Bill Clinton’s Love for ‘Police Academy’ and More About the Ex-President’s Movie Habits
Bill Clinton at the DNC on Tuesday (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
During last night’s speech at the Democratic National Convention, Bill Clinton reminded America that he really loves movies — and not just perennial politician picks like his oft-touted favorite High Noon. In a passage about raising daughter Chelsea with his wife, Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, the 42nd POTUS admitted that he binge-watched the Police Academy films with his only child. “[Hillary and I] rarely disagreed on parenting, although she did believe that I’d gone a little over the top when I took a couple days off with Chelsea to watch all six Police Academy movies back-to-back,” joked the former president, as Chelsea, now 36, laughed in the audience. Watch the clip below:
Naturally, Twitter pundits flipped out over Clinton’s endorsement of the low-brow comedy franchise, which launched with 1984’s Police Academy and actually included seven films (though Mission to Moscow, made in 1994 with just a fraction of the original cast, is clearly optional). “I have no idea why he is continuing to talk about anything else besides ‘One Day I Watched All of The Police Academy Movies Back to Back,’” tweeted comedian Julie Klausner, who went on to ponder Clinton’s father-daughter film fest at great length. (“Was it a school day? Were the movies on individual VHS tapes? Owned or Blockbuster? Whose idea? Did they take breaks in between each Police Academy movie? At one point, did Chelsea turn to her dad and wonder if they should stop?”) Journalist Alex Wagner joked that the former President’s Police Academy admission was proof that “Clinton really did write this speech himself.” And the bad-movie podcast “How Did It Get Made?” extended an open invitation for Clinton to discuss any of the Police Academy films with them at any time.
Steve Guttenberg and Kim Cattrall in ‘Police Academy’ (Everett)
But this isn’t the first time that America has heard about Bill Clinton’s love for fart-joke-filled comedies. Original Police Academy star Steve Guttenberg spilled the beans on Clinton’s obsession last summer, telling BANG Showbiz, “Every time I’ve seen President Clinton, he says when he’s in a bad mood he turns on Police Academy.” And in 2013, The Hangover director Todd Phillips revealed that the 2007 comedy Who’s Your Caddy?, a hip-hop-themed Caddyshack riff with a 6 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, was Clinton’s more recent airplane film.
Dubbed “the nation’s No. 1 movie buff” by People magazine in 1997, Bill Clinton was always outspoken about his love for cinema – though during his two terms in office, he was more likely to talk up Oscar bait like American Beauty and Amistad than doofy comedies. A complete list of every film Clinton watched at the White House screening room can be seen here, though interestingly, no Police Academy films make an appearance. Perhaps the Clintons had a secret VCR dedicated to Steve Guttenberg marathons?
Watch a ‘Police Academy’ trailer:
