Police Academy: Mission to Moscow

Plot

Russian mafia boss Konstantine Konali (Ron Perlman) is laundering money under the guise of a legitimate business.

The business is a highly addictive video game that allows him to bring down almost any security system controlled by a computer on which the game has been played, with a string of major robberies as the result.

Desperate to apprehend Konali, Russian Commandant Alexandrei Nikolaivich Rakov (Christopher Lee) sends for help from America. Rakov decides to bring in someone he met at a police convention, Commandant Eric Lassard (George Gaynes).

Lassard briefs his team about the mission in Russia, then they head to Moscow. Along with Lassard in Moscow are Sergeant Larvell Jones (Michael Winslow), Sergeant Eugene Tackleberry (David Graf), Captain Debbie Callahan (Leslie Easterbrook), Cadet Kyle Connors (Charlie Schlatter), and Captain Thaddeus Harris (G. W. Bailey).

As they plan to capture Konali, he has devised a new scheme: create an even more addictive version of the game, which can bring down any computer security system in the world, including the systems that protect the databases which belong to world powers.

Officers on the Mission to Moscow

The Russians

Production

The shooting of the film took place in Russia in the fall of 1993. According to the behind-the-scenes featurette Underneath the Mission, included on the DVD release, this was one of the first American-produced comedy films to be allowed to film in Russia itself, with scenes filmed involving the Bolshoi Ballet, and on Red Square. Production was temporarily halted due to the October 1993 constitutional crisis and the damaged White House, Moscow is clearly visible in one scene. Despite the conflict, production was allowed to resume with one of the first scenes after the conflict being filmed at Moscow's airport. According to an interview with Michael Winslow, in the Underneath the Mission featurette, the scene where he performs bike tricks involved him wearing a wireless microphone in order to pick up his comedic sound effects. Unknown to the production crew, the frequency used by the microphone was the same as that used by the military, resulting in officials descending upon the film crew (though the incident ended on friendly terms, says Paul Maslansky).

Reception

Mission to Moscow was barely released to theaters. Unlike all the other Police Academy films, Warner Bros. only released the picture in a token, limited run, grossing a scant $126,247 in the U.S., making it the least successful movie in the series. Its luck with critics was hardly better; according to film historian Leonard Maltin, "If the United States and Soviet Union were still at odds, this film would make a great weapon...it could bore people to death."