Lethal Weapon (1987)

<v Speaker 1>Hello and welcome the All Eighties Movies podcast and podcasts
<v Speaker 1>where we talk about the blocklisters, love flocks.
<v Speaker 2>And everything in between.
<v Speaker 1>From one of the precious decades from movies, the nineteen eighties.
<v Speaker 1>Host Bill bant Lomcmeeow's journey ram visiting eighties movies is
<v Speaker 1>my co host Jason Masse. Hello, Jason, Bill, I'm too
<v Speaker 1>old for this shit. That's right, listeners, we're discussing with
<v Speaker 1>spoilers of Plenty, the nineteen eighty seven action movie Lethal Weapon.
<v Speaker 1>It was produced by Silver Pictures and distributed it by
<v Speaker 1>Warner Brothers. The movie stars Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, and
<v Speaker 1>Gary Busey. Directed by Richard Johner, this movie is rated
<v Speaker 1>R with the running time of one hour and forty
<v Speaker 1>nine minutes. The movie was nominated for one OSCAR for
<v Speaker 1>Best Sound. So what is this movie about? What's in
<v Speaker 1>the box. If you grew up in the nineteen eighties
<v Speaker 1>and what's your local video store to rent this movie?
<v Speaker 1>You would find this description on the back of the
<v Speaker 1>VHS box.
<v Speaker 2>It is What's in the box? Take it away.
<v Speaker 3>Jason Martin Riggs is no ordinary cop. He's a mad
<v Speaker 3>Max gone maniacal, a man who's killing expertise and suicidal
<v Speaker 3>recklessness make him a lethal weapon to anyone he works
<v Speaker 3>against or with. Roger Murtaw is an easy going homicide
<v Speaker 3>detective with a loving family, a big house, and a
<v Speaker 3>pension he doesn't want to lose. Imagine Murtaw's shock when
<v Speaker 3>he learns his new partner is a guy with nothing
<v Speaker 3>left to lose. Wild eyed, burnt out Martin Riggs Lethal
<v Speaker 3>Weapon is the thrill packed story of two Vietnam vets
<v Speaker 3>turned cops who have just one other thing in common.
<v Speaker 3>Both hate to work with partners, but their partnership becomes
<v Speaker 3>the key to survival when a routine murder investigation leads
<v Speaker 3>to all out, take no prisoners, martial arts and machine
<v Speaker 3>guns war with an international heroin Ring director Richard Donner
<v Speaker 3>moves that war at two speeds, fast and faster. Hot
<v Speaker 3>la days and nights explode in one show topping scene
<v Speaker 3>after another, culminating in a no holds barred battle between
<v Speaker 3>Riggs and his angel of death nemesis, mister Joshua in
<v Speaker 3>an electrifying sequence incorporating three martial arts styles and requiring
<v Speaker 3>four full nights to film. Fierce Fast and frequently funny
<v Speaker 3>Lethal Weapon fires off round after round of can't miss entertainment,
<v Speaker 3>lethal Weapon.
<v Speaker 1>Leath a weapon. How big was this VHS box that
<v Speaker 1>you're reading off of.
<v Speaker 3>Jason, No, no, I'll be honest with you, Bill Bant.
<v Speaker 3>I will look at these images on Google of all
<v Speaker 3>the different VHS covers and they're great because you see
<v Speaker 3>the different art, et cetera. And sometimes to be completely
<v Speaker 3>transparent with all of our listeners, the original box, which
<v Speaker 3>I try to choose all the time, the first original
<v Speaker 3>box relief for the VHS. I try to choose that synopsis,
<v Speaker 3>but sometimes there's just too damn long. But this is
<v Speaker 3>the one that I didn't actually see too many others
<v Speaker 3>that were different from or a shorter in length. But
<v Speaker 3>I will choose the shorter length from time to time
<v Speaker 3>just to spare everybody.
<v Speaker 2>I appreciate that. So that was what's in the box.
<v Speaker 1>Let's move on to our eighties snapshot as we highlight
<v Speaker 1>some of the creative forces from this movie.
<v Speaker 2>Jason, who do you have?
<v Speaker 3>I chose Shane Black, the writer of Lethal Weapon. Here's
<v Speaker 3>a few of his trademarks as a writer. You know,
<v Speaker 3>he uses a kidnapping as a plot device in a
<v Speaker 3>lot of his films, such as This, Lethal Weapon, The
<v Speaker 3>Last Boy Scout, The Long Kiss Good Night, and iron
<v Speaker 3>Man three. His scripts often combine action, thriller, noir, and
<v Speaker 3>black comedy elements, and five of his screenplays begin with
<v Speaker 3>the letter L. How about that btw Six of his
<v Speaker 3>screenplays are all set at Christmas time. His eighties snap shot, Well,
<v Speaker 3>here we go, Lethal Weapon in nineteen eighty seven, The
<v Speaker 3>Monster Squad in nineteen eighty seven, then Lethal Weapon two,
<v Speaker 3>he's credited for story and characters, and well, he ends
<v Speaker 3>up getting the character's credit for Lethal Weapon three and
<v Speaker 3>four later on in the nineties, and so well, that
<v Speaker 3>basically sums up his eighties. And I'm just gonna mention
<v Speaker 3>some notables afterwards, since his eighties didn't last that long.
<v Speaker 2>Here for us.
<v Speaker 3>The Last Boy Scout came out in ninety one. He
<v Speaker 3>wrote The Last Action Hero in ninety three, The Long
<v Speaker 3>Kiss good Night in ninety six, Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang,
<v Speaker 3>and five Iron Man in twenty thirteen. That's iron Man three,
<v Speaker 3>by the way, The nice Guys one of my personal favorites.
<v Speaker 3>In twenty sixteen, he did an episode of the Lethal
<v Speaker 3>Weapon TV steer series. At least he gets story by
<v Speaker 3>credit for that in twenty sixteen, he does The Predator
<v Speaker 3>that later sequel in the Predator franchise in twenty eighteen,
<v Speaker 3>and then recently he does Play Dirty. He wrote Play Dirty,
<v Speaker 3>released on Netflix here in twenty twenty five. Little trivia,
<v Speaker 3>he was twenty two, only twenty two when he sold
<v Speaker 3>the Lethal Weapon screenplay. And the funny thing is that
<v Speaker 3>Shane Black might be best known as the character Hawkins, who
<v Speaker 3>was the first victim killed by the Predator and Predator also.
<v Speaker 2>Released in nineteen eighty seven.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, he's an actor to Shane Black, writer of Lethal Weapon.
<v Speaker 1>Awesome I saw. I went with actor Danny Glover, who
<v Speaker 1>was born in San Francisco, California, and from early on
<v Speaker 1>he committed himself to the craft of acting. He trained
<v Speaker 1>at the Black Actors Workshop of the American Conservatory Theater.
<v Speaker 1>It didn't take long for his talent to get noticed.
<v Speaker 1>His Broadway debut in Master Harold and the Boys brought
<v Speaker 1>him national attention, and that performance opened the door to
<v Speaker 1>his first leading film role in Robert Benton's Places in
<v Speaker 1>the Heart in nineteen eighty four, starring opposite Sally Field.
<v Speaker 1>By the mid eighties, clever had quickly become one of
<v Speaker 1>the most respected actors of the decade. In nineteen eighty five,
<v Speaker 1>alone appeared in two more Best Picture nominees, Peter Weir's Witness,
<v Speaker 1>which was our fourth episode we did on this show,
<v Speaker 1>and Steven Spielberg's The Color of Purple, delivering a powerful,
<v Speaker 1>dramatic performance that drew widespread acclaim. Then, of course, in
<v Speaker 1>eighty seven, Glover reached global stardom when he teamed up
<v Speaker 1>with Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon. His role as Detective
<v Speaker 1>Roger Murtaugh, famously too old for This, became iconic, and
<v Speaker 1>he reprised the character in three hugely successful sequels, firmously
<v Speaker 1>establishing himself as a mainstream leading man. Other notable eighty
<v Speaker 1>movies include Silverado and Bat twenty one. But Glover never
<v Speaker 1>lited himself to blockbusters. Alongside commercial success, he invested his
<v Speaker 1>energy to deeply personal and socially conscious projects. One of
<v Speaker 1>them was nineteen nineties to Sleep with Anger, which he
<v Speaker 1>executive produced and won an Independent Spirit Award for Best
<v Speaker 1>Actor on Television. Glover earned widespread acclaim as well, winning
<v Speaker 1>an Image Award and a Cable Ace Award, and receiving
<v Speaker 1>an Emmy nomination for his portrayal of Nelson Mandela on
<v Speaker 1>HBO's Mandela from nineteen eighty seven. He later earned an
<v Speaker 1>additional Emmy nomination for the nineteen eighty nine TV mini
<v Speaker 1>series Losome Dump and Behind the Camera. Glover made his
<v Speaker 1>mark as a director to earning a Daytime Emmy nomination
<v Speaker 1>for Showtimes Just a Dream in two thousand and two.
<v Speaker 1>That is actor Danny.
<v Speaker 3>Glover outstanding Badass.
<v Speaker 2>It was a great career.
<v Speaker 1>And this leads us to earliest memories. Jason, was your
<v Speaker 1>earliest memory of Lethal Weapon?
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I've been hiding my excitement a little bit. This
<v Speaker 3>movie rules. I'm a huge fan, all right, So let's
<v Speaker 3>talk about some early memories.
<v Speaker 2>Huh.
<v Speaker 3>Well, I couldn't tell you who I was with or
<v Speaker 3>where I was when I saw it for the first time,
<v Speaker 3>but it was on TV. I did not see this
<v Speaker 3>in the theater, and I do remember really liking it,
<v Speaker 3>and I knew Mel Gibson from The World Warrior, not
<v Speaker 3>much else. I didn't really know Danny Glover at this time. Now,
<v Speaker 3>going back and thinking when you just mentioned Witness and Silverado,
<v Speaker 3>I'm a huge fan of both of those movies. But
<v Speaker 3>for whatever reason. I don't know if Danny Glover's face
<v Speaker 3>just kind of stuck with me. So it's just it's
<v Speaker 3>this It's lethal weapon is really where Danny Glover took
<v Speaker 3>a permanent place in my consciousness. Maybe I recognize Gary
<v Speaker 3>Busey a little bit, but that's about it. I mean,
<v Speaker 3>this movie was right my wheelhouse in regards to the
<v Speaker 3>buddy cop genre and those types of films. My love
<v Speaker 3>for this film would just grow and grow upon every
<v Speaker 3>revisit to this day. I've watched it so many times.
<v Speaker 3>I could tell you that I have an early memory
<v Speaker 3>of every scene in this movie. I could go from
<v Speaker 3>beginning to end and tell you why every scene is awesome.
<v Speaker 3>I have a supremely nostalgic attachment to the soundtrack of
<v Speaker 3>this film, as it was quickly added to my orchestral
<v Speaker 3>soundtrack collection. I would use this as creative fuel for
<v Speaker 3>years and years afterward, and this music would be another
<v Speaker 3>way to bond with our fellow film pal, Patrick Duty
<v Speaker 3>in college. That's a fond memory of mine and Patrick Duty,
<v Speaker 3>whom we've had on this podcast a couple of times.
<v Speaker 3>But it's not just the music. I remember the dry,
<v Speaker 3>witty humor of Martin Riggs. It was the Rigs role
<v Speaker 3>as I call it, as I think a lot of
<v Speaker 3>people would dub this as well. It's his move that
<v Speaker 3>he uses when he's firing off his baretta and he
<v Speaker 3>drops to the ground and he rolls in a circle
<v Speaker 3>and he keeps shooting. It's a great movement, looks very cinematic.
<v Speaker 3>It's very cool, and I would emulate that move with
<v Speaker 3>high school friends while fake fighting all the time, probably
<v Speaker 3>most likely with Chris Valenzano, fellow film buddy again who
<v Speaker 3>is on this podcast. But honestly, I think we were
<v Speaker 3>emulating the Riggs role from Lethal Weapon two. But I
<v Speaker 3>just want to be honest about that. But he does
<v Speaker 3>do it here in Lethal Weapon one. My memories, of course,
<v Speaker 3>surround Martin Riggs that character a lot. It's just him
<v Speaker 3>being a badass. I always love Glover in this franchise.
<v Speaker 3>He is one half of it. I mean, he's a
<v Speaker 3>huge part of it. But as a young and I
<v Speaker 3>wanted to be Martin Riggs because of mel Gibson's performance.
<v Speaker 3>I always think of his vulnerability, his portrayal of loss
<v Speaker 3>and inner turmoil, living on the edge, his crazed mannerisms,
<v Speaker 3>whether it's you know he's almost committing suicide in the beginning,
<v Speaker 3>or jumping off a building or sprinting through traffic. I
<v Speaker 3>remember his intensity, his sheer, explosiveness. But it's about the
<v Speaker 3>Riggs Myrtau relationship. They're back and forth, how the movie moves,
<v Speaker 3>and how the stakes get higher and higher. These are
<v Speaker 3>all things that have stuck with me over the years,
<v Speaker 3>and that's what I think of when I think of
<v Speaker 3>this movie, and overall, Bill Bank, just how fun it is.
<v Speaker 2>It's fun now.
<v Speaker 3>This is one thousand percent one of the movies that
<v Speaker 3>made me want to be in movies and make movies.
<v Speaker 3>It's a great Los Angeles movie, a great Hollywood movie,
<v Speaker 3>and it's a Christmas movie. These are the things I
<v Speaker 3>think of over the years when I was watching it.
<v Speaker 2>What's not to love?
<v Speaker 3>I've watched it since with so many friends and quoted
<v Speaker 3>it and paused it and watched it in slow mode
<v Speaker 3>to see who shot first at mister Joshua in the
<v Speaker 3>final fight sequence. I got a lot of nostalgia attached
<v Speaker 3>to this. It's an all timer. It stuck with me
<v Speaker 3>throughout the years. I am in love with lethal weapon.
<v Speaker 3>What are your early memories?
<v Speaker 1>Bill bant Well, if you've listened to our Hoosiers episode,
<v Speaker 1>I'm pretty much going to be repeating a story here.
<v Speaker 1>There was something about those trailers or commercials to this
<v Speaker 1>movie that I had to go see this movie in
<v Speaker 1>the theater, and three of my friends went was supposed
<v Speaker 1>to be opening night to the AMC Orleans eight to
<v Speaker 1>go see Lethal Weapon. But my friends pulled the fast
<v Speaker 1>one on me because they all decided they wanted to
<v Speaker 1>go watch Hoosiers instead.
<v Speaker 2>We had a vote.
<v Speaker 1>I lost three to one and we saw Hoosiers, which
<v Speaker 1>win win.
<v Speaker 2>On that one. Yeah, for sure. Oh man.
<v Speaker 1>I was so pissed though it took a while for
<v Speaker 1>Hoosiers for it to kick in because I'm sitting in
<v Speaker 1>the theater going it should be like, fucking lethal Weapon?
