Honestly, if you watch The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! today, it feels like a fever dream. You’ve got Leslie Nielsen doing his legendary deadpan schtick, slapstick humor that still lands thirty-five years later, and then there’s Nordberg.
Nordberg is the quintessential "bumbling partner." He’s the guy who gets shot a dozen times, falls off a boat, gets his hand burned on a stove, and somehow survives it all for the sake of a gag. But he’s played by O.J. Simpson. That’s the elephant in the room that never quite goes away. Seeing OJ in Naked Gun now isn't just about watching a classic 80s comedy; it’s about witnessing a specific moment in pop culture right before the entire world’s perception of a man shifted forever.
It’s weird. Really weird.
Most people forget that before the "Trial of the Century," Simpson was actually building a legitimate career as a comedic foil. He wasn't just some athlete doing a cameo. He was a central part of a massive franchise.
The Physical Comedy of Nordberg
In the original 1988 film, Simpson’s role is almost entirely physical. He doesn't have many lines, but he has plenty of stunts. Think about the opening scene at the docks. Nordberg gets ambushed while investigating a drug operation. He’s shot, he falls, he slams into a freshly painted door, and he gets his jacket caught in a car window. It’s classic ZAZ (Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker) humor.
The directors basically used him as a human cartoon.
There’s a specific kind of irony in watching him play a character who is constantly being victimized by the universe. In the film, he’s the innocent, albeit incompetent, hero. He's the guy Frank Drebin is trying to avenge. When you see OJ in Naked Gun today, the cognitive dissonance is staggering. You’re looking at a man who, at the time, was considered one of the most likable, charismatic figures in America. He was the Hertz rental car guy. He was "The Juice."
The comedy relied on the audience liking him. If the audience didn't care about Nordberg, the stakes for Frank Drebin (and the jokes) wouldn't have worked. It’s a strange testament to his screen presence that he actually pulled it off. He had timing. He knew how to play the "straight man" to Nielsen’s chaos, even when he was the one being launched off a wheelchair and into a stadium scoreboard.
How the Sequels Changed the Vibe
By the time The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (1991) and The Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult (1994) rolled around, Nordberg was a staple.
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In the second film, he’s back on the force, still getting injured in increasingly ridiculous ways. By the third film, which was released in March 1994, he was part of the furniture. If you look at the timeline, the third movie came out only three months before the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.
That timing is haunting.
When The Final Insult hit theaters, Simpson was still promoting it as a fun, family-friendly actor. He was doing interviews. He was part of the press junket. Then, June 17, 1994, happened—the white Bronco chase. Suddenly, the goofy cop from the Zucker brothers' movies was the most infamous man on the planet.
It changed how we view the films. You can't just "turn off" that part of your brain. When you watch the scene in the third movie where Nordberg is trying to go undercover at the Oscars, it doesn't feel like a simple parody anymore. It feels like a relic of a lost reality.
The Casting Choice: Why OJ?
Why was he even there? You have to remember the landscape of the late 80s. Athletes were trying to cross over into acting all the time, but few had Simpson's "clean" image.
David Zucker and Jerry Zucker weren't looking for a master thespian. They wanted someone the audience recognized and instinctively trusted. They wanted a "hero" type to be the butt of the joke. Seeing a Heisman Trophy winner get pummeled by a door is funnier than seeing a random character actor get pummeled. It’s the subversion of his athletic prowess.
The producers have since talked about this. In various retrospectives and interviews, including bits in the The Naked Gun DVD commentaries, they’ve noted that Simpson was professional on set. He was "one of the guys." He leaned into the silliness. There was no indication of the darkness that would later dominate his legacy.
This makes the viewing experience even more jarring. There is no "villainous" foreshadowing in his performance. He’s just a guy playing a klutz.
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A Cultural Disconnect
There is a theory in film studies called "The Death of the Author," which basically says the creator's intent doesn't matter once the work is out in the world. With OJ in Naked Gun, we have a variation of this: "The Death of the Persona."
The Nordberg persona died the second the handcuffs went on.
