Police Academy 3: Back In Training (1986)

A budget crisis has decreed that only one of the state’s two cop schools can survive, so the race is on to see which academy can avoid the axe by turning out the superior force.

Mahoney, Hightower, Tackleberry, Jones, Hooks and Callahan – led by eternally befuddled Commandant Lassard – mobilise in their alma mater’s defence.

The title sums up the plot, really, although predictably the lovable losers eventually save the day as rival police academies battle for survival. It’s an improvement of sorts on the first sequel, but by this stage, you were either a fan or holding the series up as a prime example of Hollywood puerility.

Director Jerry Paris, a former character actor who first stepped behind the camera on television’s The Dick Van Dyke Show, died shortly after the film’s release.

Sergeant Mahoney
Steve Guttenberg
Sergeant Hightower
Bubba Smith
Sergeant Tackleberry
David Graf
Sergeant Jones
Michael Winslow
Sergeant Hooks
Marion Ramsey
Lieutenant Callahan
Leslie Easterbrook
Commandant Mauser
Art Metrano
Cadet Sweetchuck
Tim Kazurinsky
Cadet Zed
Bobcat Goldthwait
Commandant Lassard
George Gaynes

Director
Jerry Paris