<v Speaker 1>Why are we watching this movie? Receiving But one of
<v Speaker 1>my friends did promise that we would go see it,
<v Speaker 1>and we did go back. Finally two weeks later, two
<v Speaker 1>of us and I remember the middle of movie turning
<v Speaker 1>to him and go and see see why I wanted
<v Speaker 1>to go see this, and he's like, You're totally right,
<v Speaker 1>this is awesome. So but I do thank my friends
<v Speaker 1>for taking me to Hoosiers.
<v Speaker 2>Clip.
<v Speaker 1>I probably would not have seen it in the theater,
<v Speaker 1>and it's probably one of the most watched movies I've
<v Speaker 1>seen from the eighties. That would definitely be another one
<v Speaker 1>that's in my top ten. Not as close as Beast Master,
<v Speaker 1>but it's up there. That's my story. Fantastic man, that's funny.
<v Speaker 1>I've definitely seen leth Or. I did see Lethal Weapon
<v Speaker 1>more than The Beast Master. Yes, it's all right. I'm
<v Speaker 1>catching flak for having not seen The Beast Master. I
<v Speaker 1>don't know how I missed it. I was living in
<v Speaker 1>a hole apparently. Anyway, lethal Weapon, let's talk about it
<v Speaker 1>a little more. You want to get into some initial thoughts, Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>let's do it.
<v Speaker 2>What do we got?
<v Speaker 3>Well, I'm gonna go over a few things here, because
<v Speaker 3>I mean, starting with I was like, we went, how
<v Speaker 3>long is Lethal Weapon? It's one of the things we
<v Speaker 3>look at just because we're scheduling and I got to
<v Speaker 3>carve out some time to watch the movie for the
<v Speaker 3>pod and I look forward to it. And this movie
<v Speaker 3>is running time is only an hour and fifty minutes
<v Speaker 3>or forty nine minutes come on clocks in it under
<v Speaker 3>two hours. That's amazing. That means you can make a
<v Speaker 3>badass movie in less than two hours. For sure, you
<v Speaker 3>ever need proof, this is it. So I love that
<v Speaker 3>first and foremost the movie kicks in. This is, without
<v Speaker 3>a doubt, a Christmas movie. There is no debate. Oh
<v Speaker 3>there is a debate. Oh come on, really.
<v Speaker 1>I used to joke that Diehard and Leath the Weapon
<v Speaker 1>are my favorite Christmas movies, right, I was just about
<v Speaker 1>to say, But watching it this time, I don't.
<v Speaker 2>Consider it a Christmas movie.
<v Speaker 1>Really, yes, because Christmas is important to the plot of
<v Speaker 1>die Hard, whereas Leath the Weapon this could happen at
<v Speaker 1>any time. There's nothing that needs Christmas in it to
<v Speaker 1>make the movie go, Whereas I think with die Hard
<v Speaker 1>you need that element of Christmas for the movie to
<v Speaker 1>move forward because they're having the Christmas party. McLean is
<v Speaker 1>coming in because it's the Holidays. The reason it's actually
<v Speaker 1>robbers are there, it's because of Christmas, Whereas Litha Webbon
<v Speaker 1>this could have happened at any point. I used to
<v Speaker 1>consider it a Christmas movie, but watching it this week,
<v Speaker 1>I'm like, no, but listeners want to disagree, have at it.
<v Speaker 3>I think you make a really really good point, and
<v Speaker 3>you make a solid argument there. I do disagree wholeheartedly,
<v Speaker 3>only because upon this rewatch. I mean, every other scene
<v Speaker 3>has some sort of Christmas element in it. Is it
<v Speaker 3>used as a plot device or to move the story forward,
<v Speaker 3>maybe in ways like it is in Diehard. No, absolutely not.
<v Speaker 3>You are absolutely right. It could take place at any time.
<v Speaker 3>But it's just that the Christmas spirit is so present
<v Speaker 3>throughout the film, whether it's the Myrtaw house and the
<v Speaker 3>Christmas tree and notes attached to the Christmas tree, or
<v Speaker 3>it's the cops near the beginning rehearsing they're going to
<v Speaker 3>be singing a Silent Night. It's built into the soundtrack.
<v Speaker 3>You hear the bells ringing in the background with the
<v Speaker 3>Michael Cayman score. It's very present for me. But you're right,
<v Speaker 3>You're right, it's just the story itself. Yeah, correct, it is.
<v Speaker 3>It's window dressing. That's a great point. So I don't
<v Speaker 3>know if you want to do this now. I was
<v Speaker 3>going to save it to the end of my initial thoughts,
<v Speaker 3>but there is a major comparison to be made here
<v Speaker 3>to Diehard. There's just a lot of similarities between this
<v Speaker 3>film and I was surprised in watching this. But we
<v Speaker 3>can talk about that at the end. If you want,
<v Speaker 3>unless you want to address it right here off the top. Now,
<v Speaker 3>let's go for it.
<v Speaker 1>Okay, it's a great one two punch for sure.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah.
<v Speaker 3>Absolutely, So that's what I mean. This is the die
<v Speaker 3>Hard crossover. We have our producer Joel Silver, who produces
<v Speaker 3>both films. We have Michael Kaman, who's the composer for
<v Speaker 3>both films. We have our supporting actors, grand El Bush
<v Speaker 3>love him in this, love Him, Detective Johnson in the
<v Speaker 3>helicopter in Diehard. We've got Mary Ellen Trainor as the
<v Speaker 3>psychiatrist here in Lethal Weapon, and she's the reporter in Diehard.
<v Speaker 3>Correct if I'm not mistaken, And yes, then the one
<v Speaker 3>the only Al Leong, al Leong, gotta love Al He's
<v Speaker 3>Endo in this. I don't now, I can't think of
<v Speaker 3>his actual terrorist name in Diehard, but I forget you.
<v Speaker 3>It's like that's his big moments when he's looking down
<v Speaker 3>at the candy.
<v Speaker 1>But it's awesome, right, he's great.
<v Speaker 2>I'm wondering if that's his real voice.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, Oh, we can talk about actually a little bit,
<v Speaker 3>I'm going to talk about a little bit of a
<v Speaker 3>d R in this, which is funny. Also one of
<v Speaker 3>the comparison I wanted to make to die Hard the
<v Speaker 3>ending with the final fight sequence. Here in Lethal Weapon,
<v Speaker 3>we have this classic moment where we think that mister
<v Speaker 3>Joshua has been defeated by Riggs in this great martial
<v Speaker 3>arts fight, this fisticuffs type of fight, and Martin Riggs
<v Speaker 3>gets him in a like a wrestling hold and basically
<v Speaker 3>renders him unconscious. But then of course mister Joshua for
<v Speaker 3>one last time, comes back to life, grabs one of
<v Speaker 3>the cops guns, and Martin Riggs and Murta turn around
<v Speaker 3>and both shoot him in the chest, putting him down
<v Speaker 3>for good. That just, to me, that's the end of
<v Speaker 3>die Hard. That's Carl coming back to life and shooting
<v Speaker 3>at McLain and then of course good old Al gets
<v Speaker 3>him first and saves McLain's life in that at the
<v Speaker 3>very end and is able to fire his weapon, which
<v Speaker 3>is a big deal for Alt. So I'm like, this
<v Speaker 3>is very, very similar. It's just it just really came
<v Speaker 3>to the forefront for me upon this viewing this die
<v Speaker 3>Hard type of crossover. It's just funny because die Hard
<v Speaker 3>is known as changing the landscape of action films from
<v Speaker 3>then on, when so many films were pitched as oh,
<v Speaker 3>this is die Hard on a plane or die Hard
<v Speaker 3>in as such and such, Right, die Hard on a
<v Speaker 3>cruise boat or whatever? And I'm thinking was die Hard
<v Speaker 3>lethal Weapon in a high rise?
<v Speaker 2>Right?
<v Speaker 3>And not to mention, the most obvious thing is the partnering, right,
<v Speaker 3>we have a Caucasian an African American partner together as
<v Speaker 3>buddy cops, right, So I mean that's you know, in
<v Speaker 3>the of course, the one cop is breaking the rules, right,
<v Speaker 3>and he's anti authority or whatever, and then the other
<v Speaker 3>cop is straight laced and playing it by the book.
<v Speaker 3>It's the same same thing, all right. Yeah, let's talk
<v Speaker 3>more about this film, of course, Lethal Weapon. That soundtrack
<v Speaker 3>Man Michael came in, David Sanborn, Eric Clapton.
<v Speaker 2>End of sentence, What else do you need to say?
<v Speaker 2>I love the.
<v Speaker 3>Theme in this the wow wow wa, the saxophone from Sanborn, Eric,
<v Speaker 3>I mean, the riffs this upon this watch. The soundtrack
<v Speaker 3>supported so much of this in such a strong way
<v Speaker 3>that it stood out to me on this rewatch as
<v Speaker 3>it hasn't done before, not just the talents of Sanborn
<v Speaker 3>and Clapton on their individual instruments, but the score itself,
<v Speaker 3>the instrumental score self, particularly during the desert sequence outside
<v Speaker 3>of Victorville, where Glover's got to go out there to
<v Speaker 3>hopefully retrieve his kidnapped daughter, and then of course Riggs
<v Speaker 3>is shooting everybody up. There's this whole opening sequence when
<v Speaker 3>the choppers coming in, which is the cinematic shot, and
<v Speaker 3>the dust is kicking up, and the score is triumphant.
<v Speaker 3>So it just was like, Wow, this score really is
<v Speaker 3>another character in this film. It's fantastic. Let's talk about
<v Speaker 3>Gibson and Glover. The chemistry is undeniable. I can't really
<v Speaker 3>see anyone else playing these roles. The banter, the writing,
<v Speaker 3>the crosstalk, this back and forth, the banter where they're
<v Speaker 3>kind of talking over one another. That I thought was
<v Speaker 3>excellent direction, excellent writing, that Shane Black Black comedy element
<v Speaker 3>of it. It made it feel natural. And I don't
<v Speaker 3>know that I'd seen this kind of banter between.
<v Speaker 2>Cops like this before.
<v Speaker 3>That was kind of quick and quick witted, And I
<v Speaker 3>don't know how you felt about that.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, speak on the chemistry, man, yeah, I.
<v Speaker 1>Mean shout out to casting director Marion Daugherty that was
<v Speaker 1>able to figure this out, that she thought mel Gibson
<v Speaker 1>and Glover would work. I mean, based on what they
<v Speaker 1>had done up to that point. I don't know how
<v Speaker 1>she figured that out, and she knocked out of the park.
<v Speaker 1>That's what everybody loves about these movies. It's just the
<v Speaker 1>two of them back and forth. They are opposites, I mean,
<v Speaker 1>there are polar opposites who seemed to just work together.
<v Speaker 1>It's amazing, it really is.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, and from what I read as well, well, same thing.
<v Speaker 3>Much credit to the casting director as well. You know,
<v Speaker 3>there were obviously other choices for these roles, and especially
<v Speaker 3>Martin Riggs. There's a lot of that in the research.
<v Speaker 3>But what I did read is, you know, when they
<v Speaker 3>did their read together, that being Glover and Gibson, it
<v Speaker 3>was like magic. Credits to the casting people for recognizing
<v Speaker 3>that and casting because that. I just don't see anybody
<v Speaker 3>else pulling this off as well. I could see other
<v Speaker 3>people like their faces in the roles, but it just
<v Speaker 3>the magic wouldn't be there.
<v Speaker 2>I guess.
<v Speaker 3>Love Gary Busey in this man mister Joshua looking sharp,
<v Speaker 3>the white hair. He's a badass in this. But I'm
<v Speaker 3>going to say this a little nitpicky right from the
<v Speaker 3>get here to step on maybe complaints. I think this
<v Speaker 3>movie has a little bit, just a little bit of
<v Speaker 3>a bad guy problem. Mister Joshua Gary Busey saves it.
<v Speaker 3>But the ultimate batty is supposed to be General McAllister,
<v Speaker 3>and I thought he as the main battie was a
<v Speaker 3>little bit on the weak side. I don't know how
<v Speaker 3>you feel about that.
<v Speaker 1>He has one scene I really like him in, but
<v Speaker 1>I'll save it for a complete department because there's it. Okay,
<v Speaker 1>there's something that ruins it. But yeah, it comes across
<v Speaker 1>that Joshua is the main bad guy, but he's not
<v Speaker 1>really the main bad guy, right, I agree with it.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I just think mister Joshua is so bad ass,
<v Speaker 3>but he's the second command correct, And then it's like
<v Speaker 3>the big bad boss is General McCallister, and he gets
<v Speaker 3>his come up and spoke. I'm not intimidated by him
<v Speaker 3>as much as Joshua. And let's address this real quick.
<v Speaker 3>We don't have to get into it. I just have
<v Speaker 3>a question here for you regarding the Mel Gibson of
<v Speaker 3>it all. I'm a big, big fan of Mel Gibson
<v Speaker 3>as an actor. I adore several of his films. I
<v Speaker 3>adore his direction of films. But as it is well
<v Speaker 3>documented and known, he's had some issues offscreen, some major
<v Speaker 3>issues that have come to light et cetera. Major issues
<v Speaker 3>just you know, because it's controversial, et cetera, and a
<v Speaker 3>lot of opinions on those. How do you feel about
<v Speaker 3>Mel Gibson as an actor? And or I have a
<v Speaker 3>question for you, Bill Banty, speaking of him, what was
<v Speaker 3>the last movie you saw him in and enjoyed?
<v Speaker 2>Wow?
<v Speaker 1>Last movie I saw Himon? I don't even remember. It's
<v Speaker 1>been so long. Yeah, maybe The Beaver.
<v Speaker 3>I don't know sure, So that's you nailed it, Like
<v Speaker 3>I'm saying you nailed it in the way. I'm not
<v Speaker 3>saying that specifically what you saw him in last leg
<v Speaker 3>I wouldn't know, But that's about that time. I was
<v Speaker 3>looking over his filmography and for me, I remember seeing
<v Speaker 3>The Patriot, which I loved, and then Signs is one
<v Speaker 3>of my cult favorites of all time, A big Shyamalan fan.
<v Speaker 3>And then probably Expendables three, Okay, was the last thing
<v Speaker 3>I maybe the movie I saw him and that I
<v Speaker 3>saw it in its entirety, and that's where it kind of
<v Speaker 3>trickles off for me. And that was around that time
<v Speaker 3>it's the early to it's the early two thousand, mid
<v Speaker 3>two thousands, or like after twenty ten where it just
<v Speaker 3>kind of falls off for me. Payback was another one
<v Speaker 3>that was a huge one for me. Shout out to
<v Speaker 3>Mark Eliopolis.
<v Speaker 2>We used to watch that. It's a great Mel Gibson film.
<v Speaker 3>It was just curious he's still around, he's still doing it.
<v Speaker 3>They're not considered the A list movies being for theatrical release.
<v Speaker 1>It was interesting a couple of years back they were
<v Speaker 1>showing the Man Max Trilogy down in Hollywood and Marwaan
<v Speaker 1>wanted to go because he had never seen Beyond Thunderdough.
