Lethal Weapon (1987)

The first and best Lethal Weapon, this was Mad Mel’s Hollywood breakthrough and the start of his enduring collaboration with Richard Donner in this hard-edged franchise-spawning action thriller.

Mel Gibson is Martin Riggs – a reckless, suicidal cop (traumatised by the death of his wife) – and Danny Glover is Roger Murtaugh – his cautious black partner, a happily married family man who’s “too old for this stuff”.

Both are Vietnam veterans and the case they’re working on one Los Angeles Christmas turns out to be a legacy of that nightmarish war on the home front.

Investigating the murder of a teenage cocaine addict, the pair uncovers a gang of ex-soldiers commanded by a former general, continuing in peacetime the kind of ruthless business they conducted as CIA commandos in Southeast Asia – drug trafficking.

There’s more hideous violence than usual, and the mayhem is non-stop – Lethal Weapon is excessive and implausible, but never boring.

Riggs and Murtaugh fail as often as they succeed, such as in their disastrous attempt to rescue Murtaugh’s hostage daughter Rianne (Traci Wolfe).

But they get it right when it counts, even if that means chasing a car down an LA freeway on foot, bare-chested – Which of course it does, because this movie is steeped in machismo.

The final battle between drug lord and murderer Mr Joshua (Gary Busey with a fierce bleach job) and Riggs is a classic. Both actors did their own stunts and took up martial arts to make this a superb fighting scene.

Of course, the bad guy can’t accept defeat and must be shot dead anyway. It’s that kind of movie – manly pride demands nothing less.

Still, machismo and all, Leathal Weapon is a perfect distillation of the 1980s. There’s a cell phone the size of a lunch box, action scenes that would see any real police officer immediately suspended, and, oh, that mullet!

Lethal Weapon 2 was released two years later.

Martin Riggs
Mel Gibson
Roger Murtaugh
Danny Glover
Michael Hunsaker
Tom Atkins
The General
Mitchell Ryan
Joshua
Gary Busey
Trish Murtaugh
Darlene Love
Rianne Murtaugh
Traci Wolfe
Amanda Hunsaker
Jackie Swanson
Nick Murtaugh
Damon Hines
Carrie Murtaugh
Ebonie Smith

Director
Richard Donner

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