Lethal Weapon (1987)

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:17):
Hello and welcome the All Eighties Movies podcast and podcasts
where we talk about the blocklisters, love flocks.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
And everything in between.

Speaker 1 (00:24):
From one of the precious decades from movies, the nineteen eighties.
Host Bill bant Lomcmeeow's journey ram visiting eighties movies is
my co host Jason Masse. Hello, Jason, Bill, I'm too
old for this shit. That's right, listeners, we're discussing with
spoilers of Plenty, the nineteen eighty seven action movie Lethal Weapon.

(00:44):
It was produced by Silver Pictures and distributed it by
Warner Brothers. The movie stars Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, and
Gary Busey. Directed by Richard Johner, this movie is rated
R with the running time of one hour and forty
nine minutes. The movie was nominated for one OSCAR for
Best Sound. So what is this movie about? What's in

(01:04):
the box. If you grew up in the nineteen eighties
and what's your local video store to rent this movie?
You would find this description on the back of the
VHS box.

Speaker 2 (01:12):
It is What's in the box? Take it away.

Speaker 3 (01:14):
Jason Martin Riggs is no ordinary cop. He's a mad
Max gone maniacal, a man who's killing expertise and suicidal
recklessness make him a lethal weapon to anyone he works
against or with. Roger Murtaw is an easy going homicide
detective with a loving family, a big house, and a
pension he doesn't want to lose. Imagine Murtaw's shock when

(01:37):
he learns his new partner is a guy with nothing
left to lose. Wild eyed, burnt out Martin Riggs Lethal
Weapon is the thrill packed story of two Vietnam vets
turned cops who have just one other thing in common.
Both hate to work with partners, but their partnership becomes
the key to survival when a routine murder investigation leads
to all out, take no prisoners, martial arts and machine

(01:59):
guns war with an international heroin Ring director Richard Donner
moves that war at two speeds, fast and faster. Hot
la days and nights explode in one show topping scene
after another, culminating in a no holds barred battle between
Riggs and his angel of death nemesis, mister Joshua in
an electrifying sequence incorporating three martial arts styles and requiring

(02:23):
four full nights to film. Fierce Fast and frequently funny
Lethal Weapon fires off round after round of can't miss entertainment,
lethal Weapon.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
Leath a weapon. How big was this VHS box that
you're reading off of.

Speaker 3 (02:37):
Jason, No, no, I'll be honest with you, Bill Bant.
I will look at these images on Google of all
the different VHS covers and they're great because you see
the different art, et cetera. And sometimes to be completely
transparent with all of our listeners, the original box, which
I try to choose all the time, the first original

(02:59):
box relief for the VHS. I try to choose that synopsis,
but sometimes there's just too damn long. But this is
the one that I didn't actually see too many others
that were different from or a shorter in length. But
I will choose the shorter length from time to time
just to spare everybody.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
I appreciate that. So that was what's in the box.

Speaker 1 (03:20):
Let's move on to our eighties snapshot as we highlight
some of the creative forces from this movie.

Speaker 2 (03:25):
Jason, who do you have?

Speaker 3 (03:27):
I chose Shane Black, the writer of Lethal Weapon. Here's
a few of his trademarks as a writer. You know,
he uses a kidnapping as a plot device in a
lot of his films, such as This, Lethal Weapon, The
Last Boy Scout, The Long Kiss Good Night, and iron
Man three. His scripts often combine action, thriller, noir, and

(03:47):
black comedy elements, and five of his screenplays begin with
the letter L. How about that btw Six of his
screenplays are all set at Christmas time. His eighties snap shot, Well,
here we go, Lethal Weapon in nineteen eighty seven, The
Monster Squad in nineteen eighty seven, then Lethal Weapon two,
he's credited for story and characters, and well, he ends

(04:10):
up getting the character's credit for Lethal Weapon three and
four later on in the nineties, and so well, that
basically sums up his eighties. And I'm just gonna mention
some notables afterwards, since his eighties didn't last that long.

Speaker 2 (04:22):
Here for us.

Speaker 3 (04:23):
The Last Boy Scout came out in ninety one. He
wrote The Last Action Hero in ninety three, The Long
Kiss good Night in ninety six, Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang,
and five Iron Man in twenty thirteen. That's iron Man three,
by the way, The nice Guys one of my personal favorites.
In twenty sixteen, he did an episode of the Lethal
Weapon TV steer series. At least he gets story by

(04:44):
credit for that in twenty sixteen, he does The Predator
that later sequel in the Predator franchise in twenty eighteen,
and then recently he does Play Dirty. He wrote Play Dirty,
released on Netflix here in twenty twenty five. Little trivia,
he was twenty two, only twenty two when he sold
the Lethal Weapon screenplay. And the funny thing is that

(05:06):
Shane Black might be best known as the character Hawkins, who
was the first victim killed by the Predator and Predator also.

Speaker 2 (05:16):
Released in nineteen eighty seven.

Speaker 3 (05:17):
Yeah, he's an actor to Shane Black, writer of Lethal Weapon.

Speaker 1 (05:21):
Awesome I saw. I went with actor Danny Glover, who
was born in San Francisco, California, and from early on
he committed himself to the craft of acting. He trained
at the Black Actors Workshop of the American Conservatory Theater.
It didn't take long for his talent to get noticed.
His Broadway debut in Master Harold and the Boys brought

(05:42):
him national attention, and that performance opened the door to
his first leading film role in Robert Benton's Places in
the Heart in nineteen eighty four, starring opposite Sally Field.
By the mid eighties, clever had quickly become one of
the most respected actors of the decade. In nineteen eighty five,
alone appeared in two more Best Picture nominees, Peter Weir's Witness,

(06:03):
which was our fourth episode we did on this show,
and Steven Spielberg's The Color of Purple, delivering a powerful,
dramatic performance that drew widespread acclaim. Then, of course, in
eighty seven, Glover reached global stardom when he teamed up
with Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon. His role as Detective
Roger Murtaugh, famously too old for This, became iconic, and

(06:24):
he reprised the character in three hugely successful sequels, firmously
establishing himself as a mainstream leading man. Other notable eighty
movies include Silverado and Bat twenty one. But Glover never
lited himself to blockbusters. Alongside commercial success, he invested his
energy to deeply personal and socially conscious projects. One of

(06:45):
them was nineteen nineties to Sleep with Anger, which he
executive produced and won an Independent Spirit Award for Best
Actor on Television. Glover earned widespread acclaim as well, winning
an Image Award and a Cable Ace Award, and receiving
an Emmy nomination for his portrayal of Nelson Mandela on
HBO's Mandela from nineteen eighty seven. He later earned an

(07:07):
additional Emmy nomination for the nineteen eighty nine TV mini
series Losome Dump and Behind the Camera. Glover made his
mark as a director to earning a Daytime Emmy nomination
for Showtimes Just a Dream in two thousand and two.
That is actor Danny.

Speaker 3 (07:21):
Glover outstanding Badass.

Speaker 2 (07:24):
It was a great career.

Speaker 1 (07:25):
And this leads us to earliest memories. Jason, was your
earliest memory of Lethal Weapon?

Speaker 3 (07:31):
Yeah, I've been hiding my excitement a little bit. This
movie rules. I'm a huge fan, all right, So let's
talk about some early memories.

Speaker 2 (07:42):
Huh.

Speaker 3 (07:43):
Well, I couldn't tell you who I was with or
where I was when I saw it for the first time,
but it was on TV. I did not see this
in the theater, and I do remember really liking it,
and I knew Mel Gibson from The World Warrior, not
much else. I didn't really know Danny Glover at this time. Now,
going back and thinking when you just mentioned Witness and Silverado,

(08:05):
I'm a huge fan of both of those movies. But
for whatever reason. I don't know if Danny Glover's face
just kind of stuck with me. So it's just it's
this It's lethal weapon is really where Danny Glover took
a permanent place in my consciousness. Maybe I recognize Gary
Busey a little bit, but that's about it. I mean,
this movie was right my wheelhouse in regards to the

(08:26):
buddy cop genre and those types of films. My love
for this film would just grow and grow upon every
revisit to this day. I've watched it so many times.
I could tell you that I have an early memory
of every scene in this movie. I could go from
beginning to end and tell you why every scene is awesome.
I have a supremely nostalgic attachment to the soundtrack of

(08:49):
this film, as it was quickly added to my orchestral
soundtrack collection. I would use this as creative fuel for
years and years afterward, and this music would be another
way to bond with our fellow film pal, Patrick Duty
in college. That's a fond memory of mine and Patrick Duty,
whom we've had on this podcast a couple of times.
But it's not just the music. I remember the dry,

(09:11):
witty humor of Martin Riggs. It was the Rigs role
as I call it, as I think a lot of
people would dub this as well. It's his move that
he uses when he's firing off his baretta and he
drops to the ground and he rolls in a circle
and he keeps shooting. It's a great movement, looks very cinematic.
It's very cool, and I would emulate that move with
high school friends while fake fighting all the time, probably

(09:33):
most likely with Chris Valenzano, fellow film buddy again who
is on this podcast. But honestly, I think we were
emulating the Riggs role from Lethal Weapon two. But I
just want to be honest about that. But he does
do it here in Lethal Weapon one. My memories, of course,
surround Martin Riggs that character a lot. It's just him

(09:54):
being a badass. I always love Glover in this franchise.
He is one half of it. I mean, he's a
huge part of it. But as a young and I
wanted to be Martin Riggs because of mel Gibson's performance.
I always think of his vulnerability, his portrayal of loss
and inner turmoil, living on the edge, his crazed mannerisms,
whether it's you know he's almost committing suicide in the beginning,

(10:15):
or jumping off a building or sprinting through traffic. I
remember his intensity, his sheer, explosiveness. But it's about the
Riggs Myrtau relationship. They're back and forth, how the movie moves,
and how the stakes get higher and higher. These are
all things that have stuck with me over the years,
and that's what I think of when I think of
this movie, and overall, Bill Bank, just how fun it is.

Speaker 2 (10:35):
It's fun now.

Speaker 3 (10:36):
This is one thousand percent one of the movies that
made me want to be in movies and make movies.
It's a great Los Angeles movie, a great Hollywood movie,
and it's a Christmas movie. These are the things I
think of over the years when I was watching it.

Speaker 2 (10:50):
What's not to love?

Speaker 3 (10:51):
I've watched it since with so many friends and quoted
it and paused it and watched it in slow mode
to see who shot first at mister Joshua in the
final fight sequence. I got a lot of nostalgia attached
to this. It's an all timer. It stuck with me
throughout the years. I am in love with lethal weapon.
What are your early memories?

