20 Reasons Why You Rock: Lethal Weapon
It is Thanksgiving Day here in the United States… the official kick off of the holiday season!
For me it is also the kick off of watching my favorite Christmas action films, like 1987’s Lethal Weapon… a Christmas action film that absolutely rocks!
#1. Christmas comes early in Lethal Weapon as Bobby Helms version of “Jingle Bell Rock” opens the film. Later, to further establish Lethal Weapon as a Christmas movie… we get a drug bust at a Christmas Tree lot… 1979’s Bugs Bunny’s Looney Christmas Tales and 1951’s A Christmas Carol starring Alastair Sim is on TV… There’s cops caroling in the precinct… Characters say Merry Christmas to one another… There are Christmas sales… There are Christmas decorations… There’s even egg nog! Lethal Weapon is most definitely a Christmas movie.
#2. One of Lethal Weapon‘s biggest positives was having Dick Donner in the director’s chair. Richard Donner is one of my favorite directors of all-time. No matter the genre, Donner proved he could create something truly special. And much like he did for the superhero genre, Donner created a blue print for the buddy cop action film that would be copied time and time again… including in the three Lethal Weapon sequels that would follow.
#3. Danny Glover plays Roger Murtaugh, a cop who is dealing with getting older. We meet Roger and his family (including Darlene Love, who has some famous Christmas songs to her credit), on the morning of his 50th Birthday. Glover was perfect as the family man/20 year detective, who finds himself saddled with a new partner and investigating the death of an old Vietnam buddy’s daughter.
#4. Mel Gibson plays Martin Riggs, a cop who seemingly doesn’t care if he gets any older. Riggs’ mental health struggles, emotional scars and loose cannon policing are all established before we even get to the magic of Lethal Weapon! While Gibson had already made a name for himself thanks to the Mad Max movies, there is no denying that his performance as the complex Martin Riggs, coupled with the box office success of Lethal Weapon, catapulted Gibson to the Hollywood A-List, where he resided for many years.
#5. There were a total of four “bastards” in Lethal Weapon.
#6. Lethal Weapon is filled with familiar faces in small roles. First up, Ben Frank, who has an uncredited role as a cop, but I like to pretend he’s actually playing the same character he played in Death Wish II, Inspector Lt. Mankiewicz… Then there was Blackie Dammett, who played one of the drug dealers at the Christmas Tree lot. I’ll always remember Blackie as Alby the Cruel from 9 Deaths of the Ninja (and as Anthony Kiedis’ dad)… At the police station, we meet Detectives McCaskey (Jack Thibeau, Action Jackson) and Boyette (Grand L. Bush, Die Hard)… Ed O’Ross plays Mendez, a man looking to buy heroin from the big bad in the film. I remembered O’Ross from his work in Red Heat and Universal Soldier to name a few… And was that Sven-Ole Thorsen (The Running Man) as a mercenary?! You better believe it!
#7. I mentioned the Lethal Weapon magic earlier and that’s the best way to describe the chemistry between the two odd couple detectives. Things get off to a rocky start for the dynamic duo of Murtaugh and Riggs. But after Riggs saves Murtaugh’s life… the bonding begins. Murtaugh brings Riggs home to have dinner with his family and to show off his fishing boat. By the end of the film, they are family.
#8. Danny Glover’s Murtaugh doesn’t just get to say the most quotable line in the movie, “I’m too old for this shit.”. He also was the one who referred to Riggs as a LETHAL WEAPON!
#9. With our heroes established and paired up, it is time to meet our villains and first up is General Peter McAllister played by Mitchell Ryan. The General has an army of loyal mercenaries at his disposal, which makes him a powerful and dangerous man.
#10. One of those mercenaries is Mr. Joshua, some might describe him as an Albino Jack Rabbit Son of a Bitch. Be that as it may, Joshua is a former Special Forces and a key player in The General’s nefarious operation. Mr. Joshua was played by the then versatile Gary Busey… who brought a sadistic energy to the character and he was hands down the easiest character to hate in the movie.
#11. Who better to play Roger Murtaugh’s old buddy from Nam, Mike Hunsaker, than the one and only Tom Atkins!?! Atkins is one of those actors who makes any movie he is in better and Lethal Weapon was no exception.
#12. The firing range scene is sure to bring a smile to everyone’s face.
#13. Both Riggs and Murtaugh became targets of The General and his mercs after Hunsaker spilled the beans about The General’s heroin smuggling operation. This leads to one of the most memorable scenes in the movie that takes place at the El Mirage Dry Lake… this is the meeting place that Roger Murtaugh is given after The General has Murtaugh’s eldest daughter, Rianne, kidnapped. Murtaugh agrees to to drive out there and exchange himself for his daughter…. what the baddies aren’t expecting is that Murtaugh has a grenade in his pocket AND that Riggs is still alive after Mr. Joshua gunned him down earlier in the film. The tension, the carnage and the action… which includes a helicopter chasing a limo driven by Rianne as she attempts to escape… make this a stand out sequence.
#14. If you are a fan of interrogation scenes, then Lethal Weapon is the movie for you… because there are simultaneous interrogation scenes with Mr. Joshua interrogating Riggs, while The General interrogates Murtaugh.
#15. Both The General and Mr. Joshua have heavies doling out the punishment as part of their interrogations. But Mr. Joshua has the henchman of all henchman administering the “electro shock therapy” to Martin Riggs… the one and the only Al Leong, who plays Endo.
#16. Riggs manages to escape and once again throw a monkey wrench in the villain’s plans… which leads to Mr. Joshua making a hasty exit. Joshua commandeers a car… with Riggs chasing him on foot through the streets of downtown Los Angeles! And it it wasn’t for getting hit by a taxi cab… Riggs may have caught up with him.
#17. Meanwhile, Murtaugh has a stand off with one General Peter McAllister… that results in The General’s driver being shot and a bus colliding with The General’s car! With his car completely flipped over McAllister struggles to get out of the wreckage… but The General can’t get out before his car explodes!
#18. The final showdown between Riggs and Joshua takes place at Roger Murtaugh’s home and includes a police car driving right through Murtaugh’s living room window! We then get some rainy front yard fisticuffs between Joshua and Riggs, with more and more members of the LAPD watching on as it progresses…. Riggs beats Joshua fair and square, but when Joshua doesn’t go quietly, Riggs and Murtaugh make sure Joshua isn’t back for Lethal Weapon 2.
#19. Lethal Weapon gets a happy ending, with Riggs heading over to the Murtaugh house (or what’s left of it) for Christmas dinner… cue Elvis’ “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”.
#20. Speaking of music, I can’t forget to mention the score that was featured throughout Lethal Weapon composed by Michael Kamen and Eric Clapton.