<v Speaker 1>Oh yeah, sure, And mel Gibson was there to a
<v Speaker 1>Q and A, well not Q and A. He was
<v Speaker 1>doing kind of an interview and he came on after
<v Speaker 1>Road Warrior played, and he spoke for like forty five minutes,
<v Speaker 1>and you know, this is kind of posts when all
<v Speaker 1>this other stuff came out, and I don't know, I
<v Speaker 1>was kind of impressed about the way he spoke and
<v Speaker 1>kind of you know, they didn't really get into that.
<v Speaker 2>Of course, it was more retrospect on his career, sure,
<v Speaker 2>of course.
<v Speaker 1>But I've had people that met him everything I've heard
<v Speaker 1>about him from people have been nice, but yes, there's
<v Speaker 1>definitely stuff out there. So I do try to separate
<v Speaker 1>the two because I really do love this character of
<v Speaker 1>Martin Rings in this movie. There's a reason that Lisa
<v Speaker 1>Weapon is my favorite of the series because he has
<v Speaker 1>an edge that he does not recapture in the other
<v Speaker 1>three films. We don't know what's going on, if he's
<v Speaker 1>going to break at any point in the movie. It's
<v Speaker 1>something for me that I just think is missing in
<v Speaker 1>the other three movies. And if you hear that helicopter
<v Speaker 1>in the background, I hope that's not Joshua coming to
<v Speaker 1>assassinate me.
<v Speaker 3>You're not drinking eggnog right now?
<v Speaker 2>Right?
<v Speaker 1>No, no, leaving it off to the side. I'm not
<v Speaker 1>going to pick that up. But that's why I love
<v Speaker 1>this movie. I just love that character. I just love
<v Speaker 1>the way that Gibson betrays him and Mel Gibson the person,
<v Speaker 1>mel Gibson the actor, I just keep in separate compartments.
<v Speaker 3>One thousand percent. No, no matter what your opinion is
<v Speaker 3>of Mel Gibson the person, he's an excellent actor and
<v Speaker 3>just what he brings to this character. You said it.
<v Speaker 3>I think if any I mean, anyone plays that beat
<v Speaker 3>up every guy as well as Bruce Willis, it's Mel Gibson.
<v Speaker 3>Except the thing is mel Gibson is pretty. He's a
<v Speaker 3>really good looking dude, and he pulls it off. It's
<v Speaker 3>pretty impressive. And that's another question, like, is Mel Gibbson
<v Speaker 3>one of those last movie stars that could play the
<v Speaker 3>tough guy and be that pretty. I mean, Kurt Russell's
<v Speaker 3>can do that, but I think of Kurt Russell being
<v Speaker 3>a little bit more edgy in his just the way
<v Speaker 3>he looks. He's handsome, but not quite as pretty as Gibson.
<v Speaker 3>Mel Gibson just God, he embodies the role so much,
<v Speaker 3>don't You're not just saying, oh, yeah, of course he's
<v Speaker 3>a great looking dude, but you kind of forget about that.
<v Speaker 3>You're just like, man, this guy has got some real trauma,
<v Speaker 3>he's got some real problems, and he embodies it. He's
<v Speaker 3>living it in this role. You're so invested in his
<v Speaker 3>character and then to see the journey with how he's
<v Speaker 3>working it out and how he kind of has to
<v Speaker 3>adapt to this new relationship with a new partner in
<v Speaker 3>Glover and vice versa, Glover's got it, then think you
<v Speaker 3>know he's about to retire, he's just turned fifty, et cetera.
<v Speaker 3>It's fun to watch that. It's a great dynamic, right,
<v Speaker 3>It's a great setup for a relationship to see how
<v Speaker 3>this is going to work, and they make it work.
<v Speaker 3>And not only do they make it work, but then
<v Speaker 3>it turns in to a lot of fun. So just
<v Speaker 3>a real credit to both actors actually, but Gibson every
<v Speaker 3>time I watch this just really impresses me time and
<v Speaker 3>time again. Speaking of which, did you think about their
<v Speaker 3>ages during this film? Because Glover is supposed to be
<v Speaker 3>turning fifty in this movie his character Roger Mertau, he's forty.
<v Speaker 3>He's forty years old when they filmed this, which is crazy.
<v Speaker 3>And then you have Gibson, who I think is supposed
<v Speaker 3>to be thirty eight in the movie his character, But
<v Speaker 3>how old.
<v Speaker 2>Was he when they filmed it? Thirty? There you go.
<v Speaker 1>Even Rianne supposed to be seventeen eighteen, she was twenty
<v Speaker 1>four to twenty five. And I think Mrtall's wife, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>Charlene love Trish, Yeah, she's five years older than Glover
<v Speaker 1>and she was playing the young I think a little
<v Speaker 1>bit younger wife.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, So yeah, I mean it's just funny with the
<v Speaker 3>ages and how old they're supposed to be. But everybody
<v Speaker 3>looks great. They're in great shape. Glover looks I mean
<v Speaker 3>for being forty, even he looks great shape. They had
<v Speaker 3>personal trainers to get in shape for this and follow
<v Speaker 3>cops are They did the whole thing. So I buy
<v Speaker 3>a hook line and sinker. Great quotes from this movie
<v Speaker 3>I'm too old for this shit and all the banter.
<v Speaker 3>It's funny because I'm too old for this shit. Is
<v Speaker 3>the is the quote right? And it plays out throughout
<v Speaker 3>the franchise. But the other stuff, it feels like it's
<v Speaker 3>so quotable, but it's all back and forth dialogue that
<v Speaker 3>you would need a partner to do with, which is
<v Speaker 3>fun to do with other people, but it's not You
<v Speaker 3>can walk around and just quote lethal weapon all the time.
<v Speaker 3>Outside of I'm too old for this shit. Yeah, every scene,
<v Speaker 3>man is great. I wanted to say this the scene
<v Speaker 3>when they go to the house to investigate and interrogate
<v Speaker 3>the drug dealer that supposedly supplied Amanda Huntsecker with her
<v Speaker 3>bad drugs, her contaminated drugs. I've been to that house.
<v Speaker 3>That's the Richard Donner house. It's really cool. I just
<v Speaker 3>wanted to That was a highlight for me. I did
<v Speaker 3>a little bit with Patrick duty I think was Chris
<v Speaker 3>Wendsayan on that too, probably, but we did a little
<v Speaker 3>bit of It was for a reality show and they
<v Speaker 3>needed me to sort of play a certain part, and
<v Speaker 3>it was basically part of a pitch I believe had
<v Speaker 3>to do sports like the good old days. It's no
<v Speaker 3>I can't even think of the name of it. And
<v Speaker 3>Pat's gonna kill me for this, Patrick that is anyway.
<v Speaker 3>That was cool just to be on the house because
<v Speaker 3>you walk in, You're like, oh, this is totally the
<v Speaker 3>scene from Lethal Weapon and I was looking for You
<v Speaker 3>can't see it obviously in Lethal webon but off to
<v Speaker 3>the side when they're walking through to the backyard where
<v Speaker 3>the pool is. If you're there in the Richard Donner house,
<v Speaker 3>there's a big Superman.
<v Speaker 2>Sculpture in the yard. Oh nice.
<v Speaker 3>I was like, hell, yeah, man, there is Superman. That's
<v Speaker 3>definitely Donner's place. That was a cool experience just to
<v Speaker 3>be on the Donner property and shooting something for entertainment.
<v Speaker 3>We'll talk about other great scenes later on. Just to
<v Speaker 3>wrap up initial thoughts, here was gonna ask you, do
<v Speaker 3>you feel like this plot is all or at all convoluted.
<v Speaker 1>I do have two questions about this movie, Okay. One
<v Speaker 1>is it does feel they're little pieces missing for a while,
<v Speaker 1>that there's needs I agree filled in or they had
<v Speaker 1>to cut it out for time or whatever it is.
<v Speaker 1>I did feel it watching it this time. It didn't
<v Speaker 1>bother me.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>I think in a way this is almost like a
<v Speaker 1>Jane's Bond movie in the sense of I'm just watching
<v Speaker 1>it for the action, and then the fourth or fifth
<v Speaker 1>time you watch it, you go, oh, what's the story? Oh, okay,
<v Speaker 1>I got it. I didn't really care about it because
<v Speaker 1>it's just so much fun regardless, you know, watching this time,
<v Speaker 1>I really had to watch for story. But no, that
<v Speaker 1>did make sense for me. But there is one thing
<v Speaker 1>that drives me up the wall. I still have not
<v Speaker 1>figured it out. Okay, it's the scene in which and
<v Speaker 1>I love this shot when mel Gibson gets shot and
<v Speaker 1>goes through the glass. I've mentioned this before. I'm like,
<v Speaker 1>if if I have to die a terrible way, that's
<v Speaker 1>the way I want to go. I want to get
<v Speaker 1>shot and go through flying through the glass of a building.
<v Speaker 1>That's my way. And you want to not saying someone
<v Speaker 1>please do it to me.
<v Speaker 2>Right.
<v Speaker 1>So after that happens and they talk about that they
<v Speaker 1>have the edge. Then Myrtal gets that call that someone's
<v Speaker 1>coming to the house and Mertal says, oh dimples, and
<v Speaker 1>it comes on, Yeah, how did you know that? And
<v Speaker 1>then Myrtow knows to race back to the house because
<v Speaker 1>something's going to happen. And they go back to the
<v Speaker 1>house and they see that Rann's been kidnapped.
<v Speaker 2>Right.
<v Speaker 1>I still don't understand how he puts that together because
<v Speaker 1>I was like, wait, is she dating Joshua? But then
<v Speaker 1>when I read it, supposedly someone kills Rhann's boyfriend when
<v Speaker 1>she gets kidnapped. Yeah, I still understand how Myrtaw figures
<v Speaker 1>it out that he needs to go back to the
<v Speaker 1>house because they're in trouble.
<v Speaker 3>Great question, and I've thought about this as well. I
<v Speaker 3>just went with it. But there are things obviously that
<v Speaker 3>happen off screen here that they allude to that we
<v Speaker 3>do not see, so you do have to try to
<v Speaker 3>put together the pieces. As soon as Martin raises shot
<v Speaker 3>and goes flying back through the window, fantastic. That's a
<v Speaker 3>great moment because it does kind of take you by
<v Speaker 3>surprise if you don't know what's coming. It's a great shotgun, blacks,
<v Speaker 3>great stunt, all that fantastic, and obviously he's wearing the
<v Speaker 3>bullet proof vest. I think in that moment, we're supposed
<v Speaker 3>to understand that Murtaw puts it together that oh, now they're
<v Speaker 3>coming after us, because obviously they're literally, whether it's mister
<v Speaker 3>Joshua or this shadow company, this group of mercenaries, they're
<v Speaker 3>clearly taking out anyone that is connected to them that
<v Speaker 3>could talk to the police. And now that they've seen
<v Speaker 3>Huntsacker talk to the police, that's the whole thing. Mister
<v Speaker 3>Joshua says, hey, I took out Huntsacker. He was the
<v Speaker 3>one last piece, but he talked to the cops. And
<v Speaker 3>then McAllister says, we have to turn up the heat,
<v Speaker 3>meaning now we got to take out the cops. And
<v Speaker 3>so I think Mrtaw himself, even though he's not privy
<v Speaker 3>to that conversation between Joshua and McAllister, he still understands
<v Speaker 3>that as a cop, like, oh, they're coming after If
<v Speaker 3>they came after Riggs in that way, they're coming after
<v Speaker 3>me next. So I got to get home right And
<v Speaker 3>then it confirms it when he gets the call that Rihann's.
<v Speaker 2>Boyfriend has been murdered.
<v Speaker 3>Oh, they say he's been yeah. In the he the
<v Speaker 3>call is the that the yeah, that he's been killed.
<v Speaker 3>I don't think I've ever caught that's yeah. When he
<v Speaker 3>gets the call they say, we found this the body
<v Speaker 3>of this blonde guy or something across from your house
<v Speaker 3>or something like that.
<v Speaker 2>I forget specifically.
<v Speaker 3>I apologize, but he's like, oh, you're gonna tell me
<v Speaker 3>it's he's got dimples or something. There's an incident involving
<v Speaker 3>the kid that happened, and he puts it. He's like, oh,
<v Speaker 3>that's not good. Okay, yeah, I have to go.
<v Speaker 1>Back to watch it again with the subtitles because I
<v Speaker 1>don't think I ever caught the fact that they found
<v Speaker 1>a body. I thought it was just someone was coming
<v Speaker 1>to the house and he goes, oh, someone with dimples,
<v Speaker 1>So I thought at that point he was at.
<v Speaker 3>I don't know if they say specifically it was a body,
<v Speaker 3>but I don't know the actual line of dialogue, but
<v Speaker 3>something happened to him, like it's very it's not good.
<v Speaker 3>Call to him is that they found something. That's all right?
<v Speaker 3>So this clears up a little for me. Yeah, but
<v Speaker 3>thanks for answering that question. I just threw that out
<v Speaker 3>there for the plot being a little confident, because when
<v Speaker 3>I was replaying the movie in my mind before rewatching
<v Speaker 3>it for the podcast, I was, oh, yeah, how does
<v Speaker 3>it get from A to Z? Here it goes from
<v Speaker 3>this to that, and then how do they put that together?
<v Speaker 3>And then they decide, for instance, in the like kind
<v Speaker 3>of halfway third way through, the investigation from their perspective
<v Speaker 3>is pretty much done. They just figured Amanda Huntsacker got
<v Speaker 3>some bad drugs, so she did not commit suicide.
<v Speaker 2>Technically she was murdered.
<v Speaker 3>And then the scene happens with the drug dealer who
<v Speaker 3>provided the drugs and he gets killed, so case closed.
<v Speaker 3>But then it's Rigs who's kind of like, ah, what
<v Speaker 3>about that other prostitute that just happened to be on
<v Speaker 3>the scene who was Amanda's friend? The thin story, which
<v Speaker 3>is thin, right, is totally thin, and that leads them
<v Speaker 3>to go to Dixie's house, which then, of course another
<v Speaker 3>great scene, fantastic explosion, they.
<v Speaker 2>Get saved by those little kids. Completely.
<v Speaker 3>I love that in these movies too, when you think
<v Speaker 3>about it, where it's not too contrived where they're literally
<v Speaker 3>walking up to house and they barely survived that they
<v Speaker 3>were seconds away from being killed in that explosion.
<v Speaker 2>It's like, oh, wow, that's cool. That's just to think that.
<v Speaker 3>Was just those kids didn't recognize they were cops. They
<v Speaker 3>would have blown up. That's a fun scene. Every scene
<v Speaker 3>is fun in this here's the last thing I'll say. Man,
<v Speaker 3>it's so much fun that even during the final credits
<v Speaker 3>we get some great Elvis Christmas music and then after that,
<v Speaker 3>probably the cheesiest eighties song during any final credits of
<v Speaker 3>any eighties that.