Speaker 1 (11:08):
Bill bant Well, if you've listened to our Hoosiers episode,
I'm pretty much going to be repeating a story here.
There was something about those trailers or commercials to this
movie that I had to go see this movie in
the theater, and three of my friends went was supposed
to be opening night to the AMC Orleans eight to
go see Lethal Weapon. But my friends pulled the fast

(11:31):
one on me because they all decided they wanted to
go watch Hoosiers instead.

Speaker 2 (11:36):
We had a vote.

Speaker 1 (11:37):
I lost three to one and we saw Hoosiers, which
win win.

Speaker 2 (11:41):
On that one. Yeah, for sure. Oh man.

Speaker 1 (11:43):
I was so pissed though it took a while for
Hoosiers for it to kick in because I'm sitting in
the theater going it should be like, fucking lethal Weapon?
Why are we watching this movie? Receiving But one of
my friends did promise that we would go see it,
and we did go back. Finally two weeks later, two
of us and I remember the middle of movie turning
to him and go and see see why I wanted

(12:04):
to go see this, and he's like, You're totally right,
this is awesome. So but I do thank my friends
for taking me to Hoosiers.

Speaker 2 (12:09):
Clip.

Speaker 1 (12:09):
I probably would not have seen it in the theater,
and it's probably one of the most watched movies I've
seen from the eighties. That would definitely be another one
that's in my top ten. Not as close as Beast Master,
but it's up there. That's my story. Fantastic man, that's funny.
I've definitely seen leth Or. I did see Lethal Weapon
more than The Beast Master. Yes, it's all right. I'm

(12:33):
catching flak for having not seen The Beast Master. I
don't know how I missed it. I was living in
a hole apparently. Anyway, lethal Weapon, let's talk about it
a little more. You want to get into some initial thoughts, Yeah,
let's do it.

Speaker 2 (12:45):
What do we got?

Speaker 3 (12:46):
Well, I'm gonna go over a few things here, because
I mean, starting with I was like, we went, how
long is Lethal Weapon? It's one of the things we
look at just because we're scheduling and I got to
carve out some time to watch the movie for the
pod and I look forward to it. And this movie
is running time is only an hour and fifty minutes
or forty nine minutes come on clocks in it under

(13:06):
two hours. That's amazing. That means you can make a
badass movie in less than two hours. For sure, you
ever need proof, this is it. So I love that
first and foremost the movie kicks in. This is, without
a doubt, a Christmas movie. There is no debate. Oh
there is a debate. Oh come on, really.

Speaker 1 (13:28):
I used to joke that Diehard and Leath the Weapon
are my favorite Christmas movies, right, I was just about
to say, But watching it this time, I don't.

Speaker 2 (13:35):
Consider it a Christmas movie.

Speaker 1 (13:37):
Really, yes, because Christmas is important to the plot of
die Hard, whereas Leath the Weapon this could happen at
any time. There's nothing that needs Christmas in it to
make the movie go, Whereas I think with die Hard
you need that element of Christmas for the movie to
move forward because they're having the Christmas party. McLean is
coming in because it's the Holidays. The reason it's actually

(14:00):
robbers are there, it's because of Christmas, Whereas Litha Webbon
this could have happened at any point. I used to
consider it a Christmas movie, but watching it this week,
I'm like, no, but listeners want to disagree, have at it.

Speaker 3 (14:11):
I think you make a really really good point, and
you make a solid argument there. I do disagree wholeheartedly,
only because upon this rewatch. I mean, every other scene
has some sort of Christmas element in it. Is it
used as a plot device or to move the story forward,
maybe in ways like it is in Diehard. No, absolutely not.
You are absolutely right. It could take place at any time.
But it's just that the Christmas spirit is so present

(14:34):
throughout the film, whether it's the Myrtaw house and the
Christmas tree and notes attached to the Christmas tree, or
it's the cops near the beginning rehearsing they're going to
be singing a Silent Night. It's built into the soundtrack.
You hear the bells ringing in the background with the
Michael Cayman score. It's very present for me. But you're right,
You're right, it's just the story itself. Yeah, correct, it is.

(14:57):
It's window dressing. That's a great point. So I don't
know if you want to do this now. I was
going to save it to the end of my initial thoughts,
but there is a major comparison to be made here
to Diehard. There's just a lot of similarities between this
film and I was surprised in watching this. But we
can talk about that at the end. If you want,
unless you want to address it right here off the top. Now,

(15:17):
let's go for it.

Speaker 1 (15:18):
Okay, it's a great one two punch for sure.

Speaker 2 (15:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (15:21):
Absolutely, So that's what I mean. This is the die
Hard crossover. We have our producer Joel Silver, who produces
both films. We have Michael Kaman, who's the composer for
both films. We have our supporting actors, grand El Bush
love him in this, love Him, Detective Johnson in the
helicopter in Diehard. We've got Mary Ellen Trainor as the
psychiatrist here in Lethal Weapon, and she's the reporter in Diehard.

(15:44):
Correct if I'm not mistaken, And yes, then the one
the only Al Leong, al Leong, gotta love Al He's
Endo in this. I don't now, I can't think of
his actual terrorist name in Diehard, but I forget you.
It's like that's his big moments when he's looking down
at the candy.

Speaker 1 (16:04):
But it's awesome, right, he's great.

Speaker 2 (16:08):
I'm wondering if that's his real voice.

Speaker 3 (16:10):
Yeah, Oh, we can talk about actually a little bit,
I'm going to talk about a little bit of a
d R in this, which is funny. Also one of
the comparison I wanted to make to die Hard the
ending with the final fight sequence. Here in Lethal Weapon,
we have this classic moment where we think that mister
Joshua has been defeated by Riggs in this great martial
arts fight, this fisticuffs type of fight, and Martin Riggs

(16:33):
gets him in a like a wrestling hold and basically
renders him unconscious. But then of course mister Joshua for
one last time, comes back to life, grabs one of
the cops guns, and Martin Riggs and Murta turn around
and both shoot him in the chest, putting him down
for good. That just, to me, that's the end of
die Hard. That's Carl coming back to life and shooting

(16:55):
at McLain and then of course good old Al gets
him first and saves McLain's life in that at the
very end and is able to fire his weapon, which
is a big deal for Alt. So I'm like, this
is very, very similar. It's just it just really came
to the forefront for me upon this viewing this die
Hard type of crossover. It's just funny because die Hard
is known as changing the landscape of action films from

(17:18):
then on, when so many films were pitched as oh,
this is die Hard on a plane or die Hard
in as such and such, Right, die Hard on a
cruise boat or whatever? And I'm thinking was die Hard
lethal Weapon in a high rise?

Speaker 2 (17:31):
Right?

Speaker 3 (17:32):
And not to mention, the most obvious thing is the partnering, right,
we have a Caucasian an African American partner together as
buddy cops, right, So I mean that's you know, in
the of course, the one cop is breaking the rules, right,
and he's anti authority or whatever, and then the other
cop is straight laced and playing it by the book.
It's the same same thing, all right. Yeah, let's talk

(17:55):
more about this film, of course, Lethal Weapon. That soundtrack
Man Michael came in, David Sanborn, Eric Clapton.

Speaker 2 (18:03):
End of sentence, What else do you need to say?
I love the.

Speaker 3 (18:07):
Theme in this the wow wow wa, the saxophone from Sanborn, Eric,
I mean, the riffs this upon this watch. The soundtrack
supported so much of this in such a strong way
that it stood out to me on this rewatch as
it hasn't done before, not just the talents of Sanborn
and Clapton on their individual instruments, but the score itself,

(18:30):
the instrumental score self, particularly during the desert sequence outside
of Victorville, where Glover's got to go out there to
hopefully retrieve his kidnapped daughter, and then of course Riggs
is shooting everybody up. There's this whole opening sequence when
the choppers coming in, which is the cinematic shot, and
the dust is kicking up, and the score is triumphant.

(18:52):
So it just was like, Wow, this score really is
another character in this film. It's fantastic. Let's talk about
Gibson and Glover. The chemistry is undeniable. I can't really
see anyone else playing these roles. The banter, the writing,
the crosstalk, this back and forth, the banter where they're
kind of talking over one another. That I thought was

(19:12):
excellent direction, excellent writing, that Shane Black Black comedy element
of it. It made it feel natural. And I don't
know that I'd seen this kind of banter between.

Speaker 2 (19:22):
Cops like this before.

Speaker 3 (19:23):
That was kind of quick and quick witted, And I
don't know how you felt about that.

Speaker 2 (19:27):
I mean, speak on the chemistry, man, yeah, I.

Speaker 1 (19:29):
Mean shout out to casting director Marion Daugherty that was
able to figure this out, that she thought mel Gibson
and Glover would work. I mean, based on what they
had done up to that point. I don't know how
she figured that out, and she knocked out of the park.
That's what everybody loves about these movies. It's just the
two of them back and forth. They are opposites, I mean,

(19:51):
there are polar opposites who seemed to just work together.
It's amazing, it really is.

Speaker 3 (19:58):
Yeah, and from what I read as well, well, same thing.
Much credit to the casting director as well. You know,
there were obviously other choices for these roles, and especially
Martin Riggs. There's a lot of that in the research.
But what I did read is, you know, when they
did their read together, that being Glover and Gibson, it
was like magic. Credits to the casting people for recognizing

(20:20):
that and casting because that. I just don't see anybody
else pulling this off as well. I could see other
people like their faces in the roles, but it just
the magic wouldn't be there.

Speaker 2 (20:29):
I guess.

Speaker 3 (20:32):
Love Gary Busey in this man mister Joshua looking sharp,
the white hair. He's a badass in this. But I'm
going to say this a little nitpicky right from the
get here to step on maybe complaints. I think this
movie has a little bit, just a little bit of
a bad guy problem. Mister Joshua Gary Busey saves it.
But the ultimate batty is supposed to be General McAllister,

(20:52):
and I thought he as the main battie was a
little bit on the weak side. I don't know how
you feel about that.

Speaker 1 (20:58):
He has one scene I really like him in, but
I'll save it for a complete department because there's it. Okay,
there's something that ruins it. But yeah, it comes across
that Joshua is the main bad guy, but he's not
really the main bad guy, right, I agree with it.

