Lethal Weapon (1987) - Retrospective / Review

thank you for your cooperation you remember he's not a suspect yet so we question them not damaging well sure yeah okay I won't hurt la I let you do all that often let me do a minute let me do okay experience counts here yeah you know the smoker I am was this bother you I mean I'll put it out if it bothers you [Music] the jumpers name is Amanda huntsacker age 22 what what was the name hunsecker yeah yeah the parents Oh parents Michael and Claire Claire you know that's the news on the hood second phase Roger that was quick so is the autopsy you're not calling it a suicide be potato your birthing in a new partner and on this partner yeah yeah some daddy's on loan from the dope real burnout on the ragged edge meet your new partner you are making a mistake by keeping him in the field okay the man is suicidal now we both know why I was transferred you want to see crazy okay everybody thinks I'm suicidal in which case I'm [ __ ] and nobody wants to work with me the autopsy report showed that a man that was poisoned even if she hadn't jumped she still be dead wait wait ROG ROG good you find him you're fine I mean you killed him you can do that you owe me hey what did he mean when he said you owed him we served together in 1965 the drank Valley saved my life part of the device oh this is artwork goddamn art well I'm glad you like it you don't get it this is real pro stuff I haven't seen anything like this since the war a couple of years ago shadow company got together again the war was over we still had our list of sources in Asia and and we've been bringing it in ever since you did what heroin I'm gonna burn it down are you really crazy are you as good as you say you are I'm gonna have to trust me [Music] finger [Music] [Music] the six of March in 1987 lethal weapon exploded onto the big screen in the USA and landed in the UK on the 28th of August directed by Richard Donner at the time most famous for his directing duties on the omen Superman and The Goonies the film proved very successful at the box office bringing in 65 million dollars domestically on a 15 million dollar budget and grossed a total of 120 million dollars worldwide the film received praise from critics such as Cisco Ebert both awarding it the thumbs up The Washington Post said it reminded them how exciting an action film can be and the New York Times said it packed an undeniable wallop Lethal Weapon refined the body cop movie that went back to 48 hours and the year before with running scared the film success on a big screen and VHS spawned three successful sequels and more recently a spin-off TV show was produced lasting three seasons but the best thing to come out of lethal weapons success was the fantastic spoof loaded weapon one which I recommend everyone watch the screenplay for the film was written by then unknown writer Shane Black who was only 25 years old and just came out of UCLA inspired by the idea of writing an urban Western he took ideas on the hard-boiled cop novels he read growing up and the Dirty Harry movies of the 70s Black's original screenplay took on a darker direction and was bigger in scope with helicopters crashing in the streets the Hollywood signed and was in flames a tanker truck full of cocaine explodes on the Hollywood Hills raining down cocaine for the movies climax his approach to writing the script was taking two styles and putting them together first with William Goldman who was a mentor Shayne's and the punchy rough style of Walter Hill his agent sent the Lethal Weapon script to various studios such as Paramount and Columbia and they all rejected it until it came to Warner Brothers the executive of the studio Mott Canton took a liking to it and purchased it for $250,000 Canton brought it along to producer Joel Silver who loved the story and worked with Shane to further develop the script bouncing ideas back and forth to further refine it they ended up reducing the scale of the third act and throwing in more characters the studio offered it to a bunch of big-name directors till it landed on Richard Donner's lap he at that point had been offered a number of action films thanks to his efforts on Superman and many he read didn't interest him but least the weapon was all about the characters which really excited him director Richard Donner did fill the script was too dark and brought in water Jeffrey Boehm to do some uncredited rewrites on black script Jeffery and Richard added more humor into the script to lighten it up with these key elements in place a search began for the right combination of actors playing Riggs and Murtaugh when they started to look for an actor to fill the role of Riggs Bruce Willis was considered for the part and even Christopher Reeve who turned it down it would have been great to see Donna and Reeve work together again but it would have been such a different performance with Chris in the title role which have Donna really wanted Mel Gibson for the part of Martin Riggs he had previously offered him a part in ladyhawk which he turned down due to his schedule Donna knew Mel was a rising star he had come to everyone's attention in the Mad Max trilogy Shane at first was a bit unsure that Mel could do the part justice but quickly changed his mind when he saw Mel coming to read for the role he rigged