RETROSPECTIVE – Vince Neil’s Cut Scene From Police Academy 6
Published on August 19, 2011 by Christian Sellers · No Comments
By the end of 1988 Mötley Crüe had spent the better part of a decade indulging in the debauchery of the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle and, as the tour for their Girls, Girls, Girls album came to an end, they considered their next move. After the near-fatal overdose of bassist Nikki Sixx in December 1987, the band had entered rehab and emerged sober and determined. But shortly before entering the studio to commence rehearsals on their fifth album, Dr. Feelgood, frontman Vince Neil was offered a surprise request. The producers of the latest Police Academy movie had auditioned several singers to cameo in the film as a rock star and Neil was in the running. This would be a major deal for the band, as the franchise was the property of Warner Bros. and had enjoyed considerable success at the box office, despite failing to impress the critics.
Neil was not the only rock star to make a recent cameo in a movie. The previous year members of Guns N’ Roses appeared in the last Dirty Harry installment The Dead Pool during a funeral sequence after their singer, played by a pre-fame Jim Carrey, had seemingly overdosed following a well-publicised drug addiction, while W.A.S.P. had a minor role in the B-movie The Dungeonmaster. The fact that Neil had been drafted in for a major motion picture was a noted success, as he had struggled to overcome the controversy of driving the car that had resulted in the death of Hanoi Rocks drummer Razzle in December 1984, while the passengers of another car had been taken to hospital with serious injuries. Mötley Crüe‘s next album, Theatre of Pain, had failed to reach the heights of its predecessors and the future of the band looked uncertain, despite producing the hit singles Smokin’ in the Boys Room and Home Sweet Home. But following the success of their fourth album, Girls, Girls, Girls, Mötley Crüe were once again selling out arenas and featuring on magazine covers.
Neil’s involvement in Police Academy 6: City Under Siege, no matter how small, would further advance the band’s profile and introduce them to a new audience. Likewise, the inclusion of a rock star as recognisable as Neil would, the producers hoped, give the franchise some credibility and make it more accessible to the alternative crowd. Arriving on set wearing the clothes that will be used during filming, the twenty-seven year old made his way to the make-up trailer, where his hair was professionally backcombed while his make-up applied. His role in the movie was, perhaps unsurprisingly, as a pampered rock star, chaperoned by series regular Lt. Moses Hightower, who acts as his personal security. Once again portrayed by former football player-turned-actor Bubba Smith, the sequence saw Neil being escorted from a building, only to be greeted by a crowd of protesters voicing their opinions against heavy metal. With no way of escaping, Hightower lifts up the end of the red carpet and pulls it from under their feet, sending the crowd backwards down the steps.
For reasons unknown, Neil’s cameo in Police Academy 6 would find its way to the cutting room floor, despite the money that the studio had paid for his services. In the version of the movie released in theatres, each of the principal characters were re-introduced during a montage, yet Hightower was noticeably absent. Instead, his first appearance in the film was during the scene in which all the protagonists are together for a team briefing. Perhaps the producers felt that Neil’s scene was irrelevant (although no more than the other clips used in the montage), or maybe the end result was not as they had hoped, but Neil’s involvement in the film would remain relatively unknown for the next twenty years. And while Police Academy 6 bombed at the box office, Mötley Crüe‘s next album, Dr. Feelgood, would prove to be their most commercial to date.
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