Police Academy (1984)

Cocky parking lot attendant Carey Mahoney (Steve Guttenberg) joins the police force during a recruitment drive where admission standards are relaxed to the point of absurdity.

His alternative, after a career as a minor troublemaker, is a spell in jail.

Mahoney leads a group of oddballs, who probably shouldn’t even be allowed to watch cops on television, into police training, where they clash with authority but prove themselves in the end.

It’s hard to imagine that, back in 1984, anyone would have thought this would spawn six sequels as well as a cartoon series. Yet somehow it managed to strike a chord with audiences around the world and made a star (well, briefly anyway) out of Steve Guttenberg.

And, while the follow-ups became increasingly puerile as the series went on, the original film produced its fair share of belly laughs.

Carey Mahoney
Steve Guttenberg
Karen Thompson
Kim Cattrall
Lieutenant Harris
G W Bailey
Moses Hightower
Bubba Smith
Leslie Barbara
Donovan Scott
Commandant Lassard
George Gaynes
George Martin
Andrew Rubin
Tackleberry
David Graf
Sergeant Callahan
Leslie Easterbrook
Larvell Jones
Michael Winslow
Mrs Fackler
Debralee Scott
Doug Fackler
Bruce Mahler
Captain Reed
Ted Ross

Director
Hugh Wilson