But the movies remain. They are still hilarious. Leslie Nielsen is still a genius. Priscilla Presley is still the perfect femme fatale. So, how do we watch them? Some people can’t. They see Simpson and they turn it off. Others view it as a historical curiosity.
It’s interesting to note that in later years, when the films were licensed for television or streaming, there were never serious attempts to edit him out. You can't. He’s too baked into the plot. He is the catalyst for the entire first movie’s story. If Nordberg isn't in the hospital, Frank Drebin doesn't go after Vincent Ludwig.
The Evolution of the Gag
The "Nordberg gag" itself is a masterpiece of escalation.
- Movie 1: He’s shot multiple times, falls off a pier, gets his hand burned, and then gets crushed by a hospital bed.
- Movie 2: He gets stuck to the underside of a bus.
- Movie 3: He gets caught in a series of explosions and slapstick mishaps during the Oscars sequence.
It’s a repetitive bit that only works because of the sheer physical commitment. Simpson, to his credit, did a lot of that work. He wasn't afraid to look ridiculous. Most "tough guy" actors have egos that prevent them from being the joke. Simpson didn't have that—or at least, he didn't show it on screen.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Legacy
A common misconception is that Simpson's career was already failing when he did these movies. That’s just not true. He was a successful broadcaster and a sought-after pitchman. The Naked Gun franchise was a massive hit. He was part of a winning team.
If the events of 1994 hadn't happened, Simpson likely would have continued into a career of character acting or perhaps even his own sitcom. He was the blueprint for the athlete-to-actor pipeline that people like The Rock or John Cena eventually perfected.
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Another thing: people often think the Naked Gun crew distanced themselves immediately. While they certainly didn't defend him, the comedy world is a small one. The shock was universal. The directors have often expressed a sense of bewilderment more than anything else. How do you reconcile the "Nordberg" you spent months with on set with the man on the news?
How to Approach the Movies Today
If you're planning a rewatch, here is the best way to handle the presence of OJ in Naked Gun without it ruining the experience.
First, acknowledge the context. It’s a film from 1988. The world was different. The information we had was different.
Second, focus on the craft. The ZAZ style of comedy is about the background jokes, the puns, and the breaking of the fourth wall. Simpson is a tool in that toolkit. He’s a prop. When you see him as a comedic prop rather than a celebrity, the movies regain their "fun" factor.
Third, recognize the "Police Squad!" roots. The films were based on a short-lived TV show that didn't feature Simpson. If his presence is too much, you can always go back to the original six episodes of the show. They have the same DNA, the same Leslie Nielsen brilliance, but none of the modern-day baggage.
Key Takeaways for the Modern Viewer
- The movies are still benchmarks of comedy. Don't let one actor's real-life actions erase the work of the hundreds of other people who made these films classics.
- Context is everything. Watching these films is like looking at a photograph of a house that’s since been torn down. It’s a record of what was.
- Slapstick is a lost art. Regardless of who is performing it, the physical comedy in these films is top-tier.
Actionable Insights for Cinephiles
If you want to dive deeper into this specific era of film, there are a few things you can do to get a better "big picture" view of how Hollywood handled celebrity crossovers in the 80s and 90s.
- Watch "Police Squad!" first. It gives you the "pure" version of the Frank Drebin character without the big-budget Hollywood casting pressures.
- Compare the three films. Notice how the "Nordberg" character becomes less about the plot and more about the "stunt of the week" as the series progresses.
- Read "The Naked Gun: Who’s Who!" or similar production memoirs. Getting the behind-the-scenes perspective from the directors helps humanize the production and separates the art from the eventual headlines.
- Look at other 80s athlete cameos. See how Simpson's "Nordberg" compares to, say, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in Airplane!. It shows you the specific formula the Zucker brothers were using.
Ultimately, the presence of OJ in Naked Gun is a permanent asterisk on a comedy masterpiece. It’s a reminder that pop culture doesn't exist in a vacuum. It’s messy, it’s complicated, and sometimes, the funniest movies in the world are also the most uncomfortable to look back on. But that discomfort doesn't make the jokes any less sharp or the timing any less perfect. It just makes the history behind them a lot more heavy.