Speaker 3 (21:14):
Yeah, I just think mister Joshua is so bad ass,
but he's the second command correct, And then it's like
the big bad boss is General McCallister, and he gets
his come up and spoke. I'm not intimidated by him
as much as Joshua. And let's address this real quick.
We don't have to get into it. I just have
a question here for you regarding the Mel Gibson of
it all. I'm a big, big fan of Mel Gibson

(21:36):
as an actor. I adore several of his films. I
adore his direction of films. But as it is well
documented and known, he's had some issues offscreen, some major
issues that have come to light et cetera. Major issues
just you know, because it's controversial, et cetera, and a
lot of opinions on those. How do you feel about

(21:57):
Mel Gibson as an actor? And or I have a
question for you, Bill Banty, speaking of him, what was
the last movie you saw him in and enjoyed?

Speaker 2 (22:04):
Wow?

Speaker 1 (22:05):
Last movie I saw Himon? I don't even remember. It's
been so long. Yeah, maybe The Beaver.

Speaker 3 (22:10):
I don't know sure, So that's you nailed it, Like
I'm saying you nailed it in the way. I'm not
saying that specifically what you saw him in last leg
I wouldn't know, But that's about that time. I was
looking over his filmography and for me, I remember seeing
The Patriot, which I loved, and then Signs is one
of my cult favorites of all time, A big Shyamalan fan.
And then probably Expendables three, Okay, was the last thing

(22:32):
I maybe the movie I saw him and that I
saw it in its entirety, and that's where it kind of
trickles off for me. And that was around that time
it's the early to it's the early two thousand, mid
two thousands, or like after twenty ten where it just
kind of falls off for me. Payback was another one
that was a huge one for me. Shout out to

(22:53):
Mark Eliopolis.

Speaker 2 (22:54):
We used to watch that. It's a great Mel Gibson film.

Speaker 3 (22:57):
It was just curious he's still around, he's still doing it.
They're not considered the A list movies being for theatrical release.

Speaker 1 (23:04):
It was interesting a couple of years back they were
showing the Man Max Trilogy down in Hollywood and Marwaan
wanted to go because he had never seen Beyond Thunderdough.
Oh yeah, sure, And mel Gibson was there to a
Q and A, well not Q and A. He was
doing kind of an interview and he came on after
Road Warrior played, and he spoke for like forty five minutes,
and you know, this is kind of posts when all

(23:27):
this other stuff came out, and I don't know, I
was kind of impressed about the way he spoke and
kind of you know, they didn't really get into that.

Speaker 2 (23:37):
Of course, it was more retrospect on his career, sure,
of course.

Speaker 1 (23:41):
But I've had people that met him everything I've heard
about him from people have been nice, but yes, there's
definitely stuff out there. So I do try to separate
the two because I really do love this character of
Martin Rings in this movie. There's a reason that Lisa
Weapon is my favorite of the series because he has

(24:02):
an edge that he does not recapture in the other
three films. We don't know what's going on, if he's
going to break at any point in the movie. It's
something for me that I just think is missing in
the other three movies. And if you hear that helicopter
in the background, I hope that's not Joshua coming to
assassinate me.

Speaker 3 (24:20):
You're not drinking eggnog right now?

Speaker 2 (24:21):
Right?

Speaker 1 (24:21):
No, no, leaving it off to the side. I'm not
going to pick that up. But that's why I love
this movie. I just love that character. I just love
the way that Gibson betrays him and Mel Gibson the person,
mel Gibson the actor, I just keep in separate compartments.

Speaker 3 (24:37):
One thousand percent. No, no matter what your opinion is
of Mel Gibson the person, he's an excellent actor and
just what he brings to this character. You said it.
I think if any I mean, anyone plays that beat
up every guy as well as Bruce Willis, it's Mel Gibson.
Except the thing is mel Gibson is pretty. He's a
really good looking dude, and he pulls it off. It's

(24:58):
pretty impressive. And that's another question, like, is Mel Gibbson
one of those last movie stars that could play the
tough guy and be that pretty. I mean, Kurt Russell's
can do that, but I think of Kurt Russell being
a little bit more edgy in his just the way
he looks. He's handsome, but not quite as pretty as Gibson.
Mel Gibson just God, he embodies the role so much,

(25:18):
don't You're not just saying, oh, yeah, of course he's
a great looking dude, but you kind of forget about that.
You're just like, man, this guy has got some real trauma,
he's got some real problems, and he embodies it. He's
living it in this role. You're so invested in his
character and then to see the journey with how he's

(25:38):
working it out and how he kind of has to
adapt to this new relationship with a new partner in
Glover and vice versa, Glover's got it, then think you
know he's about to retire, he's just turned fifty, et cetera.
It's fun to watch that. It's a great dynamic, right,
It's a great setup for a relationship to see how
this is going to work, and they make it work.
And not only do they make it work, but then

(25:59):
it turns in to a lot of fun. So just
a real credit to both actors actually, but Gibson every
time I watch this just really impresses me time and
time again. Speaking of which, did you think about their
ages during this film? Because Glover is supposed to be
turning fifty in this movie his character Roger Mertau, he's forty.
He's forty years old when they filmed this, which is crazy.

(26:22):
And then you have Gibson, who I think is supposed
to be thirty eight in the movie his character, But
how old.

Speaker 2 (26:29):
Was he when they filmed it? Thirty? There you go.

Speaker 1 (26:32):
Even Rianne supposed to be seventeen eighteen, she was twenty
four to twenty five. And I think Mrtall's wife, yeah,
Charlene love Trish, Yeah, she's five years older than Glover
and she was playing the young I think a little
bit younger wife.

Speaker 3 (26:47):
Yeah, So yeah, I mean it's just funny with the
ages and how old they're supposed to be. But everybody
looks great. They're in great shape. Glover looks I mean
for being forty, even he looks great shape. They had
personal trainers to get in shape for this and follow
cops are They did the whole thing. So I buy
a hook line and sinker. Great quotes from this movie
I'm too old for this shit and all the banter.

(27:08):
It's funny because I'm too old for this shit. Is
the is the quote right? And it plays out throughout
the franchise. But the other stuff, it feels like it's
so quotable, but it's all back and forth dialogue that
you would need a partner to do with, which is
fun to do with other people, but it's not You
can walk around and just quote lethal weapon all the time.
Outside of I'm too old for this shit. Yeah, every scene,
man is great. I wanted to say this the scene

(27:30):
when they go to the house to investigate and interrogate
the drug dealer that supposedly supplied Amanda Huntsecker with her
bad drugs, her contaminated drugs. I've been to that house.
That's the Richard Donner house. It's really cool. I just
wanted to That was a highlight for me. I did
a little bit with Patrick duty I think was Chris
Wendsayan on that too, probably, but we did a little

(27:51):
bit of It was for a reality show and they
needed me to sort of play a certain part, and
it was basically part of a pitch I believe had
to do sports like the good old days. It's no
I can't even think of the name of it. And
Pat's gonna kill me for this, Patrick that is anyway.
That was cool just to be on the house because
you walk in, You're like, oh, this is totally the
scene from Lethal Weapon and I was looking for You

(28:11):
can't see it obviously in Lethal webon but off to
the side when they're walking through to the backyard where
the pool is. If you're there in the Richard Donner house,
there's a big Superman.

Speaker 2 (28:19):
Sculpture in the yard. Oh nice.

Speaker 3 (28:21):
I was like, hell, yeah, man, there is Superman. That's
definitely Donner's place. That was a cool experience just to
be on the Donner property and shooting something for entertainment.
We'll talk about other great scenes later on. Just to
wrap up initial thoughts, here was gonna ask you, do
you feel like this plot is all or at all convoluted.

Speaker 1 (28:42):
I do have two questions about this movie, Okay. One
is it does feel they're little pieces missing for a while,
that there's needs I agree filled in or they had
to cut it out for time or whatever it is.
I did feel it watching it this time. It didn't

(29:03):
bother me.

Speaker 2 (29:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (29:05):
I think in a way this is almost like a
Jane's Bond movie in the sense of I'm just watching
it for the action, and then the fourth or fifth
time you watch it, you go, oh, what's the story? Oh, okay,
I got it. I didn't really care about it because
it's just so much fun regardless, you know, watching this time,
I really had to watch for story. But no, that

(29:26):
did make sense for me. But there is one thing
that drives me up the wall. I still have not
figured it out. Okay, it's the scene in which and
I love this shot when mel Gibson gets shot and
goes through the glass. I've mentioned this before. I'm like,
if if I have to die a terrible way, that's
the way I want to go. I want to get
shot and go through flying through the glass of a building.

(29:49):
That's my way. And you want to not saying someone
please do it to me.

Speaker 2 (29:53):
Right.

Speaker 1 (29:53):
So after that happens and they talk about that they
have the edge. Then Myrtal gets that call that someone's
coming to the house and Mertal says, oh dimples, and
it comes on, Yeah, how did you know that? And
then Myrtow knows to race back to the house because
something's going to happen. And they go back to the

(30:14):
house and they see that Rann's been kidnapped.

Speaker 2 (30:16):
Right.

Speaker 1 (30:16):
I still don't understand how he puts that together because
I was like, wait, is she dating Joshua? But then
when I read it, supposedly someone kills Rhann's boyfriend when
she gets kidnapped. Yeah, I still understand how Myrtaw figures
it out that he needs to go back to the
house because they're in trouble.

Speaker 3 (30:34):
Great question, and I've thought about this as well. I
just went with it. But there are things obviously that
happen off screen here that they allude to that we
do not see, so you do have to try to
put together the pieces. As soon as Martin raises shot
and goes flying back through the window, fantastic. That's a
great moment because it does kind of take you by
surprise if you don't know what's coming. It's a great shotgun, blacks,

(30:55):
great stunt, all that fantastic, and obviously he's wearing the
bullet proof vest. I think in that moment, we're supposed
to understand that Murtaw puts it together that oh, now they're
coming after us, because obviously they're literally, whether it's mister
Joshua or this shadow company, this group of mercenaries, they're

(31:18):
clearly taking out anyone that is connected to them that
could talk to the police. And now that they've seen
Huntsacker talk to the police, that's the whole thing. Mister
Joshua says, hey, I took out Huntsacker. He was the
one last piece, but he talked to the cops. And
then McAllister says, we have to turn up the heat,
meaning now we got to take out the cops. And

(31:39):
so I think Mrtaw himself, even though he's not privy
to that conversation between Joshua and McAllister, he still understands
that as a cop, like, oh, they're coming after If
they came after Riggs in that way, they're coming after
me next. So I got to get home right And
then it confirms it when he gets the call that Rihann's.

Speaker 2 (31:57):
Boyfriend has been murdered.

