''Detective School Dropouts'' is a 1986

action comedy film The action comedy is a film genre that applies to action films where humor plays a much more central role. While early films feature stuntwork and humor, academic Cynthia King wrote that the genre only came into its own as a mainstay of the Americ ...

co-starring and written by David Landsberg and Lorin Dreyfuss for

The Cannon Group The Cannon Group, Inc. was an American group of companies, including Cannon Films, which produced films from 1967 to 1994. The extensive group also owned, amongst others, a large international cinema chain and a video film company that investe ...

. In the film, a fan of

detective novel Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around the same time as specu ...

s applies for training as a

private detective A private investigator (often abbreviated to PI; also known as a private detective, an inquiry agent or informally a private eye) is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private investigat ...

. His trainer takes advantage of him, and involves him in a conflict between three cheese-making families. The duo follow one of the family members to Italy, using stolen passports. When the man is poisoned, they become murder suspects.

Plot

Donald Wilson tries to make a living in New York City with different jobs. He reads detective novels all the time, so that his distraction causes him to have various misadventures that repeatedly cost him his jobs. A notice on a notice board draws his attention to the detective training of Paul Miller, whose school he attends. The school is located in a run-down house and the owner Paul has all kinds of debts with various creditors. Instead of getting a decent education, Donald, the only detective candidate at the school, is financially exploited and has to take part in Paul's fraudulent actions to reduce his debts. Both of them accidentally get into conflict with three Italian cheese-making families, the Lombardis, the Zanettis and the Falcones. They discover Caterina Zanetti, the woman who was kidnapped by the Falcones, the woman Carlo Lombardi actually wanted to marry. Carlo has been told in a fake letter that Caterina has fallen in love with another man. The Falcones now want to marry him to Sonia Falcone in order to maintain their position in the Italian cheese market. Caterina can give the two unsuspecting Americans a message to deliver to their cousin Mario Zanetti at the airport so that the wedding can be stopped. Paul and Donald drive to the airport, have to steal two passports to follow Mario Zanetti on the plane. Since they are being followed by the Falcones, they have to fly to Rome, for better or worse. On the flight Mario is poisoned, so the two of them have to deliver the message. Since Donald lost his wallet when Mario was murdered, he now also becomes a suspect in a murder case. In their search for Carlo, Paul and Donald are constantly exposed to persecution by their families, so that they are constantly on the run and have to disguise themselves as monks, for example in the Vatican. In spite of everything, they manage to get the message across to Carlo that Caterina still loves him. Carlo wants to cancel the wedding with Sonia, who looks "like a beaver", but is blackmailed with the killing of Caterina if he does not marry Sonia. He could see Caterina in Venice one last time, but would have to marry Sonia. In contrast to Paul, Donald still wants to prevent the wedding. After a short stopover in Pisa, they drive to Venice for the planned wedding. After Carlo and Caterina meet on a canal, Paul manages to free Caterina, while Donald is able to tie up the supposed bride Sonia. They exchange the bride and only when the veil is lifted does Carlo face his beloved Caterina. The families draw their weapons, but see the event in the church as a sign from God, so that the wedding continues. A reward of 25,000 dollars is refused by Paul, as he is allowed to keep what he considers a valuable pendant. Back in New York the two want to sell the pendant and it turns out that it is actually worth 300,000. However, it is not dollars, but Italian lira, so the total amount is not even 175 dollars.

Cast

* David Landsberg as Donald Wilson * Lorin Dreyfuss as Paul Miller *

Christian De Sica Christian De Sica (; born 5 January 1951) is an Italian actor, comedian, television presenter, and filmmaker. Life De Sica was born in Rome, the second son of Italian director Vittorio De Sica and Spanish actress María Mercader. His first ...

as Carlo Lombardi *

George Eastman George Eastman (July 12, 1854March 14, 1932) was an American entrepreneur who founded the Kodak, Eastman Kodak Company and helped to bring the photographic use of roll film into the mainstream. After a decade of experiments in photography, he ...

as Bruno Falcone *

Valeria Golino Valeria Golino (born 22 October 1965) is an Italian actress and film director. She is best known to English-language audiences for her roles in '' Rain Man'', '' Big Top Pee-wee'', and '' Hot Shots!'', where she performed the "olive-in-the-belly ...

as Caterina Zanetti *

Mario Brega Mario Brega (25 March 1923 – 23 July 1994) was an Italian character actor. His heavy build meant that he regularly portrayed a thug in his films, particularly earlier in his career in westerns. Later in his career, however, he featured in n ...

as Don Lombardi *

Rik Battaglia Rik Battaglia (byname of Caterino Bertaglia; 18 February 1927 – 27 March 2015) was an Italian film actor. Career Battaglia appeared in a number of historical and peplum films, such as '' The Mighty Crusaders'' (1958, Carlo Ludovico Bragagli ...

as Don Zanetti *

Alberto Farnese Alberto Farnese (3 June 1926 – 2 June 1996) was an Italian actor. He appeared in more than 80 films and television shows from 1951 to 1989. He starred in the film '' Whom God Forgives'', which won the Silver Bear Extraordinary Prize of the ...

as Don Falcone *

Ennio Antonelli Ennio Antonelli (born 18 November 1936) is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who was president of the Pontifical Council for the Family from 2008 to 2012. He has been a bishop since 1982, serving as bishop of Gubbio from 1982 to 1988, ...

as Riccardino *

Giancarlo Prete Giancarlo Prete (5 February 1943 – 9 March 2001) was an Italian actor. Biography After he worked in the cinema as stuntman, Prete went to Alessandro Fersen Alessandro Fersen (5 December 1911 – 3 October 2001) was a Polish-born Italian d ...

as Mario Zanetti

Legacy

The film was not successful at the box office, but subsequently gained

cult film A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a cult following. Cult films are known for their dedicated, passionate fanbase, which forms an elaborate subculture, members of which engage in repeated ...

status. It is noted for its low-budget production values, cheesy '80's synth soundtrack, and being the only film released from the Cannon Group to have lost money at the box office. However, it is also representative of '80 culture at the time when slapstick briefly resurfaced in popularity with American audiences.

Home media

''Detective School Drop Outs'' was released on DVD from MGM in October 2011.

References

External links

Detective School Dropouts at Rotten Tomatoes
*{{IMDb title, 0089019
eFilmCritic Movie Review
1986 action comedy films 1986 films 1980s buddy comedy films American action comedy films English-language Italian films Golan-Globus films Films set in New York City Films set in Italy Films set in Rome Films set in Pisa Films set in Venice Films shot in New York City Films shot in Italy Films shot in Rome Films shot in Venice American detective films Italian detective films American buddy comedy films Films produced by Menahem Golan Films produced by Yoram Globus 1980s English-language films 1980s American films 1980s Italian films English-language action comedy films English-language buddy comedy films