10 Movie Characters More Important Than You Think

Once you've sat through a few Police Academy sequels - or, hell, perhaps even all seven movies - it's easy to lose sight of the series' actual central premise and simply accept the goofy shenanigans for what they are.

But in actual fact, the opening scene of the first movie sets it all up with a title card which reveals that the city's mayor, Mary Sue Beal, has announced new hiring practices for the city's police force.

This new missive states that no longer will height, weight, sex, education, or physical strength serve as recruitment criteria for the Police Academy, resulting in an influx of "unconventional" folk suddenly signing up to be cops.

And even if you do remember the setup, you probably don't remember the name Mayor Beal - a character who is never actually seen in the first Police Academy despite serving as the instigator of the entire series.

We do briefly meet the Mayor (Jennifer Darling) in Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment, yet it's ultimately a fleeting cameo that makes no reference to the initiative she introduced in the previous film.

And yet, without Mayor Beal seven movies worth of wacky hijinks simply wouldn't have happened.