Speaker 3 (31:58):
Oh, they say he's been yeah. In the he the
call is the that the yeah, that he's been killed.
I don't think I've ever caught that's yeah. When he
gets the call they say, we found this the body
of this blonde guy or something across from your house
or something like that.

Speaker 2 (32:14):
I forget specifically.

Speaker 3 (32:15):
I apologize, but he's like, oh, you're gonna tell me
it's he's got dimples or something. There's an incident involving
the kid that happened, and he puts it. He's like, oh,
that's not good. Okay, yeah, I have to go.

Speaker 1 (32:28):
Back to watch it again with the subtitles because I
don't think I ever caught the fact that they found
a body. I thought it was just someone was coming
to the house and he goes, oh, someone with dimples,
So I thought at that point he was at.

Speaker 3 (32:41):
I don't know if they say specifically it was a body,
but I don't know the actual line of dialogue, but
something happened to him, like it's very it's not good.
Call to him is that they found something. That's all right?
So this clears up a little for me. Yeah, but
thanks for answering that question. I just threw that out
there for the plot being a little confident, because when

(33:01):
I was replaying the movie in my mind before rewatching
it for the podcast, I was, oh, yeah, how does
it get from A to Z? Here it goes from
this to that, and then how do they put that together?
And then they decide, for instance, in the like kind
of halfway third way through, the investigation from their perspective
is pretty much done. They just figured Amanda Huntsacker got
some bad drugs, so she did not commit suicide.

Speaker 2 (33:24):
Technically she was murdered.

Speaker 3 (33:25):
And then the scene happens with the drug dealer who
provided the drugs and he gets killed, so case closed.
But then it's Rigs who's kind of like, ah, what
about that other prostitute that just happened to be on
the scene who was Amanda's friend? The thin story, which
is thin, right, is totally thin, and that leads them
to go to Dixie's house, which then, of course another

(33:48):
great scene, fantastic explosion, they.

Speaker 2 (33:51):
Get saved by those little kids. Completely.

Speaker 3 (33:53):
I love that in these movies too, when you think
about it, where it's not too contrived where they're literally
walking up to house and they barely survived that they
were seconds away from being killed in that explosion.

Speaker 2 (34:06):
It's like, oh, wow, that's cool. That's just to think that.

Speaker 3 (34:09):
Was just those kids didn't recognize they were cops. They
would have blown up. That's a fun scene. Every scene
is fun in this here's the last thing I'll say. Man,
it's so much fun that even during the final credits
we get some great Elvis Christmas music and then after that,
probably the cheesiest eighties song during any final credits of

(34:31):
any eighties that.

Speaker 1 (34:32):
Was my complaint. It was one of the worst worst
closing credits songs. It's so bad, Jason, it's not even
listed in the credits. I was like, who sung this crap?
And I wanted to know, and it's not in the
credits bill even love can Become a Lethal weapon. Oh
that is terrible.

Speaker 3 (34:53):
As it was playing, I texted Patrick Duty and I
was like, because we used to sing it all the
time joking because it's so horrible.

Speaker 1 (35:01):
I almost wish they took Eddie Grant's Romancing the Stone
and put it at the end credits, and it would
have been better and made more sense.

Speaker 2 (35:09):
Than that song.

Speaker 3 (35:10):
Yeah, and the song is entitled Leave the Weapon, correct,
I mean that's the yes, right, and I believe it's
on the soundtrack, is it. Yeah, it's just not credited
in the film. Hilarious that it wasn't good stuff. That's
all you got any other initial thoughts to attack on there,
Bill Bant.

Speaker 2 (35:27):
No, that's it.

Speaker 1 (35:27):
Let's move on to favorite scenes or moments. All right,
We're not going to rehash the whole movie. We'll just
point out some favorite scenes to moments. Jason, what do
you have.

Speaker 3 (35:37):
My first favorite scene? I'm entitling cocaine and Christmas trees.
This isn't the actual official introduction of Martin Riggs, but
this is really what explains first and foremost that he's
a cop and that he is maybe not so well
in the head. It's just a lot of fun. We're
introduced to this character, Martin Riggs, and he's looked, you know,

(35:58):
he's in plain clothes, and he's on a Christmas tree lot,
a Christmas tree sails a lot, and he's in the
midst of a drug deal, the cocaine deal, with these
three guys, these three bad guys, and he's going to
purchase some cocaine and they're like, okay, he tests the cocaine.
This is a nice moment in the scene. It's really
funny and it's so in character for Martin Riggs and
credit to Mel Gibson as an actor. Where he is

(36:21):
sampling the cocaine and he puts a little like on
a little switchblade and he raises the cocaine up to
his nose and he doesn't know how to sniff it
or he can't decide how to sniff it, and then
just puts it in his mouth. That's exactly what Martin
Riggs would do. You'd just eat it, or he'd put it,
rub it on his teeth or whatever. And he seems
to like what he's sampled. He's like, uh, yeah, I'll
take it, and they're like how much. He's like, well,

(36:42):
I'll take it all. And they're like all right, we'll
sell it to you for a hundred and he's like
pulling out a hundred bucks and they're like, no, moron,
not one hundred dollars, one hundred thousand, and then Riggs
reveals himself as a cop. Shoot out ensues and they're
running through the Christmas trees, which is a great I love.
But this is the best part is that the other

(37:03):
cops arrive on the scene to back up Riggs, and
now Riggs gets caught by one of the bad guys
as he's distracted, and the bad guy has a gun
to his head and Riggs is like, go ahead, shoot me,
shoot me, and he keeps saying it over and over again,
and it becomes intimidating for the bad guy holding the
gun to his head, and Riggs is just like, I
don't care, shoot me, shoot me, shoot me, and he
says it a thousand times. He actually says at one point,

(37:26):
put it in my mouth, put it in my mouth,
just do it, do it, shoot me. We're like, who
is this guy? He's insane. He's literally tempting the bad
guy to just shoot him in the head. And finally
it gets to the point where he just spins around,
grabs the bad guy's gun and puts it right back
into his chin. And the look on Riggs's face is

(37:49):
so intense and it's like he is so caught up
in the moment, and the cops wrangle the bad guy
away and he literally has to take this moment. It's
a close up on Getson's face where his eyes are
wide and his cheeks are shaking, and he has to
take a deep breath to come down from it because
it's just so heightened for him in that moment. But

(38:11):
it's a fun action sequence where you get a real
sense of Okay, this guy is a loose cannon. This
Martin Riggs guy, this cop who apparently works in like
the narcotics department here is just a real loose cannon.
So I love this introduction of Martin Riggs the character.

Speaker 2 (38:27):
Yeah, it's a fun scene. I do like her a
lot too.

Speaker 1 (38:29):
One of the things I noticed that made me laugh
is when initially the deal is going down, it's Martin
and three other guys, and once Martin says that he's
a cop, we find out there's a guy in the
truck that's behind Martin, and the guy pulls out a shotgun.
He's going to blow Rigs away, and he's able to
duck and it hits one of the three bad guys instead,

(38:52):
and we see him he's all blasted with bullet holes.
And then Riggs pulls out his bretta and starts bowling
away the second guy, but the second guy falls next
to him and nothing, no bullet holes. Whatsoever. I'm like,
you just bloodied up the first guy. Where's the special
effects on the second guy? I don't think I ever
noticed that before. And that's uh, oh, it's great. The

(39:15):
gunplay in this you cannot talk enough about. The bretta
is like a character to itself. It seems the fact
that he carries a Bretta and Clever carries a Smith
and Wesson. But the gunplay is wonderful. With anytime Mel
Gibson is shooting in any lethal weapon film, it's incredible.
Oh yeah, yeah, I had that down in his favorite moments.
Anytime he shoots the gun, the clip's empty every time.

(39:37):
Oh yeah, he doesn't fire at one time, it's all
fifteen rounds. The thing is, he turns into an animal,
he turns into a beast. He goes into beast mode
and it's intense, and he just put the gun in
somebody's chest and fire it seven times. It's funny you
mentioned one of those little gaffs with you don't see
the blood on the one guy, because this movie does
have a handful of those gaffs and goofs and shoes,

(40:00):
with like the classic being the with the jumper jumping
off the building.

Speaker 2 (40:04):
Oh yeah, which I'm sure.

Speaker 3 (40:06):
You might get into, but I'll get into yeah now. Also,
there's a lot of what I picked up on a
lot of ad R.

Speaker 2 (40:13):
In this film.

Speaker 3 (40:14):
I didn't quite notice before you can tell they had
to re record some dialogue and put it in. So
I wonder if it's because of that witty banter all
the time they decided to change things up here and there,
some of the words weren't clear enough because they're talking
over one another.

Speaker 2 (40:27):
I I'm just curious about that.

Speaker 1 (40:28):
So anyway, what do you have next for a favorite scene?
I have the rooftop jump scene?

Speaker 2 (40:34):
Mm hmmm.

Speaker 1 (40:35):
So we have Riggs and Myrtal partnering up, and Myrtle's
on too excited about having Riggs as his partner because
he's been reading his bio and he knows about the
rumors going around that Riggs is psychotic and he's either
trying to get psycho pay or he really has death wish.
So they get a call for rooftop Jumper and Riggs

(40:57):
tells Burton, oh, I've dealt with this before, I can
take care of it, and Murtag goes, Okay, do it,
which is kind of funny considering what we know about
Riggs at this point, so I wonder how this is
going to turn out, right, So of course rig goes
up there, and the guy, of course, is hesitant to
have Riggs talk to him, and Riggs is trying to
calm him down, and he gets to the point where

(41:18):
he literally handcuffs himself to the jumper. It tells the jumper, now,
if you're going to jump, it's murder, so you can't jump,
And the jumper has reversed course and now he doesn't
want to jump, but Riggs goes, you know what, I
think we should jump anyway, And sure enough, the two
of them take a skydive off the ledge, much to

(41:39):
myrtos to grin, and luckily the air bag has been
deployed so they do land safely on the ground. But
there is an excellent gaff in that when you see
the two of them jump that the handcuffs come apart,
so they grab each other's hands to try to make
it sound like they're still connected. But that's still to me,
I'm like, man, that's a pretty dangerous done if you're

(42:00):
both going down the same time, because if you don't land,
if you don't hit the bag the same time, the
second guy seem to be okay. It's just a fun scene.
It's a little bit comical because there's one point where
Rigs says something to the fact like, come on, man,
my boss is down there watching help me out here.
That's great trying to talk them off the ledge.

