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Tug Benson (Lloyd Bridges), who has been elected president in the sequel. Saddam, a lisping cross-dresser on intimate terms with his Dustbuster, has already foiled three rescue attempts when Topper is recruited at the behest of Gen. No longer a top gun, Harley is newly bulked up and chest-hairless for a mission pitting him against Saddam and Hillary Rodham Hussein. Gags that make you gag.Ĭharlie Sheen is back as macho action icon Topper Harley.

In more than one instance, they are, of course, one and the same. Abrahams and co-writer Pat Proft aim their loglike lampoon at the 'going in to get the guys' genre, particularly the macho puffery of 'Rambo III.' There are also no less blatant sendups of scenes from 'Casablanca,' 'Apocalypse Now,' 'The Godfather, 'Star Wars' and 'Lady and the Tramp.'Ībrahams, who directed 'Airplane!' and 'The Naked Gun' with the Zucker brothers and Proft, the man behind the night shtick of the 'Police Academy' series, deliver a familiarly fast-paced barrage of jokes that range from side-splittingly sophomoric to nauseatingly lame. Bawdy, bratty and burp-riddled, it's a predictably idiotic follow-up.ĭirector Jim Abrahams, who took a swat at the flyboy genre in Part Un, turns less successfully to Saddam Hussein and Persian guff this time out.

In other words, it's got the smell of a summer blockbuster written all over it. A massive dose of saltpeter would take care of the rest. In addition to Penni, his wife of 47 years, Crenna is survived by a son, Richard, two daughters, Seana and Maria, and three granddaughters.Lots of what passes - or rather is passed - for humor in 'Hot Shots! Part Deux' could be cured with Rolaids.

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That show may not have lasted long, but Crenna bounced back with a resurgence in the '80s with a string of hit character parts: Lawrence Kasden's stylish film noir Body Heat (1981), as Kathleen Turner's ill-fated husband Ted Kotchoff's hit Rambo: First Blood (1982), as Colonel Samuel Trautman, Sylvester Stallone's former Commander Gary Marshall's excellent coming-of-age tale The Flamingo Kid (1984), one of his best performances (for which he received a Golden Globe nomination) as a smooth, charismatic gin-rummy champ who takes Matt Dillon under his tutelage and many other quality roles in theatrical and made for television movies.Īt the time of his death, Crenna was a member of the Screen Actors Guild board of directors and had a recurring role in the hit CBS dramatic series Judging Amy. Almost immediately after the run of that show, Crenna scored another hit series as Luke McCoy in the rustic comedy The Real McCoys (1957-1963) co-starring Walter Brennan.Īlthough he had been acting in films since the early '50s Crenna roles didn't come to critical notice until the mid '60s, appearing in Robert Wise's acclaimed The Sand Pebbles (1966) as the stalwart gunboat captain co-starring Steve McQueen Terence Young's intense thriller, Wait Until Dark (1967), as a criminal who terrorizes a blind Audrey Hepburn and another Robert Wise film, the Gertrude Lawrence biopic Star! (1968) playing the high profile role of Richard Aldrich opposite Julie Andrews.Ĭrenna's profile slowed down in the '70s, despite a brief return to television comedy in Norman Lear's political satire All's Fair (1976-1977) with Bernadette Peters. Crenna carried the momentum of his success to television when he spent four more seasons as Walter on Our Miss Brooks (1952-1956). Little did he realize that it would be the start of a very long and prosperous career.Ĭrenna found steady radio work for the next several years, culminating in 1948 with his breakthrough role of the goofy, squeaky-voiced Walter Denton in the hit radio series Our Miss Brooks. At the tender age of 11, he was encouraged by a teacher to audition for a radio show, 'Boy Scout Jamboree' at the nearby KFI-AM radio studio.

He was 75.īorn on Novemin Los Angeles, California, Crenna was the son of a pharmacist father and a mother who managed a number of small hotels in the Los Angles area the family owned, where Crenna was raised. Actor Richard Crenna, the versatile, highly respected character actor of television and film, died on December 17 of pancreatic cancer in Los Angeles.