<v Speaker 1>Was my complaint. It was one of the worst worst
<v Speaker 1>closing credits songs. It's so bad, Jason, it's not even
<v Speaker 1>listed in the credits. I was like, who sung this crap?
<v Speaker 1>And I wanted to know, and it's not in the
<v Speaker 1>credits bill even love can Become a Lethal weapon. Oh
<v Speaker 1>that is terrible.
<v Speaker 3>As it was playing, I texted Patrick Duty and I
<v Speaker 3>was like, because we used to sing it all the
<v Speaker 3>time joking because it's so horrible.
<v Speaker 1>I almost wish they took Eddie Grant's Romancing the Stone
<v Speaker 1>and put it at the end credits, and it would
<v Speaker 1>have been better and made more sense.
<v Speaker 2>Than that song.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, and the song is entitled Leave the Weapon, correct,
<v Speaker 3>I mean that's the yes, right, and I believe it's
<v Speaker 3>on the soundtrack, is it. Yeah, it's just not credited
<v Speaker 3>in the film. Hilarious that it wasn't good stuff. That's
<v Speaker 3>all you got any other initial thoughts to attack on there,
<v Speaker 3>Bill Bant.
<v Speaker 2>No, that's it.
<v Speaker 1>Let's move on to favorite scenes or moments. All right,
<v Speaker 1>We're not going to rehash the whole movie. We'll just
<v Speaker 1>point out some favorite scenes to moments. Jason, what do
<v Speaker 1>you have.
<v Speaker 3>My first favorite scene? I'm entitling cocaine and Christmas trees.
<v Speaker 3>This isn't the actual official introduction of Martin Riggs, but
<v Speaker 3>this is really what explains first and foremost that he's
<v Speaker 3>a cop and that he is maybe not so well
<v Speaker 3>in the head. It's just a lot of fun. We're
<v Speaker 3>introduced to this character, Martin Riggs, and he's looked, you know,
<v Speaker 3>he's in plain clothes, and he's on a Christmas tree lot,
<v Speaker 3>a Christmas tree sails a lot, and he's in the
<v Speaker 3>midst of a drug deal, the cocaine deal, with these
<v Speaker 3>three guys, these three bad guys, and he's going to
<v Speaker 3>purchase some cocaine and they're like, okay, he tests the cocaine.
<v Speaker 3>This is a nice moment in the scene. It's really
<v Speaker 3>funny and it's so in character for Martin Riggs and
<v Speaker 3>credit to Mel Gibson as an actor. Where he is
<v Speaker 3>sampling the cocaine and he puts a little like on
<v Speaker 3>a little switchblade and he raises the cocaine up to
<v Speaker 3>his nose and he doesn't know how to sniff it
<v Speaker 3>or he can't decide how to sniff it, and then
<v Speaker 3>just puts it in his mouth. That's exactly what Martin
<v Speaker 3>Riggs would do. You'd just eat it, or he'd put it,
<v Speaker 3>rub it on his teeth or whatever. And he seems
<v Speaker 3>to like what he's sampled. He's like, uh, yeah, I'll
<v Speaker 3>take it, and they're like how much. He's like, well,
<v Speaker 3>I'll take it all. And they're like all right, we'll
<v Speaker 3>sell it to you for a hundred and he's like
<v Speaker 3>pulling out a hundred bucks and they're like, no, moron,
<v Speaker 3>not one hundred dollars, one hundred thousand, and then Riggs
<v Speaker 3>reveals himself as a cop. Shoot out ensues and they're
<v Speaker 3>running through the Christmas trees, which is a great I love.
<v Speaker 3>But this is the best part is that the other
<v Speaker 3>cops arrive on the scene to back up Riggs, and
<v Speaker 3>now Riggs gets caught by one of the bad guys
<v Speaker 3>as he's distracted, and the bad guy has a gun
<v Speaker 3>to his head and Riggs is like, go ahead, shoot me,
<v Speaker 3>shoot me, and he keeps saying it over and over again,
<v Speaker 3>and it becomes intimidating for the bad guy holding the
<v Speaker 3>gun to his head, and Riggs is just like, I
<v Speaker 3>don't care, shoot me, shoot me, shoot me, and he
<v Speaker 3>says it a thousand times. He actually says at one point,
<v Speaker 3>put it in my mouth, put it in my mouth,
<v Speaker 3>just do it, do it, shoot me. We're like, who
<v Speaker 3>is this guy? He's insane. He's literally tempting the bad
<v Speaker 3>guy to just shoot him in the head. And finally
<v Speaker 3>it gets to the point where he just spins around,
<v Speaker 3>grabs the bad guy's gun and puts it right back
<v Speaker 3>into his chin. And the look on Riggs's face is
<v Speaker 3>so intense and it's like he is so caught up
<v Speaker 3>in the moment, and the cops wrangle the bad guy
<v Speaker 3>away and he literally has to take this moment. It's
<v Speaker 3>a close up on Getson's face where his eyes are
<v Speaker 3>wide and his cheeks are shaking, and he has to
<v Speaker 3>take a deep breath to come down from it because
<v Speaker 3>it's just so heightened for him in that moment. But
<v Speaker 3>it's a fun action sequence where you get a real
<v Speaker 3>sense of Okay, this guy is a loose cannon. This
<v Speaker 3>Martin Riggs guy, this cop who apparently works in like
<v Speaker 3>the narcotics department here is just a real loose cannon.
<v Speaker 3>So I love this introduction of Martin Riggs the character.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it's a fun scene. I do like her a
<v Speaker 2>lot too.
<v Speaker 1>One of the things I noticed that made me laugh
<v Speaker 1>is when initially the deal is going down, it's Martin
<v Speaker 1>and three other guys, and once Martin says that he's
<v Speaker 1>a cop, we find out there's a guy in the
<v Speaker 1>truck that's behind Martin, and the guy pulls out a shotgun.
<v Speaker 1>He's going to blow Rigs away, and he's able to
<v Speaker 1>duck and it hits one of the three bad guys instead,
<v Speaker 1>and we see him he's all blasted with bullet holes.
<v Speaker 1>And then Riggs pulls out his bretta and starts bowling
<v Speaker 1>away the second guy, but the second guy falls next
<v Speaker 1>to him and nothing, no bullet holes. Whatsoever. I'm like,
<v Speaker 1>you just bloodied up the first guy. Where's the special
<v Speaker 1>effects on the second guy? I don't think I ever
<v Speaker 1>noticed that before. And that's uh, oh, it's great. The
<v Speaker 1>gunplay in this you cannot talk enough about. The bretta
<v Speaker 1>is like a character to itself. It seems the fact
<v Speaker 1>that he carries a Bretta and Clever carries a Smith
<v Speaker 1>and Wesson. But the gunplay is wonderful. With anytime Mel
<v Speaker 1>Gibson is shooting in any lethal weapon film, it's incredible.
<v Speaker 1>Oh yeah, yeah, I had that down in his favorite moments.
<v Speaker 1>Anytime he shoots the gun, the clip's empty every time.
<v Speaker 1>Oh yeah, he doesn't fire at one time, it's all
<v Speaker 1>fifteen rounds. The thing is, he turns into an animal,
<v Speaker 1>he turns into a beast. He goes into beast mode
<v Speaker 1>and it's intense, and he just put the gun in
<v Speaker 1>somebody's chest and fire it seven times. It's funny you
<v Speaker 1>mentioned one of those little gaffs with you don't see
<v Speaker 1>the blood on the one guy, because this movie does
<v Speaker 1>have a handful of those gaffs and goofs and shoes,
<v Speaker 1>with like the classic being the with the jumper jumping
<v Speaker 1>off the building.
<v Speaker 2>Oh yeah, which I'm sure.
<v Speaker 3>You might get into, but I'll get into yeah now. Also,
<v Speaker 3>there's a lot of what I picked up on a
<v Speaker 3>lot of ad R.
<v Speaker 2>In this film.
<v Speaker 3>I didn't quite notice before you can tell they had
<v Speaker 3>to re record some dialogue and put it in. So
<v Speaker 3>I wonder if it's because of that witty banter all
<v Speaker 3>the time they decided to change things up here and there,
<v Speaker 3>some of the words weren't clear enough because they're talking
<v Speaker 3>over one another.
<v Speaker 2>I I'm just curious about that.
<v Speaker 1>So anyway, what do you have next for a favorite scene?
<v Speaker 1>I have the rooftop jump scene?
<v Speaker 2>Mm hmmm.
<v Speaker 1>So we have Riggs and Myrtal partnering up, and Myrtle's
<v Speaker 1>on too excited about having Riggs as his partner because
<v Speaker 1>he's been reading his bio and he knows about the
<v Speaker 1>rumors going around that Riggs is psychotic and he's either
<v Speaker 1>trying to get psycho pay or he really has death wish.
<v Speaker 1>So they get a call for rooftop Jumper and Riggs
<v Speaker 1>tells Burton, oh, I've dealt with this before, I can
<v Speaker 1>take care of it, and Murtag goes, Okay, do it,
<v Speaker 1>which is kind of funny considering what we know about
<v Speaker 1>Riggs at this point, so I wonder how this is
<v Speaker 1>going to turn out, right, So of course rig goes
<v Speaker 1>up there, and the guy, of course, is hesitant to
<v Speaker 1>have Riggs talk to him, and Riggs is trying to
<v Speaker 1>calm him down, and he gets to the point where
<v Speaker 1>he literally handcuffs himself to the jumper. It tells the jumper, now,
<v Speaker 1>if you're going to jump, it's murder, so you can't jump,
<v Speaker 1>And the jumper has reversed course and now he doesn't
<v Speaker 1>want to jump, but Riggs goes, you know what, I
<v Speaker 1>think we should jump anyway, And sure enough, the two
<v Speaker 1>of them take a skydive off the ledge, much to
<v Speaker 1>myrtos to grin, and luckily the air bag has been
<v Speaker 1>deployed so they do land safely on the ground. But
<v Speaker 1>there is an excellent gaff in that when you see
<v Speaker 1>the two of them jump that the handcuffs come apart,
<v Speaker 1>so they grab each other's hands to try to make
<v Speaker 1>it sound like they're still connected. But that's still to me,
<v Speaker 1>I'm like, man, that's a pretty dangerous done if you're
<v Speaker 1>both going down the same time, because if you don't land,
<v Speaker 1>if you don't hit the bag the same time, the
<v Speaker 1>second guy seem to be okay. It's just a fun scene.
<v Speaker 1>It's a little bit comical because there's one point where
<v Speaker 1>Rigs says something to the fact like, come on, man,
<v Speaker 1>my boss is down there watching help me out here.
<v Speaker 1>That's great trying to talk them off the ledge.
<v Speaker 3>I'm like, oh Jesus, yeah, I was gonna say, there's
<v Speaker 3>a little bit in the trivia too, and I apologize
<v Speaker 3>that I'm stepping out something maybe you'd present later with
<v Speaker 3>this particular scene, because it is a fantastic stunt and
<v Speaker 3>it looks extremely dangerous. But when they drop to the
<v Speaker 3>inflatable at the bottom, I guess so from one angle
<v Speaker 3>when you're watching that stunt, because technically that that flatable
<v Speaker 3>bag that they fall into is in the foreground. They
<v Speaker 3>actually had to paint it to look like the street,
<v Speaker 3>so when you're watching the shot of them jump off
<v Speaker 3>the building, it appears as though the street is still
<v Speaker 3>there without the bag or something like that. There's something
<v Speaker 3>they did where they literally painted the I don't know
<v Speaker 3>if it's the shot of them when they actually do
<v Speaker 3>the stunt jumping off the roof, but there's a shot
<v Speaker 3>where the bag is there, but it's painted as the
<v Speaker 3>street and you don't notice it.
<v Speaker 1>It looks like the street. Yeah, we have a lot
<v Speaker 1>of rooftop jumping in this movie. But afterwards, Myrtaw is
<v Speaker 1>so pissed at Riggs about what happened, even though you
<v Speaker 1>know Riggs said, hey, I got to jump her down.
<v Speaker 2>He's safe.
<v Speaker 1>Myrtal pulls him into a storefront that's being remodeled and
<v Speaker 1>just straight up tells him. He's like, are you crazy?
<v Speaker 1>Are you crazy? I need to know because I don't
<v Speaker 1>want to be killed from your actions. And Riggs confesses, yes,
<v Speaker 1>I actually have a bullet. I contemplate it and the
<v Speaker 1>only reason I haven't done it yet is because of
<v Speaker 1>the jobs he likes being a cop, And Myrtaw said,
<v Speaker 1>I've had enough. He's like, just blow your brains out,
<v Speaker 1>and he gives him his gun. Yeah, and Riggs is
<v Speaker 1>going to call his bluff and sticks a gun in
<v Speaker 1>his mouth and he's about to pull the trigger and
<v Speaker 1>Myrtaw has to pull it away and he's like, you're
<v Speaker 1>not trying to obtain psychopay, you are crazy. And now
<v Speaker 1>Bertaw is really scared because he doesn't know what he
<v Speaker 1>is dealing with. That's what I love about this movie
<v Speaker 1>is we don't know what we're dealing with when it
<v Speaker 1>comes to Riggs throughout this movie. That just proves it
<v Speaker 1>right there. I mean, he literally almost kills himself in
<v Speaker 1>front of his partner, and what the hell was this
<v Speaker 1>partner going to do if he did pull the trigger?
<v Speaker 1>Non sequences of that, like, oh yeah, I told him
<v Speaker 1>to shoot himself and he did.
<v Speaker 3>Sorry, so yeah, amazing, I'm glad you chose that scene again,
<v Speaker 3>Gibson Ultimate intensity. My theory is that he pulls the trigger.
<v Speaker 3>You see there's the quick shot of Murta. He sticks
<v Speaker 3>his thumb in between the uh what would you call?
<v Speaker 1>I mean, oh yeah, that's I figured like us, like
<v Speaker 1>the webbing between your thumb and you're right.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, he catches like oh that's got to hurt. Oh yeah, completely.
<v Speaker 3>I'm surprised he doesn't yell out more when that happens
<v Speaker 3>because he catches it for the hammer. The hammer of
<v Speaker 3>the gun can come down and fire the bullet. It's like,
<v Speaker 3>holy crap, he literally was going to kill himself right
<v Speaker 3>in front of him. Yeah, it's from the jump going
<v Speaker 3>right into that scene, they're really pushing it with Rigs,
<v Speaker 3>and then you get it afterward. When why, Glover's like,
<v Speaker 3>oh my god, I literally am now partnered with a
<v Speaker 3>psychopath just before I'm going to retire tool for the shit.
<v Speaker 3>Great scene, man, Glad you called him out.
<v Speaker 2>I already have next.
<v Speaker 3>Next, I have what I'm calling the after dinner chat.