Speaker 3 (42:18):
I'm like, oh Jesus, yeah, I was gonna say, there's
a little bit in the trivia too, and I apologize
that I'm stepping out something maybe you'd present later with
this particular scene, because it is a fantastic stunt and
it looks extremely dangerous. But when they drop to the
inflatable at the bottom, I guess so from one angle
when you're watching that stunt, because technically that that flatable

(42:43):
bag that they fall into is in the foreground. They
actually had to paint it to look like the street,
so when you're watching the shot of them jump off
the building, it appears as though the street is still
there without the bag or something like that. There's something
they did where they literally painted the I don't know
if it's the shot of them when they actually do
the stunt jumping off the roof, but there's a shot

(43:06):
where the bag is there, but it's painted as the
street and you don't notice it.

Speaker 1 (43:11):
It looks like the street. Yeah, we have a lot
of rooftop jumping in this movie. But afterwards, Myrtaw is
so pissed at Riggs about what happened, even though you
know Riggs said, hey, I got to jump her down.

Speaker 2 (43:22):
He's safe.

Speaker 1 (43:23):
Myrtal pulls him into a storefront that's being remodeled and
just straight up tells him. He's like, are you crazy?
Are you crazy? I need to know because I don't
want to be killed from your actions. And Riggs confesses, yes,
I actually have a bullet. I contemplate it and the
only reason I haven't done it yet is because of

(43:44):
the jobs he likes being a cop, And Myrtaw said,
I've had enough. He's like, just blow your brains out,
and he gives him his gun. Yeah, and Riggs is
going to call his bluff and sticks a gun in
his mouth and he's about to pull the trigger and
Myrtaw has to pull it away and he's like, you're
not trying to obtain psychopay, you are crazy. And now

(44:08):
Bertaw is really scared because he doesn't know what he
is dealing with. That's what I love about this movie
is we don't know what we're dealing with when it
comes to Riggs throughout this movie. That just proves it
right there. I mean, he literally almost kills himself in
front of his partner, and what the hell was this
partner going to do if he did pull the trigger?
Non sequences of that, like, oh yeah, I told him

(44:29):
to shoot himself and he did.

Speaker 3 (44:30):
Sorry, so yeah, amazing, I'm glad you chose that scene again,
Gibson Ultimate intensity. My theory is that he pulls the trigger.
You see there's the quick shot of Murta. He sticks
his thumb in between the uh what would you call?

Speaker 1 (44:49):
I mean, oh yeah, that's I figured like us, like
the webbing between your thumb and you're right.

Speaker 3 (44:55):
Yeah, he catches like oh that's got to hurt. Oh yeah, completely.
I'm surprised he doesn't yell out more when that happens
because he catches it for the hammer. The hammer of
the gun can come down and fire the bullet. It's like,
holy crap, he literally was going to kill himself right
in front of him. Yeah, it's from the jump going
right into that scene, they're really pushing it with Rigs,

(45:18):
and then you get it afterward. When why, Glover's like,
oh my god, I literally am now partnered with a
psychopath just before I'm going to retire tool for the shit.
Great scene, man, Glad you called him out.

Speaker 2 (45:28):
I already have next.

Speaker 3 (45:30):
Next, I have what I'm calling the after dinner chat.
So after a day of well, after an eventful day,
they end up at Murta's house and they're having dinner
with the fam and this is the first time Martin
Riggs is meeting that the Murtaw family. We see Rhianna
has developed an almost immediate crush on Rigs and that's
pretty fun. And after the dinner, we have our our

(45:53):
guys being guys out in front of the garage and
we see that Murtaz got a speedboat motor boat and
he's trying to fix it, and they're having a beer
and having this after dinner chat, and there's some little
bit of hijinks and back and forth, which is nice,
with then Riggs bringing up the fact that he just
can't let go of the fact that Dixie the prostitute

(46:14):
was there at the building where Amand had jumped off
of and it just doesn't quite add up. It just
feels a little bit questionable. And then Murta is like, ah,
you gotta let it go. It's it is what you
thought it was. It's over. And basically then the scene
leads to Murta walking Rigs to his truck and saying
good night. And I just love this moment. It stuck

(46:35):
with me as a kid. It's Gibson showing his range
in this because we understand that he is suffering from
the trauma of the loss of his wife, whom died
in a car accident only a few years before if that,
and then of course we do understand from the character
description development throughout up to this point that he also

(46:58):
was in Vietnam, and Myrta understands this. He was also
in Vietnam. They did not serve together, but separately, Riggs
understands that Mrta isn't thrilled about this partnership and that
Riggs presents a real problem, very unpredictable, and could be
very dangerous, and so Riggs decides to share in this

(47:19):
moment I've always loved it. And there's this bit of
back and forth dialogue which I'll read real quick, when
just before Riggs is about to get into his truck,
he says to murta, I do it real good, you know,
And MYRTA responds, do what, and Riggs says, when I
was nineteen, I did a guy in Laus from a
thousand yards out.

Speaker 2 (47:35):
It was a rifle shot in a high wind.

Speaker 3 (47:36):
Maybe eight or even ten guys in the world could
have made that shot. It's the only thing I was
ever good at. Well, see you tomorrow, and then MYRTA responds,
but yes, see you and then says, hey, Riggs, you
really like my wig my wife's cooking. Riggs takes this
extended pause just before getting the truck and says, no,

(47:57):
see you tomorrow. And it's just a really great scene.
And I think actually Murtaw respects his honesty in that
final moment. I love that dialogue. I love again Gibson's
vulnerability in that or the willingness to be just straight
up with him and say, look, I understand you think
I'm crazy, but I was also not. I was just
a kid, and this is what I was good at.

(48:19):
This is what I stuck with, kind of relating to
what you were saying, Bill in the previous scene. He
does it for the job, he loves the job. It's
what he's good at. So a little bit of a
bonding moment, and you see the realization I think in
Murta's face. So credit to Danny Glover in the scene
as well, where he's getting a little bit of a
better understanding of who Riggs is in his history. That's all.

Speaker 1 (48:39):
Yeah, that is a fun scene. I like when Riggs
comes to the house and we have the youngest daughter
ask her dad if Riggs is a crook, and then
Rhiann sees Riggs for the first time and develops a crush,
which everyone notices, and then the younger siblings even make
fun of it well, and everybody has a good.

Speaker 2 (48:57):
Laugh about it. Yeah, Tracy Wolf very cute as we ain.

Speaker 1 (49:01):
But yeah, it was kind of cool to see the
behind the scenes the home cop life, A happy cop life,
not the divorce from my wife. Everything's a strange kind
of thing. This is actually a nice household that we're
introduced to. MARTA's just trying to get to that retirement
do his fishing, and something that he thought was going

(49:22):
to be simple, open and shut case could be a
little bit more complicated than they thought.

Speaker 2 (49:26):
You bring up a good point.

Speaker 3 (49:27):
There's nice juxtaposition and contradiction here, and you can see
it on Riggs's face when he walks into MARTA's home, like,
holy cow, this guy actually did it. You know, he's
married with kids and he's managed to have some sort
of balanced life between career and home life, et cetera.
And he says as much. He skipped over that part.
After they get off the boat, and you know, MARTA's
walking Riggs to his truck.

Speaker 2 (49:49):
Riggs does turn.

Speaker 3 (49:50):
Around like, you know, you got a real nice family there,
and you wonder what that makes Riggs feel, because Riggs
clearly he lives in a trailer down by the beach
and it's just him and his dog Sam and a
little bit of an isolated, lonely life for Riggs versus
what Murta has.

Speaker 1 (50:07):
Definitely what he got. Next, man, I have the gun
range scene. I've just always loved the way the scene ends.
So basically, they're following up from the day before talking
about that the Amanda Hunt Sacker murder there might be
a little bit more into it. And Riggs is explaining
what he thinks that prostitute Dixie might be more involved

(50:29):
in this than and inditionally thought, and Murtal's like, you know,
that's kind of thin, but sure enough, so they're finished
up in the gun range and Murtau goes to show
off his shooting skills by doing basically a bullseye in
the skull of those paper targets, and Riggs is going
to show him up because he brags say he's a
good shot, and now he's going to show it. So

(50:49):
he takes the paper target and pushes it back as
far as it can go in the gun range and
then fires off seven bullets and he has the paper
are coming back and I love this shot, so it
doesn't spoil the surprise where mel gives basically cross in
the front of the camera and blocks the paper target

(51:10):
so you can't see what he did. And then right
when it comes up, they do a reverse angle and
you see the paper target and where Murtaw shot basically
was a nose and Riggs added two eyes to it
and a mouth almost like a perfect perfect face, and
then just walks off ed. Martah realizes he is as

(51:34):
good as of a shot that he says he is,
which is that kind of disappointing because every time Riggs
misses someone, you're like, dude, miss anybody? Yeah, Yeah, I
think I was kind of bummed that they spoiled that
in one of the trailers. Oh, because I think it
would have definitely played better if I had not known
at all going in what he had done with the gun,
because you just think he's just going to center seven

(51:56):
and the fact that he puts a face on what
Myrtaw did with the head shot. But Murton's a good
shot too, and that is demonstrated in this film and
in the later film.

Speaker 2 (52:06):
Yeah, I love it. I was always a good, lighthearted
one thousand percent.

Speaker 3 (52:09):
I was just torn between every sequence in this movie
as to which was my favorite. It's a classic moment
and a couple things.

Speaker 2 (52:16):
One.

Speaker 3 (52:16):
First of all, you could make an argument that they
both equally are great shots because Murtaw does a quick
draw in fires and nails the target right in the
middle of the head, So that's impressive. It's just obviously
Riggs takes it to a whole nother level by pushing
the target all the way but the back of the
range and then doing the face. But Riggs takes aim

(52:39):
and then fires, So you could make an argument that
they both exemplified their prowess there. They showed off their
prowess there. But it's so fun because Riggs. Just again,
Mel Gibson, when he's humming the whole time is the
target's moving back here. He's just humming that TV show
theme or whatever it was. Gibson's great, but you're right,
I love that choreography when he crosses in front, so
you don't see the smile and the smile face until

(53:00):
the very end. Here's another thing that makes me think
of is the fact that you get these movies that
may not be entirely original, whether it could be any
kind of movie in any kind of genre, but there's
one movie that does it better than the rest. And
this is one of the many reasons why Lethal Weapon
is great. For instance, we've seen many a scene in
films when someone is distraught, despondent and is about to

(53:22):
attempt suicide. The way mel Gibson does it in this
film is one of the most impactful scenes I've seen
in cinema. It always resonates with me when I think
of this movie, I'm like, oh, man, when he points
it at his face and then he puts it under
his chin and he's looking at it the picture of
his wife, and it's just it's awful, and the tears
are flowing It's truly awful, and I've seen it done

(53:42):
so many other times, but for whatever reason, this is
the most convincing one. Now when it comes to like
the shooting range. How many times have you seen a
shooting range sequence in a movie, especially like eighties movies,
any movie? Oh yeah, this is probably up there and
number one number two. I was going to ask you,
would you choose this or RoboCop the shooting scene that's
a pretty fun one, too very quick, but this, I
would definitely choose this one. But it made me think

(54:04):
of Robo Cop. And I know there's shooting range sequences
in Beverly Hills Cop two, but I just think there
are elements they do. They just do it better and
that's all, even if it's not the first time you've
seen it in cinema. So maybe think of that.

