Wrongfully Accused

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

A 1998 Leslie Nielsen movie written and directed by ZAZ protege Pat Proft, Wrongfully Accused is a classic example of the joke-a-minute (more like every 20 seconds) school of comedy.

The frame parody is built around the 1993 version of The Fugitive and Leslie Nielsen's character's pursuit of the one-armed, one-legged and one-eyed man who killed his lover's husband. Richard Crenna's delightful parody of Tommy Lee Jones' fast-talking federal marshal is probably the highlight of the movie, with many of the best lines. However, The Fugitive is hardly the only movie that gets parodied here. Particularly notable targets include the Mission: Impossible, Titanic, Lord of the Dance, Braveheart, Mentos commercials, Baywatch, The Usual Suspects and even North by Northwest and Casablanca, among many others.


Tropes used in Wrongfully Accused include:
  • The Cameo: John Walsh, long time host of America's Most Wanted, appears in the film though it isn't clear if he's playing as the America's Most Wanted host as he is seen in a backwoods bait and tackle shop.
  • Clear My Name
  • Criminal Doppelganger: Parodied. Ryan sees a "Wanted" poster of himself and rapidly draws black hair, glasses, a beard and a tiny hat over his image. Immediately, another man with black hair, glasses, moustache and tiny hat in the same building is arrested.
  • Dramatic Shattering: After Ryan exits the bait shop, John Walsh pieces together the string of lies that Ryan created, which he made using various items and signs in the bait shop. John drops his coffee in slow motion, which shatters on the floor, in a nod to The Usual Suspects. However, true to a parody flick, John also drops a donut, an egg, and a water balloon.
  • Gainaxing: During the Baywatch scene. And how!
    • Complete with bounce sound effects.
  • Leg Cannon: A firearm is disguised as an artifical limb.
  • Line-of-Sight Name: As seen in the tackle shop scene.
  • Market-Based Title: The film had several French-language titles, one of which was "Is there a fugitive on board?" to blend in with other French titles for Leslie Nielsen movies.
    • This is an odd exception in Spain, where almost all other Nielsen films (and a few other Rapid-Fire Comedy movies) famously end with the words "...as you can". Instead, this is just titled "What a fugitive".
  • Miscarriage of Justice
  • Parody: Several films get parodied such as the ones mentioned above and even films like Patriot Games and The Empire Strikes Back get a brief nod.
  • Rapid-Fire Comedy