his background he is a former Special Forces soldier who lost his wife in a car accident three years prior and has turned suicidal Gibson was impressed with the story saying it was a cut above others he had passed on because the action is really a sideline which heightens the story of the characters Riggs and Murtaugh Mel said he pictured Riggs as a almost Chaplin esque figure a guy who doesn't expect anything from life and even toys with the idea of taking his own he's somebody he doesn't look like he's set to go off until he actually does given Roger Murtaugh had no set ethnicity in the script Glover once reading it felt the role of Murtaugh offered a whole new range of character expression and experience one of the reasons he jumped at this project was to family aspect clever said myrtles a little cranky about his age until everything he loves he's threatened his reawakening parallels Riggs the casting director suggested teaming Gibson with Danny Glover she arranged for Gibson and Glover to meet and read through the script together to see how the chemistry worked according to Richard Donner they found innuendos they found laughter where they never saw it and most importantly they found a relationship all in just one reading Donna said it was magical and dynomite for the other cast of characters we have Gary Busey as mr. Joshua Gary had not auditioned for a film in years but wanted to to have the opportunity to work with dick Joe Mel and Danny he said he was constantly looking for someone to pull the best performance out of him Boosie says he was hired to play Joshua because they were looking for someone big and menacing enough to be a believable foe for Mel Gibson Gary Busey also credits to film for reviving his failing film career veteran actor Mitchell Ryan plays Peter McAllister the head of the Special Forces team have reformed after the Vietnam War Mitchell was a star stage and screen after leith the weapon he popped up in hotshots Park der jaws Dredd Halloween the cursor Michael Meyers laiá laiá and Grosse Pointe blank - Mike in space Michael Hunsaker who runs a bank and his laundering money for Peter McCallister and wants out the business and has close ties to Roger Murtaugh I'm sure some of you will recognize Tom from John Carpenter's de fog escape for New York and Halloween 3 Darlene love plays Tricia Murtaugh she was a successful singer before moving into acting she didn't really take on that many film roles but would reprise her role for the sequels Tracy wolf plays Rihanna the oldest of myrtles children she gets kidnapped by mr. Joshua surprisingly Tracy didn't really act much outside of the Lethal Weapon series and appears to have retired we have a number of familiar faces for the supporting roles we have Steve Cohn as captain Murphy Stevie's Richard Donner's cousin he appeared in Superman the movie playing a police officer and also popped up in predator 2 with Danny Glover and Gary Busey shared universe Mary Ellen Traynor plays dr. Stephanie woods she warns captain Murphy of Riggs mental state and she returned for the sequels for more comedic moments as Winx Lux to embarrass her and miss her around Mary also appeared in Richard Donner's two Goonies die hard action Jackson and ricochet and many other classic films she sadly passed away in 2015 we have IDO Ross as Mendes who is another shady drug dealer wanting to get his supplies from Peter McCallister and Ross became a familiar face of action movies such as red heat Full Metal Jacket and also played itchy and Dick Tracy and last but not least we have grande el Bush as Boyett who works in Mirage Department he returned for the sequel but also popped up in die hard and played Balrog in Street Fighter the movie once all the actors were in place filming started in early August of 1986 in and around La to familiarize the actors despecialized skills acquired by undercover cops arrangements were made for Gibson and Glover to spend time in the field a company working LAPD officers throughout filming technical advisors from the LAPD as well as the LA County Sheriff's Department worked closely with Donna and the actors to ensure authenticity interestingly they used Richard Donna's own house for the drug bust as we see Riggs and Murtaugh take out the guy and fall into the pool [Music] the film opens with a girl appearing to commit suicide LAPD homicide sergeant Roger Murtaugh is sent to investigate and discovers the girl is the daughter of his old friend Michael Hunsaker the lab reports find that she didn't commit suicide but was poisoned Murtaugh is then informed he's being partnered up with another sergeant who's being transferred to his department Murtaugh is aware of Riggs his problems but takes note of his high skill set as a top marksman and his skills as a martial artist Murtaugh pays a visit to Hunsicker to inform him of their findings Michael tells Roger that he was concerned about his daughter Amanda's involvement in drugs and prostitution and was trying to get Roger to help her escape that life and tells him he needs to find the people who did this to his daughter and kill them for him declaring that Roger owes him as he saved his life back in Vietnam Murtagh wicks attempt a question Amanda's pimp and stumble across people dealing coke which leads to a shootout even though the case seems closed