wood" and as "an anachronism, a detective who's unaware of how out of time (and out of his depth) he really is."{{cite web | title=The Timeless Buffoonery of The Naked Gun | url=https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/the-naked-guns-timeless-buffoonery/ | publisher=Den of Geek | website=denofgeek.com | author=Ryan Lambie | date=December 2, 2019 | access-date=June 18, 2020}} Frank Drebin is a member of the Police Squad, a special department of the police force, where he served for many years. In the original TV series, he is a competent police officer who plays the straight man in the unique comedy going on around him. He is transformed into a more comical character in the subsequent films. He is renowned for his inept nature, which results in numerous issues, frequently more than he resolves, despite his complete ignorance of them. He consistently demonstrates respect for his associates and those he assists in the television series, despite occasionally inadvertently causing them some distress. In the film, unlike people such as his friend under whom he works, Captain Ed Hocken (Alan North/George Kennedy), he is a very indiscreetly and unsympathetically outspoken man, therefore tending to appear cold and insensitive towards people, and cynical. He just as well lacks having pity and compassion towards struggling individuals when they need it. Also having any of it when conversing with officials who confront him about his mistakes. All of this may be due to the news Frank receives from Ed in the first film: His dedication to police work has caused his wife to leave him for an Olympic gymnast, and she is now having "the best sex she's ever had."{{cite web | title=The Naked Gun Script - Dialogue Transcript | url=http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/n/naked-gun-script-transcript-leslie.html | website=Script-O-Rama | access-date=February 29, 2020}} While he works under Ed, in the Police Squad, he works with Norberg (Peter Lupus). In the Naked Gun series, he works with Nordberg (O. J. Simpson). Drebin has held the ranks of Sergeant and Lieutenant Detective.

In 2008, Drebin was selected by Empire magazine as number 55 on The 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time,{{cite web | title=The 100 Greatest Movie Characters [2008] | url=http://www.empireonline.com/100-greatest-movie-characters/default.asp?c=55 | date=October 2008 | access-date=February 29, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151012185954/https://www.empireonline.com/100-greatest-movie-characters/default.asp?c=55 | archive-date=October 12, 2015 | url-status=dead | website=Empire | publisher=Bauer Media Group | location=London, England}} as well as 74 on their newer 2019 list.{{cite web | title=The 100 Greatest Movie Characters [2019]| url=https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/100-greatest-movie-characters/ | date=July 31, 2019 | access-date=February 29, 2020 | website=Empire}} In 2000, TV Guide named him to its list of the 25 greatest TV detectives, ranking him #23.{{cite book|title=TV Guide Book of List|date=2007|publisher=Running Press|isbn=978-0-7624-3007-9|pages=[https://archive.org/details/tvguidebookoflis0000unse/page/219 219]|url=https://archive.org/details/tvguidebookoflis0000unse/page/219}} He was also named by UGO.com as one of The 100 Best Heroes of All Time.{{cite web|url=http://www.ugo.com/games/best-heroes-of-all-time.html |title=UGO's 100 Best Heroes of All Time|website=UGO.com |date=January 21, 2010 |access-date=May 21, 2010}} Ryan Lambie on Den of Geek argues that, "Nielsen's performance is so perfect because he plays the role of the clumsy, clueless detective almost entirely straight; the situations in which Drebin finds himself may be absurd, but the character at the center of them is entirely serious" and that with his deadpan portrayal, Nielsen's character could very well have been taken straight out of one of the more serious 1960s or 1970s television series.

{{Reflist|40em}}

• {{IMDb title|id=0083466|title=Police Squad!}}
• {{IMDb title|id=0095705|title=The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!}}
• {{IMDb title|id=0102510|title=The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear}}
• {{IMDb title|id=0110622|title=The Naked Gun {{frac|33|1|3}}: The Final Insult}}

{{The Naked Gun}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drebin, Frank}}

Category:The Naked Gun

Category:Comedy film characters

Category:Comedy television characters

Category:Fictional American police detectives

Category:Fictional police lieutenants

Category:Fictional police sergeants

Category:Television characters introduced in 1982