<v Speaker 3>So after a day of well, after an eventful day,
<v Speaker 3>they end up at Murta's house and they're having dinner
<v Speaker 3>with the fam and this is the first time Martin
<v Speaker 3>Riggs is meeting that the Murtaw family. We see Rhianna
<v Speaker 3>has developed an almost immediate crush on Rigs and that's
<v Speaker 3>pretty fun. And after the dinner, we have our our
<v Speaker 3>guys being guys out in front of the garage and
<v Speaker 3>we see that Murtaz got a speedboat motor boat and
<v Speaker 3>he's trying to fix it, and they're having a beer
<v Speaker 3>and having this after dinner chat, and there's some little
<v Speaker 3>bit of hijinks and back and forth, which is nice,
<v Speaker 3>with then Riggs bringing up the fact that he just
<v Speaker 3>can't let go of the fact that Dixie the prostitute
<v Speaker 3>was there at the building where Amand had jumped off
<v Speaker 3>of and it just doesn't quite add up. It just
<v Speaker 3>feels a little bit questionable. And then Murta is like, ah,
<v Speaker 3>you gotta let it go. It's it is what you
<v Speaker 3>thought it was. It's over. And basically then the scene
<v Speaker 3>leads to Murta walking Rigs to his truck and saying
<v Speaker 3>good night. And I just love this moment. It stuck
<v Speaker 3>with me as a kid. It's Gibson showing his range
<v Speaker 3>in this because we understand that he is suffering from
<v Speaker 3>the trauma of the loss of his wife, whom died
<v Speaker 3>in a car accident only a few years before if that,
<v Speaker 3>and then of course we do understand from the character
<v Speaker 3>description development throughout up to this point that he also
<v Speaker 3>was in Vietnam, and Myrta understands this. He was also
<v Speaker 3>in Vietnam. They did not serve together, but separately, Riggs
<v Speaker 3>understands that Mrta isn't thrilled about this partnership and that
<v Speaker 3>Riggs presents a real problem, very unpredictable, and could be
<v Speaker 3>very dangerous, and so Riggs decides to share in this
<v Speaker 3>moment I've always loved it. And there's this bit of
<v Speaker 3>back and forth dialogue which I'll read real quick, when
<v Speaker 3>just before Riggs is about to get into his truck,
<v Speaker 3>he says to murta, I do it real good, you know,
<v Speaker 3>And MYRTA responds, do what, and Riggs says, when I
<v Speaker 3>was nineteen, I did a guy in Laus from a
<v Speaker 3>thousand yards out.
<v Speaker 2>It was a rifle shot in a high wind.
<v Speaker 3>Maybe eight or even ten guys in the world could
<v Speaker 3>have made that shot. It's the only thing I was
<v Speaker 3>ever good at. Well, see you tomorrow, and then MYRTA responds,
<v Speaker 3>but yes, see you and then says, hey, Riggs, you
<v Speaker 3>really like my wig my wife's cooking. Riggs takes this
<v Speaker 3>extended pause just before getting the truck and says, no,
<v Speaker 3>see you tomorrow. And it's just a really great scene.
<v Speaker 3>And I think actually Murtaw respects his honesty in that
<v Speaker 3>final moment. I love that dialogue. I love again Gibson's
<v Speaker 3>vulnerability in that or the willingness to be just straight
<v Speaker 3>up with him and say, look, I understand you think
<v Speaker 3>I'm crazy, but I was also not. I was just
<v Speaker 3>a kid, and this is what I was good at.
<v Speaker 3>This is what I stuck with, kind of relating to
<v Speaker 3>what you were saying, Bill in the previous scene. He
<v Speaker 3>does it for the job, he loves the job. It's
<v Speaker 3>what he's good at. So a little bit of a
<v Speaker 3>bonding moment, and you see the realization I think in
<v Speaker 3>Murta's face. So credit to Danny Glover in the scene
<v Speaker 3>as well, where he's getting a little bit of a
<v Speaker 3>better understanding of who Riggs is in his history. That's all.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, that is a fun scene. I like when Riggs
<v Speaker 1>comes to the house and we have the youngest daughter
<v Speaker 1>ask her dad if Riggs is a crook, and then
<v Speaker 1>Rhiann sees Riggs for the first time and develops a crush,
<v Speaker 1>which everyone notices, and then the younger siblings even make
<v Speaker 1>fun of it well, and everybody has a good.
<v Speaker 2>Laugh about it. Yeah, Tracy Wolf very cute as we ain.
<v Speaker 1>But yeah, it was kind of cool to see the
<v Speaker 1>behind the scenes the home cop life, A happy cop life,
<v Speaker 1>not the divorce from my wife. Everything's a strange kind
<v Speaker 1>of thing. This is actually a nice household that we're
<v Speaker 1>introduced to. MARTA's just trying to get to that retirement
<v Speaker 1>do his fishing, and something that he thought was going
<v Speaker 1>to be simple, open and shut case could be a
<v Speaker 1>little bit more complicated than they thought.
<v Speaker 2>You bring up a good point.
<v Speaker 3>There's nice juxtaposition and contradiction here, and you can see
<v Speaker 3>it on Riggs's face when he walks into MARTA's home, like,
<v Speaker 3>holy cow, this guy actually did it. You know, he's
<v Speaker 3>married with kids and he's managed to have some sort
<v Speaker 3>of balanced life between career and home life, et cetera.
<v Speaker 3>And he says as much. He skipped over that part.
<v Speaker 3>After they get off the boat, and you know, MARTA's
<v Speaker 3>walking Riggs to his truck.
<v Speaker 2>Riggs does turn.
<v Speaker 3>Around like, you know, you got a real nice family there,
<v Speaker 3>and you wonder what that makes Riggs feel, because Riggs
<v Speaker 3>clearly he lives in a trailer down by the beach
<v Speaker 3>and it's just him and his dog Sam and a
<v Speaker 3>little bit of an isolated, lonely life for Riggs versus
<v Speaker 3>what Murta has.
<v Speaker 1>Definitely what he got. Next, man, I have the gun
<v Speaker 1>range scene. I've just always loved the way the scene ends.
<v Speaker 1>So basically, they're following up from the day before talking
<v Speaker 1>about that the Amanda Hunt Sacker murder there might be
<v Speaker 1>a little bit more into it. And Riggs is explaining
<v Speaker 1>what he thinks that prostitute Dixie might be more involved
<v Speaker 1>in this than and inditionally thought, and Murtal's like, you know,
<v Speaker 1>that's kind of thin, but sure enough, so they're finished
<v Speaker 1>up in the gun range and Murtau goes to show
<v Speaker 1>off his shooting skills by doing basically a bullseye in
<v Speaker 1>the skull of those paper targets, and Riggs is going
<v Speaker 1>to show him up because he brags say he's a
<v Speaker 1>good shot, and now he's going to show it. So
<v Speaker 1>he takes the paper target and pushes it back as
<v Speaker 1>far as it can go in the gun range and
<v Speaker 1>then fires off seven bullets and he has the paper
<v Speaker 1>are coming back and I love this shot, so it
<v Speaker 1>doesn't spoil the surprise where mel gives basically cross in
<v Speaker 1>the front of the camera and blocks the paper target
<v Speaker 1>so you can't see what he did. And then right
<v Speaker 1>when it comes up, they do a reverse angle and
<v Speaker 1>you see the paper target and where Murtaw shot basically
<v Speaker 1>was a nose and Riggs added two eyes to it
<v Speaker 1>and a mouth almost like a perfect perfect face, and
<v Speaker 1>then just walks off ed. Martah realizes he is as
<v Speaker 1>good as of a shot that he says he is,
<v Speaker 1>which is that kind of disappointing because every time Riggs
<v Speaker 1>misses someone, you're like, dude, miss anybody? Yeah, Yeah, I
<v Speaker 1>think I was kind of bummed that they spoiled that
<v Speaker 1>in one of the trailers. Oh, because I think it
<v Speaker 1>would have definitely played better if I had not known
<v Speaker 1>at all going in what he had done with the gun,
<v Speaker 1>because you just think he's just going to center seven
<v Speaker 1>and the fact that he puts a face on what
<v Speaker 1>Myrtaw did with the head shot. But Murton's a good
<v Speaker 1>shot too, and that is demonstrated in this film and
<v Speaker 1>in the later film.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I love it. I was always a good, lighthearted
<v Speaker 2>one thousand percent.
<v Speaker 3>I was just torn between every sequence in this movie
<v Speaker 3>as to which was my favorite. It's a classic moment
<v Speaker 3>and a couple things.
<v Speaker 2>One.
<v Speaker 3>First of all, you could make an argument that they
<v Speaker 3>both equally are great shots because Murtaw does a quick
<v Speaker 3>draw in fires and nails the target right in the
<v Speaker 3>middle of the head, So that's impressive. It's just obviously
<v Speaker 3>Riggs takes it to a whole nother level by pushing
<v Speaker 3>the target all the way but the back of the
<v Speaker 3>range and then doing the face. But Riggs takes aim
<v Speaker 3>and then fires, So you could make an argument that
<v Speaker 3>they both exemplified their prowess there. They showed off their
<v Speaker 3>prowess there. But it's so fun because Riggs. Just again,
<v Speaker 3>Mel Gibson, when he's humming the whole time is the
<v Speaker 3>target's moving back here. He's just humming that TV show
<v Speaker 3>theme or whatever it was. Gibson's great, but you're right,
<v Speaker 3>I love that choreography when he crosses in front, so
<v Speaker 3>you don't see the smile and the smile face until
<v Speaker 3>the very end. Here's another thing that makes me think
<v Speaker 3>of is the fact that you get these movies that
<v Speaker 3>may not be entirely original, whether it could be any
<v Speaker 3>kind of movie in any kind of genre, but there's
<v Speaker 3>one movie that does it better than the rest. And
<v Speaker 3>this is one of the many reasons why Lethal Weapon
<v Speaker 3>is great. For instance, we've seen many a scene in
<v Speaker 3>films when someone is distraught, despondent and is about to
<v Speaker 3>attempt suicide. The way mel Gibson does it in this
<v Speaker 3>film is one of the most impactful scenes I've seen
<v Speaker 3>in cinema. It always resonates with me when I think
<v Speaker 3>of this movie, I'm like, oh, man, when he points
<v Speaker 3>it at his face and then he puts it under
<v Speaker 3>his chin and he's looking at it the picture of
<v Speaker 3>his wife, and it's just it's awful, and the tears
<v Speaker 3>are flowing It's truly awful, and I've seen it done
<v Speaker 3>so many other times, but for whatever reason, this is
<v Speaker 3>the most convincing one. Now when it comes to like
<v Speaker 3>the shooting range. How many times have you seen a
<v Speaker 3>shooting range sequence in a movie, especially like eighties movies,
<v Speaker 3>any movie? Oh yeah, this is probably up there and
<v Speaker 3>number one number two. I was going to ask you,
<v Speaker 3>would you choose this or RoboCop the shooting scene that's
<v Speaker 3>a pretty fun one, too very quick, but this, I
<v Speaker 3>would definitely choose this one. But it made me think
<v Speaker 3>of Robo Cop. And I know there's shooting range sequences
<v Speaker 3>in Beverly Hills Cop two, but I just think there
<v Speaker 3>are elements they do. They just do it better and
<v Speaker 3>that's all, even if it's not the first time you've
<v Speaker 3>seen it in cinema. So maybe think of that.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, all right, I.
<v Speaker 1>Think we're going back to me. Another favorite scene is
<v Speaker 1>the Rigs torture scene with Ali Young as Endo Yikes.
<v Speaker 1>So Riggs and Marta have been captured because McCallister needs
<v Speaker 1>to know what they know about the shipment of heroin
<v Speaker 1>that is coming in. That's what we find out. What
<v Speaker 1>the Shadow Company is doing is basically importing Heroin. They
<v Speaker 1>do two large shipments a year, and they want to
<v Speaker 1>make sure that the cops don't stop them for the
<v Speaker 1>second one. So they want to know what they know
<v Speaker 1>and who they've told. So that's why they just don't
<v Speaker 1>outright kill them because they're not sure if anybody else
<v Speaker 1>knows what is going on. So we basically have mel
<v Speaker 1>Gibson strung up by arms about a foot in the
<v Speaker 1>air and he's being doused in water and he's talking
<v Speaker 1>to Joshua and Joshua is basically telling him, Yeah, you're
<v Speaker 1>gonna tell us what you know, and mel Gibbson is like, dude,
<v Speaker 1>I'm telling you what I know. We really know nothing.
<v Speaker 1>All we know that Heroin's coming in and that's it.
<v Speaker 1>And Joshua's like, well, I don't believe you, so we
<v Speaker 1>need to find out. So we have Ally young as
<v Speaker 1>Endo basically has these two leads that run to a
<v Speaker 1>battery and is shocking literally shocking shock treatment. Mel Gibson
<v Speaker 1>is not trying to act like the tough guy and
<v Speaker 1>withstand the pain. He is screaming and howling. He's trying
<v Speaker 1>to headbutt Joshua or Alf they get too close to him.
<v Speaker 1>Trying to kick and scream. There's a part where riggsism
<v Speaker 1>is swinging like a pendulum and Joshua keeps trying to
<v Speaker 1>push him into Endo to keep the shock treatments, and
<v Speaker 1>he'll have his hands on him too long and he'll
<v Speaker 1>feel some of the effect of the shock. And we
<v Speaker 1>do get to the point where Endo then says he
<v Speaker 1>doesn't know anything. He would have talked by now there's
<v Speaker 1>no way, so Joshua leaves him and say as well,
<v Speaker 1>finish him off. Endo is basically just going to electrocute him,
<v Speaker 1>and it looks like Riggs is exhausted, but he kicks
<v Speaker 1>Endo basically wraps his legs around his neck and snaps
<v Speaker 1>it and then still has the strength to pull himself
<v Speaker 1>off the rig and escape and try to find Martal.
<v Speaker 1>I can only imagine going through that kind of torture, man.
<v Speaker 1>I would have made up a story at that point
<v Speaker 1>something like that was going to happen.
<v Speaker 3>To me, no doubt about it. This is one of
<v Speaker 3>the most memorable sequences, and it just goes in line
<v Speaker 3>with what I was just saying. There have been torture
<v Speaker 3>sequences in several movies over the years, and even it
<v Speaker 3>just makes me think of something very similar to this
<v Speaker 3>with Tango and Cash. One of my other cult favorite
<v Speaker 3>eighties movies of all time Kurt Russell and Stallone. They're
<v Speaker 3>hanging in a pool of water in a prison and
<v Speaker 3>they're being electrocuted. But this is the movie that does
<v Speaker 3>it the best because again Mel Gibson, and he is
<v Speaker 3>in so much pain it literally hurts to watch the scene.
<v Speaker 3>You can't help but put yourself in his position, the
<v Speaker 3>way he's yelling out and screaming out every time he's
<v Speaker 3>being shocked, and you're right, the little touches, the fact
<v Speaker 3>that literally little touches when mister Joshua was touching him
<v Speaker 3>and feeling the shock as well. So it's horrible. It's
<v Speaker 3>horrible to almost endure this with Rigs. But yeah, when
<v Speaker 3>he kicks Endo's ass at the end, it's just fantastic
<v Speaker 3>and he gets himself off the hook and jumps down
<v Speaker 3>and you're like.
<v Speaker 2>Oh shit.