Riggs is aware that the early witness to Amanda's appeared suicide was Dixie another prostitute they head to Dixie's house to question her but it explodes as they approach after the fires put out Riggs finds part of a mercury switch from the bombs debris indicating a professional had set the bomb some children nearby had witnessed a man approaching the house with a tattoo similar to Riggs indicating it's someone with a military background Roger suspects his friend Michael hasn't told him the full story Michael is questioned by Roger before his daughter's funeral where he reveals that he was previously part of a shadow company during the war headed by General Peter McAllister and his chief enforcer mr. Joshua they smuggled out heroin but once the war was over they parted ways but reformed to continue their drug operations Fonseca had been laundering the money but wanted to get out the general knows Michael has spoken with Roger and mr. Joshua takes out Michael Riggs omerta now have to form a plan to stop these guys before any more lives are put at risk in 2000 Warner Brothers put out a director's cut of the film I read some reports online saying it's not really a director's cut and more of a marketing tool as later versions of the film on blu-ray for example just restored the theatrical cut and these extra scenes are now included as deleted scenes with some additional footage that didn't make the finished film in this director's cut we see Riggs losing his temper and smashes his TV with a beer bottle later he buys a new one and his welcomed home by his dog who was happy to see him we see Murtaugh before partnering with Riggs going to the firing range to practice Riggs before the dope shootout at the Christmas tree sale aren't as are called in a school yard with a sniper Riggs walks out in the line of fire and kills two shooter this is done to really enforced that Riggs has no fear of death Riggs after leaving Murtaugh house goes out to solicit a prostitute and pace of 100 dollars to watch The Three Stooges with him that was about it really for this new version in 2000 the majority of the other deleted scenes are additional moments of dialogue trimmed from existing scenes for example Murtaugh interacting with his kids winding up his daughter for spending too much money on boots Riggs chatting with a jumper a slightly longer scene with a fight in the pool we see Joshua surprising Rihanna and her boyfriend as he kidnaps her and weeks chats with myrtles youngest child to reassure her that he and Roger will bring Rihanna home safely as we've all deleted scenes it's often very obvious that these moments are cut for pacing issues and also they don't really further add mush to the film as other scenes have demonstrated certain character traits or have given us enough information already sometimes you discover great moments that leave you baffled while they cut out a certain scene but in the case of Lethal Weapon the theatrical cut is a tight and efficient edit that works perfectly [Music] Michael cameand and Eric Clapton handled the score to lift the weapon with contributions from David Sanborn by 1987 Kaman felt his career would have taken off but many of the movies he scored hadn't done well at the box office such as Brazil life force and Highlander all incredible scores but he felt directors only noticed you if you were involved in a hit movie luckily editors Stewart bed tempted the film with Caymans and Clapton to work on the hit BBC show Edge of Darkness which would later have a movie produced in 2010 directed by Martin Campbell and starring Mel Gibson a Stewart found the music for the BBC show fascinating and thought it sounded original Richard Donner at the time didn't know where to go with the music and liked what Stewart had used sister arranged an interview with dick Donna Gelsinger and Michael Kaman dick Donner got on really well with Kaman but Kaman initially turned down the composing duties as he felt the movie wasn't for him he wasn't a fan of the action genre despite going on to do the scores - the first three die hard movies licensed to kill Roadhouse and Last Action Hero Michael Kaman couldn't discount Stewart's idea of having the guitar music to represent Mel Gibson and a saxophone for Danny Glover he thought it was a brilliant idea and made it easy for him to figure out the logistics of the score so he agreed to take the job but also another driving factor for his decision was Shane black script which he felt was the first time that the action was motivated by characters and the relationships between them Eric Clapton perform the guitar themes and David Sanborn performed the saxophone part Michael Kaman would handle dramatic and action moments with a 98 piece Orchestra the film also had a music video produced featuring the band honeymoon suite titled lethal weapon the song was featured during the end credits but surprisingly they aren't credited for a composer who is not a fan of the action genre he became such a master of it when you hear those guitar saxophone cues throughout the score you know instantly it's lethal weapon a saxophone themes are a tad cheesy and often it could be confused with softcore porn music but if it's so well with the style in the story once the film was a hit many other movies had a similar style of score even Brad