Speaker 2 (54:18):
Yeah, all right, I.

Speaker 1 (54:19):
Think we're going back to me. Another favorite scene is
the Rigs torture scene with Ali Young as Endo Yikes.
So Riggs and Marta have been captured because McCallister needs
to know what they know about the shipment of heroin
that is coming in. That's what we find out. What
the Shadow Company is doing is basically importing Heroin. They

(54:41):
do two large shipments a year, and they want to
make sure that the cops don't stop them for the
second one. So they want to know what they know
and who they've told. So that's why they just don't
outright kill them because they're not sure if anybody else
knows what is going on. So we basically have mel
Gibson strung up by arms about a foot in the

(55:02):
air and he's being doused in water and he's talking
to Joshua and Joshua is basically telling him, Yeah, you're
gonna tell us what you know, and mel Gibbson is like, dude,
I'm telling you what I know. We really know nothing.
All we know that Heroin's coming in and that's it.
And Joshua's like, well, I don't believe you, so we
need to find out. So we have Ally young as
Endo basically has these two leads that run to a

(55:24):
battery and is shocking literally shocking shock treatment. Mel Gibson
is not trying to act like the tough guy and
withstand the pain. He is screaming and howling. He's trying
to headbutt Joshua or Alf they get too close to him.
Trying to kick and scream. There's a part where riggsism
is swinging like a pendulum and Joshua keeps trying to
push him into Endo to keep the shock treatments, and

(55:47):
he'll have his hands on him too long and he'll
feel some of the effect of the shock. And we
do get to the point where Endo then says he
doesn't know anything. He would have talked by now there's
no way, so Joshua leaves him and say as well,
finish him off. Endo is basically just going to electrocute him,
and it looks like Riggs is exhausted, but he kicks

(56:08):
Endo basically wraps his legs around his neck and snaps
it and then still has the strength to pull himself
off the rig and escape and try to find Martal.
I can only imagine going through that kind of torture, man.
I would have made up a story at that point
something like that was going to happen.

Speaker 3 (56:27):
To me, no doubt about it. This is one of
the most memorable sequences, and it just goes in line
with what I was just saying. There have been torture
sequences in several movies over the years, and even it
just makes me think of something very similar to this
with Tango and Cash. One of my other cult favorite
eighties movies of all time Kurt Russell and Stallone. They're

(56:48):
hanging in a pool of water in a prison and
they're being electrocuted. But this is the movie that does
it the best because again Mel Gibson, and he is
in so much pain it literally hurts to watch the scene.
You can't help but put yourself in his position, the
way he's yelling out and screaming out every time he's
being shocked, and you're right, the little touches, the fact

(57:09):
that literally little touches when mister Joshua was touching him
and feeling the shock as well. So it's horrible. It's
horrible to almost endure this with Rigs. But yeah, when
he kicks Endo's ass at the end, it's just fantastic
and he gets himself off the hook and jumps down
and you're like.

Speaker 2 (57:25):
Oh shit.

Speaker 3 (57:26):
And then right afterward he goes to the other area
of that warehouse facility and just wipes everybody out.

Speaker 2 (57:35):
Rigs bad ass.

Speaker 1 (57:36):
On a side note, I've unfortunately almost experienced something like this.
I was a kid and we had a backyard pool
and I went to turn on the light in our
garage and there was a metal plate, Oh shit for
the light switch, and the wire was touching the plate
and I accidentally touched a plate when I would touch
the switch, and I got zapped. I felt that for

(57:57):
a good ten minutes afterwards, and then I have, of course,
my mom and my dad had to replace the plate,
thank god. So I mean that was literally a millisecond,
and I could still remember what that felt like. So
for mel Gibson to go through that where it's literally
placed on him for seconds at a time, I can
only like almost would have to crap himself and piss

(58:17):
himself out.

Speaker 2 (58:18):
Cowl.

Speaker 1 (58:18):
Yeah, there's a you literally feel it through your whole body.
Was one of the weirdest sensations I ever had. And
luckily I was able to get my hand off as
quick because I did no kidding.

Speaker 3 (58:26):
Did you say you had gotten out of the pool,
so you were wet, Your hand was still wet when
you touched the plate.

Speaker 1 (58:32):
I was completely wet from head to chow. And we
kind of knew sometimes you'd get a shock. The switch
was plastic, so you just try to hit the switch.
But my finger touched the plate at the same time,
and it was just like what damn? And I was
stunned for a while, and then I ran up and
told my mom what had happened, and then she of
course yelled at my dad because we had known about

(58:54):
this and never did anything about it. So that got
replaced right away. Billy, that's amazing. I'm glad you're still alive. Also,
I'm glad they've fixed it too, so nobody.

Speaker 2 (59:04):
Else got hurt.

Speaker 3 (59:04):
But from now on, if you ever watched this movie
with someone else, whether it be your wife or a
friend or whomever, when that scene comes on, you should
just act like the ultimate tough guy.

Speaker 2 (59:12):
And be like, yeah, I know what that feels like,
been there and done it rough, Like really what? Yeah?
That was a good touched a light switch?

Speaker 3 (59:25):
Great stuff? Man? Am I up next?

Speaker 2 (59:27):
Yes?

Speaker 3 (59:28):
All right, my next scene. I'm entitling now I'm running
with a machine gun. Hole ho ho, or it should
be huff huff huff, because he is huffing it. I
get so excited every time this sequence begins, and it's
basically right after the torture sequence, when Riggs has come
out and kicked everybody's ass and rescues Merta and Rheanne,

(59:51):
And now we realize that this warehouse area that they've
been torturing and is attached to this nightclub which is
the front for Shadow Company, his whole operation. And I
love the fact that Riggs and Merton Rhiann are all
beat to hell and they attempt to walk through the
club to the exterior as if everything's fine, like nobody

(01:00:11):
will notice. And you can see extras are starting to
look at them, because of course they they are calling
attention to themselves just by the way they look. And
then a whole gunfight ensues in the club. But the
bottom line is they exit the club and mister Joshua
has gotten into a vehicle and is making a run
for it, and Riggs ain't having it. Riggs has gotten
himself a machine gun. He's got it the strap over

(01:00:33):
his shoulder. His shirt's torn open or wide open, and
he's in his pants and white gym shoes, his white
tennis and Riggs is gonna run.

Speaker 2 (01:00:42):
And it's awesome.

Speaker 3 (01:00:44):
We just get Martin Riggs chasing mister Joshua's driving car
through the LA streets, the glistening streets of Los Angeles
at night, and you just have a blast watching melt
Gibson sprint and fire has gotten it. At some point
he's like on an overpath looking down and he catches
mister Joshua caught up on a street and fires down

(01:01:04):
into like blowing holes into the hood of the car,
which then sets on fire, and mister Joshua runs into
a light pole and has to change cars. It's just awesome,
and you have the Michael Caman score in the background
to back it all up. I can't get enough of
Martin Riggs running down a street with a machine gun
and chasing and catching up to somebody driving a car,

(01:01:26):
which in this case makes sense if it's la because
you would get stuck at every turn and in traffic
and whatever. So can't get enough. It's a total adrenaline rush.
And as soon as it starts, Bill on this rewatch.
And I've seen this movie several times. I was amped,
i was smiling, and I'm like, I love movies just
for this shit. Man, That's all I gotta say. Man, oh,

(01:01:49):
by the other way, the other way, go ahead, yeah,
go ahead, man.

Speaker 1 (01:01:52):
I I mean we always talk about Tom Cruise and
is running yes, but I'm like, no, this tops anything
that cruised. I fucking love the fact he's running literally
down the middle of the street Hollywood Boulevard with the
machine gun, just haul an ass.

Speaker 3 (01:02:08):
It's like like every boy's dream of an action sequence,
Like you just want to do that just to see
what it feels like. I don't know, it's ridiculous and awesome,
but I totally agree, and I wrote down the exact
same note. This is what I wrote here verbatim. There's
those that talk a lot about how good Tom Cruise
is running in movies. Well, I'd say Mel Gibson gives
him a run for his money, because this is the best.

Speaker 2 (01:02:31):
I so agree.

Speaker 1 (01:02:33):
Moments that I just love in this movie is Rigs
firing a gun and Rigs running.

Speaker 2 (01:02:38):
I just love him both. He's so intense.

Speaker 1 (01:02:41):
I almost just want to go out and start running.
It makes me want to run. How much I love courages.

Speaker 3 (01:02:45):
You just just go outside and start sprinting down the
street for whatever reason.

Speaker 1 (01:02:49):
Anytime I would run really fast, that's the image that
would be in my head, is Mel Gibson running down
the street, Like if I run track, That's what I
would think about.

Speaker 3 (01:02:58):
The one last time and I'll make about that is
the fact that we talk about Gibson's intensity, right, is
that with his character he's so spontaneous in the way
that he doesn't hold back at all. He's all or nothing.
It's go big or go hump. So he's like myrta.
He may say murtaw you okay, but then he just
takes off. It's like, what are you doing? Why would

(01:03:19):
you even try to run after a car? He doesn't care. No,
he's got one mission and he's just a bowl in
a china shop.

Speaker 2 (01:03:26):
It's awesome.

Speaker 1 (01:03:30):
Time to flip it, get into little Swiss cheese and
complaint department and what do we call it swiss cheese?

Speaker 3 (01:03:35):
Because although this movie is delicious, it does have smiley
face shooting target holes.

Speaker 1 (01:03:40):
Yes, it doesn't have those smiley face shooting target holes.
We just file complaint with the complaint department. All right, Jason,
what do you have?

Speaker 3 (01:03:47):
I only have a couple.

Speaker 2 (01:03:48):
Man.

Speaker 3 (01:03:49):
I've talked about some nippicky stuff I had earlier, but
with this my first one is interrupting Dad in the bath.
I yes, always bother. It's right right in the beginning.

Speaker 2 (01:04:00):
Yeah, why do you want to say?