<v Speaker 3>And then right afterward he goes to the other area
<v Speaker 3>of that warehouse facility and just wipes everybody out.
<v Speaker 2>Rigs bad ass.
<v Speaker 1>On a side note, I've unfortunately almost experienced something like this.
<v Speaker 1>I was a kid and we had a backyard pool
<v Speaker 1>and I went to turn on the light in our
<v Speaker 1>garage and there was a metal plate, Oh shit for
<v Speaker 1>the light switch, and the wire was touching the plate
<v Speaker 1>and I accidentally touched a plate when I would touch
<v Speaker 1>the switch, and I got zapped. I felt that for
<v Speaker 1>a good ten minutes afterwards, and then I have, of course,
<v Speaker 1>my mom and my dad had to replace the plate,
<v Speaker 1>thank god. So I mean that was literally a millisecond,
<v Speaker 1>and I could still remember what that felt like. So
<v Speaker 1>for mel Gibson to go through that where it's literally
<v Speaker 1>placed on him for seconds at a time, I can
<v Speaker 1>only like almost would have to crap himself and piss
<v Speaker 1>himself out.
<v Speaker 2>Cowl.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, there's a you literally feel it through your whole body.
<v Speaker 1>Was one of the weirdest sensations I ever had. And
<v Speaker 1>luckily I was able to get my hand off as
<v Speaker 1>quick because I did no kidding.
<v Speaker 3>Did you say you had gotten out of the pool,
<v Speaker 3>so you were wet, Your hand was still wet when
<v Speaker 3>you touched the plate.
<v Speaker 1>I was completely wet from head to chow. And we
<v Speaker 1>kind of knew sometimes you'd get a shock. The switch
<v Speaker 1>was plastic, so you just try to hit the switch.
<v Speaker 1>But my finger touched the plate at the same time,
<v Speaker 1>and it was just like what damn? And I was
<v Speaker 1>stunned for a while, and then I ran up and
<v Speaker 1>told my mom what had happened, and then she of
<v Speaker 1>course yelled at my dad because we had known about
<v Speaker 1>this and never did anything about it. So that got
<v Speaker 1>replaced right away. Billy, that's amazing. I'm glad you're still alive. Also,
<v Speaker 1>I'm glad they've fixed it too, so nobody.
<v Speaker 2>Else got hurt.
<v Speaker 3>But from now on, if you ever watched this movie
<v Speaker 3>with someone else, whether it be your wife or a
<v Speaker 3>friend or whomever, when that scene comes on, you should
<v Speaker 3>just act like the ultimate tough guy.
<v Speaker 2>And be like, yeah, I know what that feels like,
<v Speaker 2>been there and done it rough, Like really what? Yeah?
<v Speaker 2>That was a good touched a light switch?
<v Speaker 3>Great stuff? Man? Am I up next?
<v Speaker 2>Yes?
<v Speaker 3>All right, my next scene. I'm entitling now I'm running
<v Speaker 3>with a machine gun. Hole ho ho, or it should
<v Speaker 3>be huff huff huff, because he is huffing it. I
<v Speaker 3>get so excited every time this sequence begins, and it's
<v Speaker 3>basically right after the torture sequence, when Riggs has come
<v Speaker 3>out and kicked everybody's ass and rescues Merta and Rheanne,
<v Speaker 3>And now we realize that this warehouse area that they've
<v Speaker 3>been torturing and is attached to this nightclub which is
<v Speaker 3>the front for Shadow Company, his whole operation. And I
<v Speaker 3>love the fact that Riggs and Merton Rhiann are all
<v Speaker 3>beat to hell and they attempt to walk through the
<v Speaker 3>club to the exterior as if everything's fine, like nobody
<v Speaker 3>will notice. And you can see extras are starting to
<v Speaker 3>look at them, because of course they they are calling
<v Speaker 3>attention to themselves just by the way they look. And
<v Speaker 3>then a whole gunfight ensues in the club. But the
<v Speaker 3>bottom line is they exit the club and mister Joshua
<v Speaker 3>has gotten into a vehicle and is making a run
<v Speaker 3>for it, and Riggs ain't having it. Riggs has gotten
<v Speaker 3>himself a machine gun. He's got it the strap over
<v Speaker 3>his shoulder. His shirt's torn open or wide open, and
<v Speaker 3>he's in his pants and white gym shoes, his white
<v Speaker 3>tennis and Riggs is gonna run.
<v Speaker 2>And it's awesome.
<v Speaker 3>We just get Martin Riggs chasing mister Joshua's driving car
<v Speaker 3>through the LA streets, the glistening streets of Los Angeles
<v Speaker 3>at night, and you just have a blast watching melt
<v Speaker 3>Gibson sprint and fire has gotten it. At some point
<v Speaker 3>he's like on an overpath looking down and he catches
<v Speaker 3>mister Joshua caught up on a street and fires down
<v Speaker 3>into like blowing holes into the hood of the car,
<v Speaker 3>which then sets on fire, and mister Joshua runs into
<v Speaker 3>a light pole and has to change cars. It's just awesome,
<v Speaker 3>and you have the Michael Caman score in the background
<v Speaker 3>to back it all up. I can't get enough of
<v Speaker 3>Martin Riggs running down a street with a machine gun
<v Speaker 3>and chasing and catching up to somebody driving a car,
<v Speaker 3>which in this case makes sense if it's la because
<v Speaker 3>you would get stuck at every turn and in traffic
<v Speaker 3>and whatever. So can't get enough. It's a total adrenaline rush.
<v Speaker 3>And as soon as it starts, Bill on this rewatch.
<v Speaker 3>And I've seen this movie several times. I was amped,
<v Speaker 3>i was smiling, and I'm like, I love movies just
<v Speaker 3>for this shit. Man, That's all I gotta say. Man, oh,
<v Speaker 3>by the other way, the other way, go ahead, yeah,
<v Speaker 3>go ahead, man.
<v Speaker 1>I I mean we always talk about Tom Cruise and
<v Speaker 1>is running yes, but I'm like, no, this tops anything
<v Speaker 1>that cruised. I fucking love the fact he's running literally
<v Speaker 1>down the middle of the street Hollywood Boulevard with the
<v Speaker 1>machine gun, just haul an ass.
<v Speaker 3>It's like like every boy's dream of an action sequence,
<v Speaker 3>Like you just want to do that just to see
<v Speaker 3>what it feels like. I don't know, it's ridiculous and awesome,
<v Speaker 3>but I totally agree, and I wrote down the exact
<v Speaker 3>same note. This is what I wrote here verbatim. There's
<v Speaker 3>those that talk a lot about how good Tom Cruise
<v Speaker 3>is running in movies. Well, I'd say Mel Gibson gives
<v Speaker 3>him a run for his money, because this is the best.
<v Speaker 2>I so agree.
<v Speaker 1>Moments that I just love in this movie is Rigs
<v Speaker 1>firing a gun and Rigs running.
<v Speaker 2>I just love him both. He's so intense.
<v Speaker 1>I almost just want to go out and start running.
<v Speaker 1>It makes me want to run. How much I love courages.
<v Speaker 3>You just just go outside and start sprinting down the
<v Speaker 3>street for whatever reason.
<v Speaker 1>Anytime I would run really fast, that's the image that
<v Speaker 1>would be in my head, is Mel Gibson running down
<v Speaker 1>the street, Like if I run track, That's what I
<v Speaker 1>would think about.
<v Speaker 3>The one last time and I'll make about that is
<v Speaker 3>the fact that we talk about Gibson's intensity, right, is
<v Speaker 3>that with his character he's so spontaneous in the way
<v Speaker 3>that he doesn't hold back at all. He's all or nothing.
<v Speaker 3>It's go big or go hump. So he's like myrta.
<v Speaker 3>He may say murtaw you okay, but then he just
<v Speaker 3>takes off. It's like, what are you doing? Why would
<v Speaker 3>you even try to run after a car? He doesn't care. No,
<v Speaker 3>he's got one mission and he's just a bowl in
<v Speaker 3>a china shop.
<v Speaker 2>It's awesome.
<v Speaker 1>Time to flip it, get into little Swiss cheese and
<v Speaker 1>complaint department and what do we call it swiss cheese?
<v Speaker 3>Because although this movie is delicious, it does have smiley
<v Speaker 3>face shooting target holes.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, it doesn't have those smiley face shooting target holes.
<v Speaker 1>We just file complaint with the complaint department. All right, Jason,
<v Speaker 1>what do you have?
<v Speaker 3>I only have a couple.
<v Speaker 2>Man.
<v Speaker 3>I've talked about some nippicky stuff I had earlier, but
<v Speaker 3>with this my first one is interrupting Dad in the bath.
<v Speaker 3>I yes, always bother. It's right right in the beginning.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, why do you want to say?
<v Speaker 3>This is literally our introduction to Roger Murta. The first
<v Speaker 3>shot is of him in the bathtub in the morning.
<v Speaker 3>He's soaking, he's having a soak and it's his birthday,
<v Speaker 3>it's his fiftieth birthday. And the fam, the fan bam
<v Speaker 3>decides to burst in to wish him happy birthday. And
<v Speaker 3>I'm like, these aren't like little baby toddler kids and
<v Speaker 3>the wife. It's like a teenage daughter and two older
<v Speaker 3>kids I don't know, six, seven, eight, not whatever, and
<v Speaker 3>the wife and they're all hanging out with him. He's
<v Speaker 3>naked in the bathtub and they're hugging on him and
<v Speaker 3>kissing him, Like this is not appropriate at all? What
<v Speaker 3>are you doing?
<v Speaker 1>And he's not bothered by it. Is it at least
<v Speaker 1>having a bubble bath? Or is he at least got
<v Speaker 1>the wash cloth over his jung now?
<v Speaker 3>No, Nope, Like, oh it's.
<v Speaker 2>That kind of family. Yeah. I always found that weird too.
<v Speaker 2>That was my first complaint.
<v Speaker 3>What do you got man?
<v Speaker 1>Too many people telling Riggsy's crazy?
<v Speaker 3>Okay?
<v Speaker 1>That was starting to drive me up the wall. I'm like, Okay,
<v Speaker 1>we get it. It's been established the guys on Edge,
<v Speaker 1>but I just feel like they almost had to overemphasize.
<v Speaker 1>Everyone had to tell him that he was crazy. In
<v Speaker 1>the first twenty minutes of the movie. Enough enough, we know,
<v Speaker 1>let's just keep moving along, move along. We know he's crazy,
<v Speaker 1>we know there's something off about him. It was getting
<v Speaker 1>on my nerves. And I also watched the supposed director Scott,
<v Speaker 1>which is not really a director's cut, and it has
<v Speaker 1>an additional scene in the beginning when Riggs stops a
<v Speaker 1>school shooter, which got to think about it, back in
<v Speaker 1>that time, that which seem such a crazy concept. Unfortunately
<v Speaker 1>it's not that way anymore. And how many people in
<v Speaker 1>that scene had to tell him that he was crazy also,
<v Speaker 1>And I was like, all right, enough, enough crazy talk.
<v Speaker 3>And to think Shane Black actually wrote him even crazier
<v Speaker 3>in the original draft I had read in that school
<v Speaker 3>shooting that's in that director's cut. Originally he was written
<v Speaker 3>to have taken out the sniper with a bazooka, like
<v Speaker 3>with a rocket launcher. Oh yeah, there's Shane Black first,
<v Speaker 3>it's on that. But you're right, it's a It is
<v Speaker 3>a bit of a trope too, as it turns out,
<v Speaker 3>because it is annoying, especially on rewatch when you're like, okay, yeah,
<v Speaker 3>got it, got it, he's crazy, We got it, got it?
<v Speaker 3>So it's a thing and it's still being done today. Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>the here's my only other complaint as of now before
<v Speaker 3>I unless I think of something else that you might
<v Speaker 3>trigger me with. But uh Riggs in Murtauk go to
<v Speaker 3>question Michael Huntsacker again. Well, this is actually the first interrogation,
<v Speaker 3>but it's the second scene where they're talking to Michael
<v Speaker 3>Huntsacker and it's it is at his home overlooking the ocean.
<v Speaker 3>It's quite the waterfront property. And I realized upon this,
<v Speaker 3>I don't know why I didn't catch this before, but
<v Speaker 3>this is his daughter's memorial service and they're questioning him
<v Speaker 3>in the middle of the memorial service. So I was like,
<v Speaker 3>you couldn't wait until the end to talk to him.
<v Speaker 3>I was like, what the hell, that's the first time, Like,
<v Speaker 3>why are they talking to him? This is a really
<v Speaker 3>somber moment for him. And anyway, that was it.
<v Speaker 1>Oh, this one bothered me a lot because this used
<v Speaker 1>to be one of my favorite scenes and then this
<v Speaker 1>kind of got ruined by mister Mendez played by Edo Ross.
<v Speaker 1>And it's kind of the first time that we meet
<v Speaker 1>McAllister right, and Mendes some kind of drug lord or whatever.
<v Speaker 1>He's the biggest fucking pussy and he's so annoying. Oh
<v Speaker 1>you guys are all psycho, you're all. I used to
<v Speaker 1>love that scene with the lighter, right, of course, because
<v Speaker 1>I like mcowister in that and he's like, do you smoke?
<v Speaker 1>Do you smoke? And then he grabs the lighter and
<v Speaker 1>he's like shut up, and then lights the letter and
<v Speaker 1>then has Joshua pulled out his forearm and then lights
<v Speaker 1>on them. But that scene now is ruined by that
<v Speaker 1>Mendes character because once again it overstates the fact.
<v Speaker 2>Like these guys are crazy.
<v Speaker 1>These are guys that we got to worry about.
<v Speaker 2>These are our bad guys.
<v Speaker 1>Oh my god, they're so bad right playing straight, that
<v Speaker 1>was it, Yeah, and he had to play it over
<v Speaker 1>the top.
<v Speaker 2>It just killed the scene for me.
<v Speaker 3>That's an interesting when you say that now you're absolutely
<v Speaker 3>right this again that trope of like we've got to
<v Speaker 3>make sure the audience knows these got not only are
<v Speaker 3>these bad guys the bad guys, but they're really bad.
<v Speaker 3>And I've always loved the scene because it makes mister
<v Speaker 3>Joshua look like a total badass and he demonstrates his
<v Speaker 3>loyalty mctoo. McAllister and that he will do anything that
<v Speaker 3>mcckelster instructs him to do and go to any lengths.
<v Speaker 2>Right.
<v Speaker 3>But and that's actually the one scene where I think
<v Speaker 3>I actually like General McAllister character, where he comes off as.
<v Speaker 2>Oh, yeah, I think he's cool.
<v Speaker 3>Now, yeah, but you're right, it's really really overdone, overcooked.
<v Speaker 1>And then just as a kid trying to figure out
<v Speaker 1>how they do that, not knowing about forced respective and
<v Speaker 1>prop forearm and that kind of that's true.
<v Speaker 2>And I was like, dude, that is so cool magic movies.