Fidel followed suit with the Bruce Willis action film striking distance the best stuff for me is the emotional moments with Riggs Eric Clapton's guitarists come in to play and really heighten those emotions I don't think any other approach would have worked for the character there was also a lot of experimental sounds and even synthesizers used for the bad guys so there is a great mix of musical styles thrown into the music that makes it stand out from the rest Michael brought a lot of originality to the music and didn't just provide a standard action score the soundtrack came out when the film was released arriving on cassette and CD featuring ten tracks of music there was a reissue in 2002 with 3000 copies printed and a score was expanded by 7 additional tracks of unreleased music in December 2013 la-la-land Records released the complete scores part the lethal weapons soundtrack collection further expanding the tracks from 17 to 26 with alternative cues that didn't make the final cut this epic box that contains 8 CDs and is still available to purchase but it's not cheap costing in a region of 120 dollars there was a lot of great music there so it's worth getting if you have the cash and if you are a fan of Michael Kaman and Eric Clapton's work the one thing I'm sure all Lethal Weapon fans want is John Eric Alexander's music from the trailer one of the most fondly remembered pieces of music associated with the film that did get briefly used in Hot Fuzz but never got an official release sadly lethal weapon is one of the handful of movies from the 80s that everyone remembers whenever a top-ten list or TV program discussing movies of that decade least the weapon has always mentioned alongside Back to the Future Ghostbusters and die hard it's earned its place among the rest to be remembered as an important movie for many people growing up it's a film that gave the buddy cop genre a new lick of paint and introduced us to two characters that we would be invested in and would follow on for three more sequels getting the formula right is always tough and bouncing the tone belief the weapon could have fallen into obscurity and just been seen as another throwaway action film but Gibson's and Glover's chemistry and performance just make audiences want more these were flawed characters that people could relate to they weren't super invincible muscle men they were seen as real people with real problems for me the series has always been something I've been aware of since I was a child the first movie in particular was always on TV often late at night because of its violence but I would make an effort to stay up and watch it when I could leave the weapon - I have stronger memories of as it came out 1989 and being seven years old I was far more aware of things around me and knew that the seeker was extremely popular but because I didn't get a chance to take the film as a kid and certainly my dad wasn't going to rent it for me the series kind of drifted away from me and I didn't return to the series until part four came out in the late 90s of course we had leased a weapon three during that timeframe but my interest had kind of shifted and catching up with the franchise at a later date was how I got back into it when you think of Richard Donner in terms of pop culture he's probably remembered for directing Superman and The Goonies two extremely popular movies with children and adults and both have strong fan bases to this day probably more so with Superman in the case of Lethal Weapon he directed all four movies and those kind of defined him as this action director he has openly said he's not a huge fan of the action genre and finds the characters within those movies more interesting than filming another shootout or explosion having that desire to focus on the characters made this series so successful with critics and audiences all action movies need is a great villain and thankfully they got Gary Busey to play the part he became this go-to guy for villains for a short spell he has that crazy look in his eyes and looks like he can look after himself despite not being this muscle-bound hard man he is very controlled with his performance very early on making him this intimidating and great fo for Riggs for the most part of which had Donna shot a lot of his features in the CinemaScope format before Lethal Weapon 1 he goes with the ratio of 185 to one come the sequels he returns to the wider aspect ratio I'm guessing to capture the action which ramps up to be more explosive and bigger in scale which is often the case with sequels things have to be bigger and better in the case of the first movie with that tighter frame it makes it more of an intimate picture he wants us to get close to Martin and Roger so we understand their problems and with a relatively small cast of characters these choice of lenses work with the story Riggs is poor mental state is played out very early on into the movie the scene where he gets so close to committing suicide is very moving and one of the most important scenes in the franchise he has nothing left to live for he's not afraid of death and that's what makes him dangerous and unpredictable he makes the right decision not to go through with it the film lays it out straight away that Riggs has come to the end so to speak but what saves him is teaming