A gloriously tacky spoof
LAST time World promised us the achingly funny comedy The Naked Gun, they turned out to be firing blanks. It was replaced at the last minute with sleep-inducing Batteries Not Included (generally known in maker Steven Spielberg's camp as An ET Too Far).
This time, World's aim is true and the gloriously tacky spoof of any number of detective thrillers is on tonight brimming with some of the corniest gags, the hoariest old cliches and the silliest one-liners ever to hit the big screen.
The Naked Gun (World, 9.30pm, Original Running Time, 85 mins) is a product of the David and Jerry Zucker and Jim Abrahams team that gave us Airplane as well as the Police Squad series on which the film is based.
Leslie Nielsen plays tactless, stupid Lieutenant Frank Drebin, a cop who makes Inspector Clouseau look sophisticated, and Priscilla Presley is a perfect Barbie doll-style suspect/lover.
THE alternative is James Bond - Roger Moore in this case, making his 007 debut - and given the popularity in Hongkong of Jane Seymour, Live and Let Die (Pearl, 9.45pm, ORT 121 mins) should attract its share of viewers.
The film itself offers little that is memorable. There are plenty of villains (most of them black this time), chases and destruction on a large scale, but it's all too long. THE weekend's sport comprises cricket and soccer. There's live coverage of the fifth one-day cricket international (Prime Sports, 9.30pm) between West Indies and Pakistan being played in Guyana.
Charlie Charters introduces FA Cup Special Selection (World, 5.30pm) to whet appetites for tomorrow's live broadcast of the semi-final between Arsenal and Spurs (programme starts World, 8.30pm).
A recording of the other semi-final, being played today at Wembley between Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday will be shown in the same Sunday programme and is on live tonight, on ATV Home channel only, at 7.50.
BACK to the films, and Charlie Chaplin's 1925 classic Gold Rush (STAR Plus, 2.30pm) is a must-see.
This is the Little Tramp versus the Yukon and contains those Chaplin unforgettables: eating the shoe; the dance of the bread rolls; and the cabin teetering over the cliff.
THE other oldie, Women Without Men (Pearl, 10.40am, ORT 87 mins) doesn't hold quite the same interest, but the film could be interesting for appearances by British acting stalwarts Thora Hird, Gordon Jackson and Stratford Johns in a ''spear-carrying'' part.
THE children do get a look-in this holiday weekend with The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship (Pearl, 2pm), a classic Russian folk-tale recreated in award-winning puppet form.
And later there's Beauty and the Beast (Pearl, 7.35pm, ORT 94 mins), not Disney's Oscar-nominated version, but a film feature. It's set to appeals to youngsters, but adults be warned it's pretty soppy.
