Ricardo Montalban's polished authority made him a persuasive villain and a disciplined comic actor. We especially enjoy him when he stays entirely respectable while everything around him becomes ridiculous.
Fi1m perspective
Ricardo Montalban plays Vincent Ludwig in The Naked Gun (1988) as though there were nothing peculiar about the film at all. He does not compete with Leslie Nielsen's solemn detective for the right to be funny; his composure gives the nonsense something to work against. We laughed because Montalban keeps acting as if this were ordinary business, even when the film around him plainly has other ideas. It is an excellent supporting performance, from an actor whose polished manner could too easily be mistaken for mere decoration.
His early Hollywood work often made a narrower use of him. Fiesta (1947), his Hollywood debut opposite Esther Williams, led to an MGM contract and romantic leads that repeatedly confined him to the suave Latin lover. The later authoritative roles gave that elegance more purpose, with Mr. Roarke in Fantasy Island (1977–1984) bringing him wide recognition. Khan Noonien Singh in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) put his charm and gravitas to threatening use. These parts help explain why his presence in a police spoof is funny before he makes any concession to it.
Director David Zucker makes good use of that presence, and gives Montalban company who understand the same approach. Priscilla Presley's Jane Spencer also seems to have arrived expecting ordinary acting to be enough, while George Kennedy's Ed Hocken fits comfortably alongside them. Ira Newborn's music takes Nielsen's detective seriously, reinforcing the supporting cast's refusal to signal every joke. We can enjoy the absurdity without having the entire cast insist that we notice it. They leave Nielsen room, and spare him the job of supplying every laugh himself.
That restraint cannot rescue every gag: The Naked Gun has a few crude, tired jokes that deserved better judgement. Montalban's contribution is a pleasure, though, because he supports the comedy without demanding that it stop and admire him. For an introduction to his lighter work, start here, with the warning that the jokes have not all aged as well as the acting.