up with Roger having that new partner who is willing to work with him and lets him into his family and made to feel welcome really makes a huge difference for Riggs and come the end he has straightened out his problems and realizes they're something worth living for the film deals with dark themes and it isn't just another action movie with the heroes just saving the day or busting crime with ease it has a strong slice of drama and sets the tone thankfully the film isn't all doom and gloom and Richard Donner helped push the comedy when he up depressing or dark themed you have to balance it out with something light-hearted and leave the weapon is full of that it never tips over into being a straight-out serious crime thriller it pulls it back to be a fun action movie with flourishes of gray humor and witty dialogue which is a shame black trait Richard Donner always had a good eye to capture action scenes things a well staged and covered with his go-to guy for editing Stewart bed who he had worked with on the omen Superman and Ladyhawke they deliver really dynamic scenes and they are cut in a very contemporary way the famous chase through the streets in downtown LA is intense as rigs is resorted to running at top speed to chase after Joshua which results in a one-on-one fight outside Rogers House Riggs just wants to take him down himself and the police stand back to let him do it and in some way this scene lets Riggs get his demons out and puts his past to rest the end fight however is a bit problematic with the choice in lenses and the direction to shoot the first part of it in close-ups you end up struggling to see what's going on this is often the case when you have actors who haven't been in that many fight scenes before or want experts in martial arts males fighting technique is not the best on camera when it comes to showcasing some skills in that fighting style but the fight is very intense and because we've been on this journey and what Joshua and his team have done you were right behind Riggs and you want him to win it's interesting come Christmas people often like to declare what they're going to watch at Christmas and die hard most often makes the list but least the weapon is also set at Christmas and rarely gets that Christmas love so to speak well this is only from what I've noticed on social media and my circle of friends the majority of Shane Black scripts are set at Christmas but this festive celebration is always in the background is there a really front and center so it's not a Christmas movie in a traditional sense when you look at the release dates for these the weapon diehard they weren't given Christmas releases and both hit screens in the USA during the summer over time and often how these movies are played on TV during Christmastime it then becomes part of that yearly celebration and you just automatically put them in the candle Christmas movies which is great I would say however that diehard is probably more of a Christmas film as its set on Christmas Eve and also takes place on one day where at least the weapon is set over a number of days and I think makes less attempts to highlight that it is Christmas when it comes to body cop movies lethal weapon is the gold standard there is of course other great movies such as 48 hours bad boys rush hour and of course Shane Black's recent buddy cop movie the highly underrated the nice guys which was my favorite film of 2016 Luther weapon comes out on top because you have that dramatic edge to it the others play more on the comedy side leaves the weapon of course has comedic moments but the lead characters are more emotional and vulnerable and these heroes seem more human and relatable it just bounces everything perfectly and that is the skill of Richard Donner that's what made him such a versatile and great director he could tackle any genre and that's what made him one of Warner Brothers go-to guys least the weapon has aged very well it's of course very 80s Gibson is rocking a fabulous mullet but everything else still seems very fresh with its themes and direction it doesn't feel like a 30 year old film if you haven't seen it before or in years go watch it as soon as you can and I guarantee you'll be aching to watch the sequels straight afterwards because you just want to see Riggs and Murtaugh again doing what they do best I got you I got you bond to the police the police may know everything the whole operation that is correct sir Roger well I think it's time we turned up the heat [Music] bastards got my daughter you know they're gonna kill her don't you and if you want to back you're gonna have to take her away from them we do this my way shoot shoot to kill get as many as you can all you gotta do is just not miss don't miss [Music] we're gonna get bloody on this one Roger [Music] [Music]

Channel: Oliver Harper

Views: 117,009

Rating: 4.9449711 out of 5

Keywords: lethal weapon, mel gibson, danny glover, richard donner, shane black, gary busey, lethal weapon review, oliver harper retrospective, retrospective review, ollie harper, oliver harper, lethal weapon movie, action movies, buddy cop, joel silver, making of, last action heroes, in search of the last action heroes, 80s action

Id: W7BmNU3kSpQ

Length: 25min 44sec (1544 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 24 2018