Speaker 3 (01:04:02):
This is literally our introduction to Roger Murta. The first
shot is of him in the bathtub in the morning.
He's soaking, he's having a soak and it's his birthday,
it's his fiftieth birthday. And the fam, the fan bam
decides to burst in to wish him happy birthday. And
I'm like, these aren't like little baby toddler kids and

(01:04:25):
the wife. It's like a teenage daughter and two older
kids I don't know, six, seven, eight, not whatever, and
the wife and they're all hanging out with him. He's
naked in the bathtub and they're hugging on him and
kissing him, Like this is not appropriate at all? What
are you doing?

Speaker 1 (01:04:42):
And he's not bothered by it. Is it at least
having a bubble bath? Or is he at least got
the wash cloth over his jung now?

Speaker 3 (01:04:48):
No, Nope, Like, oh it's.

Speaker 2 (01:04:52):
That kind of family. Yeah. I always found that weird too.
That was my first complaint.

Speaker 3 (01:04:57):
What do you got man?

Speaker 1 (01:04:58):
Too many people telling Riggsy's crazy?

Speaker 3 (01:05:00):
Okay?

Speaker 1 (01:05:01):
That was starting to drive me up the wall. I'm like, Okay,
we get it. It's been established the guys on Edge,
but I just feel like they almost had to overemphasize.
Everyone had to tell him that he was crazy. In
the first twenty minutes of the movie. Enough enough, we know,
let's just keep moving along, move along. We know he's crazy,
we know there's something off about him. It was getting
on my nerves. And I also watched the supposed director Scott,

(01:05:22):
which is not really a director's cut, and it has
an additional scene in the beginning when Riggs stops a
school shooter, which got to think about it, back in
that time, that which seem such a crazy concept. Unfortunately
it's not that way anymore. And how many people in
that scene had to tell him that he was crazy also,
And I was like, all right, enough, enough crazy talk.

Speaker 3 (01:05:42):
And to think Shane Black actually wrote him even crazier
in the original draft I had read in that school
shooting that's in that director's cut. Originally he was written
to have taken out the sniper with a bazooka, like
with a rocket launcher. Oh yeah, there's Shane Black first,
it's on that. But you're right, it's a It is
a bit of a trope too, as it turns out,

(01:06:03):
because it is annoying, especially on rewatch when you're like, okay, yeah,
got it, got it, he's crazy, We got it, got it?
So it's a thing and it's still being done today. Yeah,
the here's my only other complaint as of now before
I unless I think of something else that you might
trigger me with. But uh Riggs in Murtauk go to

(01:06:24):
question Michael Huntsacker again. Well, this is actually the first interrogation,
but it's the second scene where they're talking to Michael
Huntsacker and it's it is at his home overlooking the ocean.
It's quite the waterfront property. And I realized upon this,
I don't know why I didn't catch this before, but
this is his daughter's memorial service and they're questioning him

(01:06:48):
in the middle of the memorial service. So I was like,
you couldn't wait until the end to talk to him.
I was like, what the hell, that's the first time, Like,
why are they talking to him? This is a really
somber moment for him. And anyway, that was it.

Speaker 1 (01:07:04):
Oh, this one bothered me a lot because this used
to be one of my favorite scenes and then this
kind of got ruined by mister Mendez played by Edo Ross.
And it's kind of the first time that we meet
McAllister right, and Mendes some kind of drug lord or whatever.
He's the biggest fucking pussy and he's so annoying. Oh

(01:07:28):
you guys are all psycho, you're all. I used to
love that scene with the lighter, right, of course, because
I like mcowister in that and he's like, do you smoke?
Do you smoke? And then he grabs the lighter and
he's like shut up, and then lights the letter and
then has Joshua pulled out his forearm and then lights
on them. But that scene now is ruined by that
Mendes character because once again it overstates the fact.

Speaker 2 (01:07:51):
Like these guys are crazy.

Speaker 1 (01:07:52):
These are guys that we got to worry about.

Speaker 2 (01:07:54):
These are our bad guys.

Speaker 1 (01:07:56):
Oh my god, they're so bad right playing straight, that
was it, Yeah, and he had to play it over
the top.

Speaker 2 (01:08:04):
It just killed the scene for me.

Speaker 3 (01:08:06):
That's an interesting when you say that now you're absolutely
right this again that trope of like we've got to
make sure the audience knows these got not only are
these bad guys the bad guys, but they're really bad.
And I've always loved the scene because it makes mister
Joshua look like a total badass and he demonstrates his
loyalty mctoo. McAllister and that he will do anything that
mcckelster instructs him to do and go to any lengths.

Speaker 2 (01:08:29):
Right.

Speaker 3 (01:08:29):
But and that's actually the one scene where I think
I actually like General McAllister character, where he comes off as.

Speaker 2 (01:08:36):
Oh, yeah, I think he's cool.

Speaker 3 (01:08:37):
Now, yeah, but you're right, it's really really overdone, overcooked.

Speaker 1 (01:08:42):
And then just as a kid trying to figure out
how they do that, not knowing about forced respective and
prop forearm and that kind of that's true.

Speaker 2 (01:08:49):
And I was like, dude, that is so cool magic movies.

Speaker 3 (01:08:54):
Yep, anything else, I'm tapped out already. Man, I got
nothing else except for that, you know, some of those
silly silly gas we'd already met and catching some of
the adr. But uh, I'm just not gonna nitpick it anymore.
I love this movie. So I got no other major complaints.

Speaker 1 (01:09:07):
Okay, Yeah, Like I said, my other one was the
song for the closing credits, So let's move on.

Speaker 3 (01:09:13):
Even love can become lead the weapon boom boom boom
boom boom boom boom boom.

Speaker 2 (01:09:22):
There you go.

Speaker 3 (01:09:23):
That rendition I just did was much better than the
song itself.

Speaker 2 (01:09:25):
That's how bad it is. I agree.

Speaker 1 (01:09:28):
See if Joshua had kidnapped me. All they want to
do is put me in a room and play that
song over over again. That's the you don't need endo,
just I'll tell you what you need.

Speaker 2 (01:09:38):
Don't play. Just don't play that fucking song one more time.
I love it all right.

Speaker 1 (01:09:42):
Time to move on to Hey, it's that actor. So
in the segment, we spotlight a character actor you have
seen in many other films, an actor making their big
screen debut, or an actor that makes an uncredited cameo.

Speaker 2 (01:09:54):
Let's hey, it's that actor. Who do we choose this week?

Speaker 3 (01:09:57):
Well, Bill Bant, this week we choose someone all all
too appropriate in this moment because you were just talking
about him. I chose ed O Ross, who plays Mendes
No love it. Oh it's fantastic. Yeah, in the beginning
of the film. Yeah, he's the buyer that meets with
mister Joshua, our introduction to mister Joshua and then general

(01:10:18):
McAllister fantastic. It's the cigarette lighter scene. Hilarious. Man ed
O Ross, though immediately identifiable as Hey, it's that actor.
He's a character actor from Pittsburgh, a bit type cast
as rougher around the edge, of characters, has a deep
gravelly voices from IMDb some of his trademarks. Often plays
Russian characters and was a former Golden Gloves boxing champ.

(01:10:41):
It turns out here's his eighties highlights. The Pope of
Greenwich Village. He plays a bartender, and that's an eighty
four he was in the Cotton Club also in eighty four.
Does a little TV, including a couple episodes Moonlighting. He's
in this Leath Weapon in eighty seven. Then he's Lieutenant
Touchdown in full metal Jacket. Also in eighty seven. We
here on the All Eighties Movies podcast Know him from

(01:11:02):
the Hidden Also in nineteen eighty seven, he had a
great nineteen eighty seven. He was in Action Jackson in
nineteen eighty eight. Can't wait to do that at some point.
Oh yes, and I personally always think of him in
Red Heat. Also in ninety nineteen eighty eight, the James
Blushiy Schwarzenegger film. Other notables would be another forty eight Hours,
Dick Tracy, he plays Itchy and Dick Tracy. He's a

(01:11:24):
Universal Soldier. He's in another Midnight Run in nineteen ninety four,
the TV movie sequel Oh God, and guess who he plays,
Marvin Dorfler.

Speaker 2 (01:11:36):
Okay, how about that? Right?

Speaker 1 (01:11:38):
I bet he's better than that than he is on
the Weapon, let's hope.

Speaker 3 (01:11:42):
So. And then he does a bunch of TV, including
seventeen episodes of Six Feet Under as Nikolai, So you
might know him from that show. But that's all I got.
Edo Ross familiar face, he's our Hey it's that actor
this week? Yes, hilarious. You're just tearing him apart, like no.

Speaker 2 (01:12:00):
This is ok. Yeah, guess what. I love this.

Speaker 1 (01:12:04):
That's all good though, But that's a good list of credits.

Speaker 3 (01:12:07):
Yeah. Man, he's a very familiar He's in a lot
of my big eighties movies.

Speaker 1 (01:12:11):
Yeah, but he is the definition of that category. He's
a hey, it's that actor, all right. Time to move
on to facts and trivia. So what are some facts
of trivia we have on Lethal Weapon?

Speaker 3 (01:12:22):
Yeah, let's talk about Shane Black for a moment. And
we've been talking about Mel Gibson's intensity. How about Shane
Black's intensity? This is just great. Shane Black, his first
draft of Lethal Weapon, which he wrote sometime in eighty five,
is much different. First draft was one hundred and forty
pages long. It was much darker, had alternate plot parts,
character scenes, action sequences, many other differences, like an entire
ending which had a big chase scene including a police

(01:12:44):
helicopter which gets blown up by Joshua who fires a
napal missile at it, causing it to crash into the
Hollywood Sign and start a huge fire. And that Murtaw
is killing General Missus McCallister while he's driving a trailer
truck full of heroin and gununs, which then crashes and
explodes over the Hollywood Hills, causing heroin to start snowing

(01:13:06):
over the burning Hollywood Sign. And then you have Rigs
killing Joshua by stabbing his fingers through Joshua's eye right
into his brain. Wow, that sounds pretty intense. I want
to read this draft man.

Speaker 1 (01:13:21):
Yeah, all right, since you brought up Shane Black, So
the name Shadow Company, the ex special forces unit mentioned
in litha Weapon, actually comes from the title of the
very first script Shane Black wrote back in nineteen eighty four.
While Shadow Company was never produced, the script made a
strong impression around Hollywood industry. Readers loved black sharp dialogue

(01:13:43):
and kinetic approach to action, and that buzz quickly led
to more writing opportunities, so that momentum is what ultimately
allowed Black to write the first draft of Leepal Weapon
in nineteen eighty five. Interestingly enough, Shadow Company was a
very different kind of project, an action horror film with
zombie elements. The story centered on a group of Special

(01:14:05):
Forces soldiers who died during the Vietnam War and mysteriously
returned years later after their bodies were brought back home.
I'm just kind of like a universal soldiers.