<v Speaker 3>Yep, anything else, I'm tapped out already. Man, I got
<v Speaker 3>nothing else except for that, you know, some of those
<v Speaker 3>silly silly gas we'd already met and catching some of
<v Speaker 3>the adr. But uh, I'm just not gonna nitpick it anymore.
<v Speaker 3>I love this movie. So I got no other major complaints.
<v Speaker 1>Okay, Yeah, Like I said, my other one was the
<v Speaker 1>song for the closing credits, So let's move on.
<v Speaker 3>Even love can become lead the weapon boom boom boom
<v Speaker 3>boom boom boom boom boom.
<v Speaker 2>There you go.
<v Speaker 3>That rendition I just did was much better than the
<v Speaker 3>song itself.
<v Speaker 2>That's how bad it is. I agree.
<v Speaker 1>See if Joshua had kidnapped me. All they want to
<v Speaker 1>do is put me in a room and play that
<v Speaker 1>song over over again. That's the you don't need endo,
<v Speaker 1>just I'll tell you what you need.
<v Speaker 2>Don't play. Just don't play that fucking song one more time.
<v Speaker 2>I love it all right.
<v Speaker 1>Time to move on to Hey, it's that actor. So
<v Speaker 1>in the segment, we spotlight a character actor you have
<v Speaker 1>seen in many other films, an actor making their big
<v Speaker 1>screen debut, or an actor that makes an uncredited cameo.
<v Speaker 2>Let's hey, it's that actor. Who do we choose this week?
<v Speaker 3>Well, Bill Bant, this week we choose someone all all
<v Speaker 3>too appropriate in this moment because you were just talking
<v Speaker 3>about him. I chose ed O Ross, who plays Mendes
<v Speaker 3>No love it. Oh it's fantastic. Yeah, in the beginning
<v Speaker 3>of the film. Yeah, he's the buyer that meets with
<v Speaker 3>mister Joshua, our introduction to mister Joshua and then general
<v Speaker 3>McAllister fantastic. It's the cigarette lighter scene. Hilarious. Man ed
<v Speaker 3>O Ross, though immediately identifiable as Hey, it's that actor.
<v Speaker 3>He's a character actor from Pittsburgh, a bit type cast
<v Speaker 3>as rougher around the edge, of characters, has a deep
<v Speaker 3>gravelly voices from IMDb some of his trademarks. Often plays
<v Speaker 3>Russian characters and was a former Golden Gloves boxing champ.
<v Speaker 3>It turns out here's his eighties highlights. The Pope of
<v Speaker 3>Greenwich Village. He plays a bartender, and that's an eighty
<v Speaker 3>four he was in the Cotton Club also in eighty four.
<v Speaker 3>Does a little TV, including a couple episodes Moonlighting. He's
<v Speaker 3>in this Leath Weapon in eighty seven. Then he's Lieutenant
<v Speaker 3>Touchdown in full metal Jacket. Also in eighty seven. We
<v Speaker 3>here on the All Eighties Movies podcast Know him from
<v Speaker 3>the Hidden Also in nineteen eighty seven, he had a
<v Speaker 3>great nineteen eighty seven. He was in Action Jackson in
<v Speaker 3>nineteen eighty eight. Can't wait to do that at some point.
<v Speaker 3>Oh yes, and I personally always think of him in
<v Speaker 3>Red Heat. Also in ninety nineteen eighty eight, the James
<v Speaker 3>Blushiy Schwarzenegger film. Other notables would be another forty eight Hours,
<v Speaker 3>Dick Tracy, he plays Itchy and Dick Tracy. He's a
<v Speaker 3>Universal Soldier. He's in another Midnight Run in nineteen ninety four,
<v Speaker 3>the TV movie sequel Oh God, and guess who he plays,
<v Speaker 3>Marvin Dorfler.
<v Speaker 2>Okay, how about that? Right?
<v Speaker 1>I bet he's better than that than he is on
<v Speaker 1>the Weapon, let's hope.
<v Speaker 3>So. And then he does a bunch of TV, including
<v Speaker 3>seventeen episodes of Six Feet Under as Nikolai, So you
<v Speaker 3>might know him from that show. But that's all I got.
<v Speaker 3>Edo Ross familiar face, he's our Hey it's that actor
<v Speaker 3>this week? Yes, hilarious. You're just tearing him apart, like no.
<v Speaker 2>This is ok. Yeah, guess what. I love this.
<v Speaker 1>That's all good though, But that's a good list of credits.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah. Man, he's a very familiar He's in a lot
<v Speaker 3>of my big eighties movies.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, but he is the definition of that category. He's
<v Speaker 1>a hey, it's that actor, all right. Time to move
<v Speaker 1>on to facts and trivia. So what are some facts
<v Speaker 1>of trivia we have on Lethal Weapon?
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, let's talk about Shane Black for a moment. And
<v Speaker 3>we've been talking about Mel Gibson's intensity. How about Shane
<v Speaker 3>Black's intensity? This is just great. Shane Black, his first
<v Speaker 3>draft of Lethal Weapon, which he wrote sometime in eighty five,
<v Speaker 3>is much different. First draft was one hundred and forty
<v Speaker 3>pages long. It was much darker, had alternate plot parts,
<v Speaker 3>character scenes, action sequences, many other differences, like an entire
<v Speaker 3>ending which had a big chase scene including a police
<v Speaker 3>helicopter which gets blown up by Joshua who fires a
<v Speaker 3>napal missile at it, causing it to crash into the
<v Speaker 3>Hollywood Sign and start a huge fire. And that Murtaw
<v Speaker 3>is killing General Missus McCallister while he's driving a trailer
<v Speaker 3>truck full of heroin and gununs, which then crashes and
<v Speaker 3>explodes over the Hollywood Hills, causing heroin to start snowing
<v Speaker 3>over the burning Hollywood Sign. And then you have Rigs
<v Speaker 3>killing Joshua by stabbing his fingers through Joshua's eye right
<v Speaker 3>into his brain. Wow, that sounds pretty intense. I want
<v Speaker 3>to read this draft man.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, all right, since you brought up Shane Black, So
<v Speaker 1>the name Shadow Company, the ex special forces unit mentioned
<v Speaker 1>in litha Weapon, actually comes from the title of the
<v Speaker 1>very first script Shane Black wrote back in nineteen eighty four.
<v Speaker 1>While Shadow Company was never produced, the script made a
<v Speaker 1>strong impression around Hollywood industry. Readers loved black sharp dialogue
<v Speaker 1>and kinetic approach to action, and that buzz quickly led
<v Speaker 1>to more writing opportunities, so that momentum is what ultimately
<v Speaker 1>allowed Black to write the first draft of Leepal Weapon
<v Speaker 1>in nineteen eighty five. Interestingly enough, Shadow Company was a
<v Speaker 1>very different kind of project, an action horror film with
<v Speaker 1>zombie elements. The story centered on a group of Special
<v Speaker 1>Forces soldiers who died during the Vietnam War and mysteriously
<v Speaker 1>returned years later after their bodies were brought back home.
<v Speaker 1>I'm just kind of like a universal soldiers.
<v Speaker 2>Kind of fell to it. It's great, man, and I
<v Speaker 2>think you can find that script online. That's cool.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, love me some Shane black Man. Yeah, he goes
<v Speaker 3>for it. We've been talking about the crossover with Diehard.
<v Speaker 2>Well.
<v Speaker 3>Bruce Willis was approached for the role of Riggs, but
<v Speaker 3>turned it down as he found the script quote unquote
<v Speaker 3>too violent. What this is referenced in the spoof of
<v Speaker 3>the Lethal Weapon films and Loaded Weapon one. Bruce Willis
<v Speaker 3>as John McClain appears after the villains attack the wrong
<v Speaker 3>Beach residents looking for the protagonists. Christopher Lambert and Christopher
<v Speaker 3>Reeve were both approached for the role, but neither was interested.
<v Speaker 3>Michael Bean was also a brief contender to play Riggs,
<v Speaker 3>as Donner enjoyed his performance in the Terminator, but he
<v Speaker 3>was already committed to Aliens. Other actors considered for the role,
<v Speaker 3>where Pierce brosn' ste even laying round Perlman, Michael Newry,
<v Speaker 3>Sylvester Stalone, Patrick Swayze, Michael Douglas, Jeff Goldblum, and Kurt
<v Speaker 3>Russell supposedly allegedly you never quite know, but some of
<v Speaker 3>those makes sense to me. So.
<v Speaker 1>Jackie Swanson, who played Amanda Hunt Sacker, did perform the
<v Speaker 1>high fall on her own, trained by legendary stuntman Dar Robinson,
<v Speaker 1>who we have mentioned in previous episodes. Also, the stunt
<v Speaker 1>was done using an airbag covered with a life size
<v Speaker 1>painting of the driveway and cars, which like a four
<v Speaker 1>round miniature, visually blends into the real scene. Thus the
<v Speaker 1>editor is able to hold a shot until Justice makes
<v Speaker 1>contact with the airbag for greater realism.
<v Speaker 2>That's crazy.
<v Speaker 3>Then, of course, director Richard Donner dedicated.
<v Speaker 1>The film to him, Dar Robinson, But yeah, he did
<v Speaker 1>tragically pass away, like right after they finished filming in
<v Speaker 1>this movie. And then another crazy thing I found out
<v Speaker 1>Jackie Swanson Amanda Hunt Sacker. You know, we get some
<v Speaker 1>eighty boobs from was in Cheers. She was Woody Harrelse's girlfriend.
<v Speaker 2>Like the little cute way.
<v Speaker 1>I'm like, wow, talk about a contrast of characters.
<v Speaker 3>Oh yeah, absolutely because she Oh that's so great because
<v Speaker 3>just recently my dad's been watching it. One of the
<v Speaker 3>streaming services has it and he's been watching Cheers, and
<v Speaker 3>so he'll want to watch when I'm there on vacation.
<v Speaker 3>We want to watch an episode.
<v Speaker 2>Two.
<v Speaker 3>We watched some of those episodes with her, and I'd
<v Speaker 3>had no, I wasn't thinking about that.
<v Speaker 1>Nope, she would never have put that together.
<v Speaker 3>She's great on the show. Her and Woody Harrelson. They're
<v Speaker 3>very funny episodes.
<v Speaker 2>Uh with her. That's great. Love that show. Great call man.
<v Speaker 3>So there are listeners out there who might be pulling
<v Speaker 3>their hair out at this time, going, why didn't you
<v Speaker 3>talk about the final fight sequence in your favorite scenes?
<v Speaker 3>Bill and Jason. Well, we'll give it a little shout
<v Speaker 3>out here for the final fight sequence. There were the
<v Speaker 3>hiring of three count them, three technical advice, each a
<v Speaker 3>master of a particular martial arts style. Cedric Adams was
<v Speaker 3>the first expert brought in quote unquote. Adams thought the
<v Speaker 3>best possible way to show just how lethal Riggs really
<v Speaker 3>is is to show his mastery of a form of
<v Speaker 3>martial arts never before seen on screen, said Richard Donner.
<v Speaker 3>Adams taught the actors the movements of can't even pronounce
<v Speaker 3>a capa area copaira No.
<v Speaker 2>I don't know. I couldn't sell it. That's why I
<v Speaker 2>write it down.
<v Speaker 3>A second technical advisor, Dennis Newsom, brought Jailhouse Rock to
<v Speaker 3>the fight sequence, and the third technical advisor was Rory
<v Speaker 3>and Gracie. Oh, Rory, Gracie, Yeah, of course, Gracie from Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>who of course from we know him from UFC, Yes,
<v Speaker 3>who specialized in Brazilian jiu jitsu. The filming was spread
<v Speaker 3>over four complete nights, shooting from dusk till dawn, resulting
<v Speaker 3>in an edited sequence that would last several minutes on screen.
<v Speaker 3>Love the final sequence. It is so over the top
<v Speaker 3>and would never happen, but it's fantastic and clearly so orchestrated.
<v Speaker 3>I love the fact that you've got it at night.
<v Speaker 3>You've got a helicopter spotlight shining down, You've got the
<v Speaker 3>broken fire hydrant with the water shooting up and the
<v Speaker 3>water's showering down. It's all so choreographed for like this
<v Speaker 3>perfect fight sequence, which is thrilling. I love it. I
<v Speaker 3>love the choreography. I just wanted to give that shout
<v Speaker 3>out to that final sequence because it's it's ridiculous, but
<v Speaker 3>it's still a blast and.
<v Speaker 2>It's a great way to cap off the movie.
<v Speaker 1>Okay, I did have that down for additional thoughts and questions.
<v Speaker 1>What do we think of the fights at the end. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>it just seems so in a way now out of place.
<v Speaker 1>I must feel like it should have happened first, somehow
<v Speaker 1>happened earlier, and then they go and take out sure.
<v Speaker 3>Mcallison, I think you can make an argument for that.
<v Speaker 1>Going back to beat Smester, they took out Mayax and
<v Speaker 1>then they took out the Junts.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I hear what you're saying completely. Also, my issue
<v Speaker 3>being was sent similar to you in the way it
<v Speaker 3>feels a little forced because it's right before the final
<v Speaker 3>fight happens. Joshua goes to Mertaw's house that he drives
<v Speaker 3>to and takes out two traffic cops or police officers
<v Speaker 3>and you know, staking out the joint and then goes
<v Speaker 3>to his house. And I'm like, why would Joshua go
<v Speaker 3>back to Mertaw's house. Why would he even go back.
<v Speaker 3>I would just think for revenge and just kill the family. Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>or he doesn't know that McAllister has been killed at
<v Speaker 3>this point. Maybe he just thinks he's still on this
<v Speaker 3>mission to find out what Merton knows. I don't know,
<v Speaker 3>but I was like, you're just walking right back into
<v Speaker 3>a real problem here. So yeah, it's a set. It's
<v Speaker 3>set up right, It's all like, oh, we have to
<v Speaker 3>have this final sequence.
<v Speaker 1>I'm just like, what is Joshua getting out of this?
<v Speaker 1>He loses no matter what. Yeah, he's surrounded by cops.
<v Speaker 1>He's there's no ways getting away, right, that's my question.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, it doesn't feel quite right.
<v Speaker 2>It just doesn't.
<v Speaker 3>But I still I still enjoy it, man, I do
<v Speaker 3>as a kid especially, it's right.
<v Speaker 2>You want to the scene itself. I like, it's just
<v Speaker 2>the way it's it's put in the movie.
<v Speaker 1>Now, it's just kind of like, h it's not right.
<v Speaker 3>I agree, it's it's it's a little tough, but you
<v Speaker 3>I want to see Riggs exact has come up and
<v Speaker 3>it s upon Joshua. And then, like I said, as
<v Speaker 3>a kid, we always you pause it, and you're like,
<v Speaker 3>wait a minute, Riggs and Roger both shot mister Joshua.
<v Speaker 2>But who shot first? So I always liked pausing it.
<v Speaker 3>And according to my recollection and watching it again just
<v Speaker 3>the other day, it's actually Murtaw that fires first.
<v Speaker 2>Anyway, all right.
<v Speaker 1>So the Mrtaw House is on the Warner Brothers Ranch
<v Speaker 1>in Burbank, specifically on the residential Backlott Street, officially known
<v Speaker 1>as Blondie Street. The ranch originate it as the Columbia
<v Speaker 1>Pictures Ranch, which is why the street and house appear
<v Speaker 1>so frequently in Columbia Pictures and screen Gems productions from
<v Speaker 1>the thirties through the seventies, such as The Parker's Family, Bewitched,
<v Speaker 1>and I Dream of Genie. And Blondie Street takes its
<v Speaker 1>name from the Blondie film series from nineteen thirty eight
<v Speaker 1>to nineteen fifty Did you ever watch any of those
<v Speaker 1>Blondie movies?
<v Speaker 2>No?
<v Speaker 1>No, They used to be on all the time on
<v Speaker 1>Sundays growing up.
<v Speaker 2>Huh. I would maybe watch.
<v Speaker 1>Like ten minutes because it wasn't a cartoon so and
<v Speaker 1>then shut it off.
<v Speaker 2>There you go.
<v Speaker 1>But that's based on the comic strip Blondie and Dagone.
<v Speaker 3>Oh yeah, okay, well Dagwood, I know, yeah, okay, got it.
<v Speaker 2>This is kind of fun.
<v Speaker 3>A clip of this movie, leith Weapon is played on
<v Speaker 3>television in the film The Last Boy Scout in nineteen
<v Speaker 3>ninety one. Not only are both movies written by Shane
<v Speaker 3>Black and produced by Joel Silver, but Damon Wayans from
<v Speaker 3>The Last Boy Scout would play Roger Murtau on the
<v Speaker 3>television series Letho Weapon, which began in twenty sixteen.
<v Speaker 1>But this I found interesting because you did mentioned this.
<v Speaker 1>One of your favorite scenes is the Christmas tree scene. Yea,
<v Speaker 1>so one of the batties. I'm always like, why is
<v Speaker 1>this guy look so familiar? His name was Blackie Demet,
<v Speaker 1>but his real name is John Ketis, who just happens
<v Speaker 1>to be father of Anthony Ketas from The Red Hot
<v Speaker 1>Chili Peppers. Totally seeing absolutely, that's great. Yeah, I think
<v Speaker 1>I'm good with my trivia. All right, let's move on
<v Speaker 1>to box office. So Litha Weapon was released on March sixth,
<v Speaker 1>nineteen eighty seven, in twelve hundred and fifty six theaters
<v Speaker 1>with an estimated budget of fifteen million dollars. Letha Weapon
<v Speaker 1>pulled in sixty five point two million dollars domestically and
<v Speaker 1>another fifty five million dollars internationally. The film debut number
<v Speaker 1>one at the box office and actually grossed more in
<v Speaker 1>its second week of release while remaining at the top spot.
<v Speaker 1>Lethal Weapon would spend one more week as the number
<v Speaker 1>one movie in the US and spend another ten weeks
<v Speaker 1>in the top ten. Lethal Weapon ended up being the
<v Speaker 1>ninth highest grossing movie in the US in nineteen eighty seven.
<v Speaker 1>Moving on to reviews. When growing up in the eighties,
<v Speaker 1>we would watch at the movies with Gene Cisco and
<v Speaker 1>Roger Ebert to hear their reviews and watch clips of
<v Speaker 1>upcoming movies. Their review of Lethal Weapon was unanimous two
<v Speaker 1>thumbs up. Roger loved the movie, stating a terrific action powerhouse,
<v Speaker 1>a non stop, no holds barred thriller, the best pure
<v Speaker 1>action movie since Raiders of the Lost Arc. Ciskell enjoyed
<v Speaker 1>the two main characters, who he thought were original and
<v Speaker 1>a lot of fun, but the movie loses a little
<v Speaker 1>after the first hour. Rotten Tomatoes gives it a Tomato
<v Speaker 1>Meter score of eighty two percent with a Popcorn Meter
<v Speaker 1>score of eighty six percent, and also has an IMDb
<v Speaker 1>rating of seven point six. So this takes us to
<v Speaker 1>additional thoughts and questions. What are some additional thoughts and
<v Speaker 1>questions you have about this movie?
<v Speaker 3>I think I've asked most of my questions already or
<v Speaker 3>expressed my thoughts, So the only question I have for
<v Speaker 3>you is how would you rank the films in the
<v Speaker 3>Lethal Weapon franchise from best to worst?
<v Speaker 2>Oh? Super easy? One through four? That was super easy?
<v Speaker 3>All right? Yeah, I Mine is only slightly different. I'll
<v Speaker 3>explain a couple things. For a long time, I actually
<v Speaker 3>had two Lethal Weapon two in the top spot because
<v Speaker 3>I had a nice date that evening when that film
<v Speaker 3>came out, and it was just I love the sequel
<v Speaker 3>and I thought it was a lot of fun, and
<v Speaker 3>it is a little bit lighter than the original. But
<v Speaker 3>over the years I've changed my mind and I'm almost
<v Speaker 3>the same. I have it one, two, but then I
<v Speaker 3>have four, then three, three. I'm not invested in the
<v Speaker 3>bad guy. Do not care for the bad guy in
<v Speaker 3>that film? And also that there's three is the introduction
<v Speaker 3>of Chris Rock's character? Is that correct? Or is he
<v Speaker 3>in four? Now I'm getting confused.
<v Speaker 2>Now you're confusing me.
<v Speaker 3>Because Chris Rock ends up being Rhianne's baby daddy, and
<v Speaker 3>that's they're trying, and you know what that.
<v Speaker 2>Might be in four.
<v Speaker 3>Actually, So this is tough now because I don't like
<v Speaker 3>the introduction of his character and he's put in there
<v Speaker 3>to do his stand up stick and that feels really forced, right,
<v Speaker 3>But I love jet Lee and four now see's I know,
<v Speaker 3>three just doesn't. I think three is the one I've
<v Speaker 3>seen the least, even though I do like Renee Russo
<v Speaker 3>a lot. It's just the plot. There wasn't much grabbing
<v Speaker 3>me in Lethal Web three, and I just Jet Lee
<v Speaker 3>puts the fourth one over the top for me. So
<v Speaker 3>I go one, two, four to three.
<v Speaker 2>That's my order.
<v Speaker 1>I would say I've watched Lethal wepon at least forty
<v Speaker 1>times more than I've watched the other three combined. Yeah, wow,
<v Speaker 1>how about that. I just don't like what they did
<v Speaker 1>with the Riggs character because I like, agreed that total
<v Speaker 1>intensity that has in this one and then the other ones.
<v Speaker 2>He's just a goofball.
<v Speaker 3>I can't stand when they do it because they're like, oh,
<v Speaker 3>we have to have more comedy. We got to needs
<v Speaker 3>some comic relief. It's too dark, it's too dark. It's
<v Speaker 3>too well, that's what makes Lethal Weapon great, and the
<v Speaker 3>fact is it could have been so much darker. But
<v Speaker 3>this is the first one, is the tone down version.
<v Speaker 2>Of it, which is crazy.
<v Speaker 1>It'll be interesting when we go back to two, because
<v Speaker 1>I know most people love Too. I'm not a fan
<v Speaker 1>of two either.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, that'll be an interesting discussion because I'm a huge
<v Speaker 3>fan of two.
<v Speaker 2>I really really enjoy Too.
<v Speaker 3>And I think there's some very dark moments in that
<v Speaker 3>they do have. They actually give Riggs a little more
<v Speaker 3>tram as it turns out in that one because of
<v Speaker 3>the female love interest and what happens there.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, who had a major crush all that was the
<v Speaker 1>only reason I watched that movie because because she was gorgeouszing.
<v Speaker 3>So yeah, that'll be in a good discussion half. Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>thoughts and questions because how messed up is Rhiann after all?
<v Speaker 3>This great great thought that crossed my mind as well.
<v Speaker 3>She goes through a lot and sees too much, so
<v Speaker 3>much violence. Not only is she kidnapped, but then to
<v Speaker 3>see her father pretty much like well immediately after torture,
<v Speaker 3>and then to witness Rigs come into the room and
<v Speaker 3>murder so many he killed so many people it's just
<v Speaker 3>intense trauma.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, intense. You figure her boyfriend gets murdered. Yeah, right,
<v Speaker 1>of course, she gets kidnapped. She watches all those people
<v Speaker 1>die in the middle of the desert, right, she gets rekidnapped,
<v Speaker 1>her dad gets tortured, she almost gets raped, and uh
<v Speaker 1>yeah she's okay at the end there.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, she was driving a limousine across the just brought
<v Speaker 3>this up in.
<v Speaker 1>The second one, like, where's three Anne back therapy?
<v Speaker 3>Yeah? Right, geez leth a weapon two back in therapy.
<v Speaker 2>Yep.
<v Speaker 3>Can't imagine driving a limo across the desert.
<v Speaker 2>Being chased by a helicopter. It's gotta be gotta be
<v Speaker 2>a lot. Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>That was probably the least of her trauma though, But
<v Speaker 1>I love that with Merteal Yeaser, get your fucking car.
<v Speaker 1>I'm like, yeah, exactly, that's what I would have said too,
<v Speaker 1>Get the fucking car.
<v Speaker 3>Did you have any other thoughts, observations, questions?
<v Speaker 2>No, that's it all right.
<v Speaker 1>I had to move on to review. So Jason, on
<v Speaker 1>the scale of one to five police badges, what do
<v Speaker 1>you give lethal weapon?
<v Speaker 3>Easy? Five? Solid police badges for me. The buddy cop
<v Speaker 3>genre started before this. Often you hear that credit is
<v Speaker 3>given to forty eight Hours Eddie Murphy McNulty, which is fantastic.
<v Speaker 3>We covered it on this very pod. This though, I
<v Speaker 3>consider to me at least the best of and my
<v Speaker 3>favorite of the buddy cop genre. Bill said it earlier.
<v Speaker 3>Great casting, I've said it, great chemistry, great action, great music,
<v Speaker 3>great direction, great pacing. The pacing of this the movie
<v Speaker 3>is under two hours. It's literally bang bang, and you're
<v Speaker 3>done and you're thoroughly entertained. Guess what else. I was
<v Speaker 3>actually invested in the relationships, and I cared about what
<v Speaker 3>would happen. Not only that, I wanted to see more,
<v Speaker 3>and thankfully we did with the sequels. Maybe not so
<v Speaker 3>much thankfully for Bill, but for me. I enjoyed a
<v Speaker 3>couple of the sequels. This movie completely holds up for me.
<v Speaker 3>I actually got excited, as mentioned rewatching it.
<v Speaker 2>I literally did.
<v Speaker 3>This was a real pleasure to revisit once again. I
<v Speaker 3>found it reinvigorating on a couple different levels. It's rock
<v Speaker 3>and roll. That's all five police badges for me, Bill Bent,
<v Speaker 3>what say you? I'll be honest going into this, I
<v Speaker 3>thought for sure I was gonna give this five no problem.
<v Speaker 3>I wish you could give it like a four point
<v Speaker 3>seventy five. I'm just gonna get it four point five. Sure,
<v Speaker 3>I still love this movie, but I think I was
<v Speaker 3>just kind of noticing some cracks. I just feel like
<v Speaker 3>throughout the movie there's little things that are little bits
<v Speaker 3>that are missing, and I kind of want to know
<v Speaker 3>what it is. So something's felt a little off, but
<v Speaker 3>not enough to not still love this movie.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>Literally, the other night I just had it on repeat.
<v Speaker 1>I just I was just playing over and over again.
<v Speaker 2>It's great.
<v Speaker 1>I enjoy it so much. Maybe I should just give
<v Speaker 1>it fine regardless of its flaws. But it's so weird
<v Speaker 1>how much I love this movie and don't really care
<v Speaker 1>about the sequels whatsoever. And it's not like the sequels
<v Speaker 1>were bad. I'm just like they just couldn't recapture what
<v Speaker 1>they did in this movie. I just love mel Gibson's character.
<v Speaker 1>I just love Riggs in this I just love the
<v Speaker 1>contrast with Martal. There's a scene in the opening when
<v Speaker 1>everyone's getting up in the morning and trist drops an
<v Speaker 1>egg on the floor. I'm like, why is that in
<v Speaker 1>the movie, But that's something that would happen in the household,
<v Speaker 1>And then Marton makes a joke about, oh yeah, you know,
<v Speaker 1>I should be looking on the floor for eggs, and
<v Speaker 1>it's such a throwaway, but I'm like it adds so
<v Speaker 1>much to the film because it makes like this is
<v Speaker 1>a real home life, This is the real stuff that
<v Speaker 1>kind of happened. It's not all lovey dovey like little
<v Speaker 1>things happened here and there.
<v Speaker 3>Real life family man and a real real family with
<v Speaker 3>real family goings on.
<v Speaker 1>Gary Busey is so much fun. I don't we didn't
<v Speaker 1>get into Gary Busey enough of this good point. And
<v Speaker 1>he'll say too, it really saved his career. I don't
<v Speaker 1>know if we'll do anything else from the early eighties,
<v Speaker 1>but yeah, I mean, he's certainly one of those first
<v Speaker 1>people he learned about that having a drug problem and
<v Speaker 1>derailing his career and this and this turned things around
<v Speaker 1>for him. But I really liked him as Joshua. I
<v Speaker 1>thought he was a great contrast to Riggs and Burntal.
<v Speaker 1>I really wish we got a little bit more out
<v Speaker 1>of McAllister. Like I said, I do like that one scene.
<v Speaker 1>I'd like him in it. That one scene with mister Mendez.
<v Speaker 2>I'm like, I.
<v Speaker 1>Would see more of that guy throughout the movie. So
<v Speaker 1>for some reason you have not watched this movie yet,
<v Speaker 1>you got to check it out and just see where
<v Speaker 1>it all all started.
<v Speaker 3>It's a blast, no question about it. Entertainment value, and
<v Speaker 3>I unapologetically will say, you know, I gave my rating
<v Speaker 3>tube for my nostalgic attachment as well, and that's that's
<v Speaker 3>what we do here. That's fine in the All Eighties
<v Speaker 3>Movies Podcast. Yeah, absolutely loved it. Great to talk about
<v Speaker 3>it with you. All right, So about wraps it up
<v Speaker 3>for this week's episode. As always, we appreciate tuning in,
<v Speaker 3>don't forget to follow, So in your favorite streaming platform,
<v Speaker 3>leave a rating and drop us.
<v Speaker 1>A review, hopefully a positive one. I want to know
<v Speaker 1>more about the show, of course you do. Head over
<v Speaker 1>to All Eightiesmovies podcast dot com. We're all the rad details.
<v Speaker 1>We hope you'll join us next time as we dive
<v Speaker 1>into another classic from the greatest movie decade ever, the
<v Speaker 1>nineteen eighties. Until then, but excellent to everyone.
<v Speaker 3>What did one shepherd say to the other shepherd, Let's
<v Speaker 3>get the flock out of here.
<v Speaker 2>Thanks for staying up with us.
<v Speaker 3>Good night world,