Speaker 2 (01:14:16):
Kind of fell to it. It's great, man, and I
think you can find that script online. That's cool.

Speaker 3 (01:14:20):
Yeah, love me some Shane black Man. Yeah, he goes
for it. We've been talking about the crossover with Diehard.

Speaker 2 (01:14:27):
Well.

Speaker 3 (01:14:28):
Bruce Willis was approached for the role of Riggs, but
turned it down as he found the script quote unquote
too violent. What this is referenced in the spoof of
the Lethal Weapon films and Loaded Weapon one. Bruce Willis
as John McClain appears after the villains attack the wrong
Beach residents looking for the protagonists. Christopher Lambert and Christopher
Reeve were both approached for the role, but neither was interested.

(01:14:51):
Michael Bean was also a brief contender to play Riggs,
as Donner enjoyed his performance in the Terminator, but he
was already committed to Aliens. Other actors considered for the role,
where Pierce brosn' ste even laying round Perlman, Michael Newry,
Sylvester Stalone, Patrick Swayze, Michael Douglas, Jeff Goldblum, and Kurt
Russell supposedly allegedly you never quite know, but some of

(01:15:12):
those makes sense to me. So.

Speaker 1 (01:15:14):
Jackie Swanson, who played Amanda Hunt Sacker, did perform the
high fall on her own, trained by legendary stuntman Dar Robinson,
who we have mentioned in previous episodes. Also, the stunt
was done using an airbag covered with a life size
painting of the driveway and cars, which like a four

(01:15:35):
round miniature, visually blends into the real scene. Thus the
editor is able to hold a shot until Justice makes
contact with the airbag for greater realism.

Speaker 2 (01:15:45):
That's crazy.

Speaker 3 (01:15:47):
Then, of course, director Richard Donner dedicated.

Speaker 1 (01:15:50):
The film to him, Dar Robinson, But yeah, he did
tragically pass away, like right after they finished filming in
this movie. And then another crazy thing I found out
Jackie Swanson Amanda Hunt Sacker. You know, we get some
eighty boobs from was in Cheers. She was Woody Harrelse's girlfriend.

Speaker 2 (01:16:09):
Like the little cute way.

Speaker 1 (01:16:11):
I'm like, wow, talk about a contrast of characters.

Speaker 3 (01:16:15):
Oh yeah, absolutely because she Oh that's so great because
just recently my dad's been watching it. One of the
streaming services has it and he's been watching Cheers, and
so he'll want to watch when I'm there on vacation.
We want to watch an episode.

Speaker 2 (01:16:27):
Two.

Speaker 3 (01:16:27):
We watched some of those episodes with her, and I'd
had no, I wasn't thinking about that.

Speaker 1 (01:16:31):
Nope, she would never have put that together.

Speaker 3 (01:16:34):
She's great on the show. Her and Woody Harrelson. They're
very funny episodes.

Speaker 2 (01:16:38):
Uh with her. That's great. Love that show. Great call man.

Speaker 3 (01:16:42):
So there are listeners out there who might be pulling
their hair out at this time, going, why didn't you
talk about the final fight sequence in your favorite scenes?
Bill and Jason. Well, we'll give it a little shout
out here for the final fight sequence. There were the
hiring of three count them, three technical advice, each a
master of a particular martial arts style. Cedric Adams was

(01:17:03):
the first expert brought in quote unquote. Adams thought the
best possible way to show just how lethal Riggs really
is is to show his mastery of a form of
martial arts never before seen on screen, said Richard Donner.
Adams taught the actors the movements of can't even pronounce
a capa area copaira No.

Speaker 2 (01:17:21):
I don't know. I couldn't sell it. That's why I
write it down.

Speaker 3 (01:17:24):
A second technical advisor, Dennis Newsom, brought Jailhouse Rock to
the fight sequence, and the third technical advisor was Rory
and Gracie. Oh, Rory, Gracie, Yeah, of course, Gracie from Yeah,
who of course from we know him from UFC, Yes,
who specialized in Brazilian jiu jitsu. The filming was spread
over four complete nights, shooting from dusk till dawn, resulting

(01:17:46):
in an edited sequence that would last several minutes on screen.
Love the final sequence. It is so over the top
and would never happen, but it's fantastic and clearly so orchestrated.
I love the fact that you've got it at night.
You've got a helicopter spotlight shining down, You've got the
broken fire hydrant with the water shooting up and the

(01:18:06):
water's showering down. It's all so choreographed for like this
perfect fight sequence, which is thrilling. I love it. I
love the choreography. I just wanted to give that shout
out to that final sequence because it's it's ridiculous, but
it's still a blast and.

Speaker 2 (01:18:23):
It's a great way to cap off the movie.

Speaker 1 (01:18:25):
Okay, I did have that down for additional thoughts and questions.
What do we think of the fights at the end. Yeah,
it just seems so in a way now out of place.
I must feel like it should have happened first, somehow
happened earlier, and then they go and take out sure.

Speaker 3 (01:18:40):
Mcallison, I think you can make an argument for that.

Speaker 1 (01:18:43):
Going back to beat Smester, they took out Mayax and
then they took out the Junts.

Speaker 3 (01:18:48):
Yeah, I hear what you're saying completely. Also, my issue
being was sent similar to you in the way it
feels a little forced because it's right before the final
fight happens. Joshua goes to Mertaw's house that he drives
to and takes out two traffic cops or police officers
and you know, staking out the joint and then goes
to his house. And I'm like, why would Joshua go

(01:19:09):
back to Mertaw's house. Why would he even go back.
I would just think for revenge and just kill the family. Yeah,
or he doesn't know that McAllister has been killed at
this point. Maybe he just thinks he's still on this
mission to find out what Merton knows. I don't know,
but I was like, you're just walking right back into
a real problem here. So yeah, it's a set. It's
set up right, It's all like, oh, we have to

(01:19:32):
have this final sequence.

Speaker 1 (01:19:35):
I'm just like, what is Joshua getting out of this?
He loses no matter what. Yeah, he's surrounded by cops.
He's there's no ways getting away, right, that's my question.

Speaker 2 (01:19:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:19:43):
Yeah, it doesn't feel quite right.

Speaker 2 (01:19:45):
It just doesn't.

Speaker 3 (01:19:46):
But I still I still enjoy it, man, I do
as a kid especially, it's right.

Speaker 2 (01:19:51):
You want to the scene itself. I like, it's just
the way it's it's put in the movie.

Speaker 1 (01:19:55):
Now, it's just kind of like, h it's not right.

Speaker 3 (01:19:57):
I agree, it's it's it's a little tough, but you
I want to see Riggs exact has come up and
it s upon Joshua. And then, like I said, as
a kid, we always you pause it, and you're like,
wait a minute, Riggs and Roger both shot mister Joshua.

Speaker 2 (01:20:09):
But who shot first? So I always liked pausing it.

Speaker 3 (01:20:12):
And according to my recollection and watching it again just
the other day, it's actually Murtaw that fires first.

Speaker 2 (01:20:18):
Anyway, all right.

Speaker 1 (01:20:19):
So the Mrtaw House is on the Warner Brothers Ranch
in Burbank, specifically on the residential Backlott Street, officially known
as Blondie Street. The ranch originate it as the Columbia
Pictures Ranch, which is why the street and house appear
so frequently in Columbia Pictures and screen Gems productions from
the thirties through the seventies, such as The Parker's Family, Bewitched,

(01:20:42):
and I Dream of Genie. And Blondie Street takes its
name from the Blondie film series from nineteen thirty eight
to nineteen fifty Did you ever watch any of those
Blondie movies?

Speaker 2 (01:20:52):
No?

Speaker 1 (01:20:53):
No, They used to be on all the time on
Sundays growing up.

Speaker 2 (01:20:58):
Huh. I would maybe watch.

Speaker 1 (01:20:59):
Like ten minutes because it wasn't a cartoon so and
then shut it off.

Speaker 2 (01:21:03):
There you go.

Speaker 1 (01:21:03):
But that's based on the comic strip Blondie and Dagone.

Speaker 3 (01:21:06):
Oh yeah, okay, well Dagwood, I know, yeah, okay, got it.

Speaker 2 (01:21:10):
This is kind of fun.

Speaker 3 (01:21:11):
A clip of this movie, leith Weapon is played on
television in the film The Last Boy Scout in nineteen
ninety one. Not only are both movies written by Shane
Black and produced by Joel Silver, but Damon Wayans from
The Last Boy Scout would play Roger Murtau on the
television series Letho Weapon, which began in twenty sixteen.

Speaker 1 (01:21:31):
But this I found interesting because you did mentioned this.
One of your favorite scenes is the Christmas tree scene. Yea,
so one of the batties. I'm always like, why is
this guy look so familiar? His name was Blackie Demet,
but his real name is John Ketis, who just happens
to be father of Anthony Ketas from The Red Hot
Chili Peppers. Totally seeing absolutely, that's great. Yeah, I think

(01:21:55):
I'm good with my trivia. All right, let's move on
to box office. So Litha Weapon was released on March sixth,
nineteen eighty seven, in twelve hundred and fifty six theaters
with an estimated budget of fifteen million dollars. Letha Weapon
pulled in sixty five point two million dollars domestically and
another fifty five million dollars internationally. The film debut number

(01:22:17):
one at the box office and actually grossed more in
its second week of release while remaining at the top spot.
Lethal Weapon would spend one more week as the number
one movie in the US and spend another ten weeks
in the top ten. Lethal Weapon ended up being the
ninth highest grossing movie in the US in nineteen eighty seven.
Moving on to reviews. When growing up in the eighties,

(01:22:38):
we would watch at the movies with Gene Cisco and
Roger Ebert to hear their reviews and watch clips of
upcoming movies. Their review of Lethal Weapon was unanimous two
thumbs up. Roger loved the movie, stating a terrific action powerhouse,
a non stop, no holds barred thriller, the best pure

(01:22:59):
action movie since Raiders of the Lost Arc. Ciskell enjoyed
the two main characters, who he thought were original and
a lot of fun, but the movie loses a little
after the first hour. Rotten Tomatoes gives it a Tomato
Meter score of eighty two percent with a Popcorn Meter
score of eighty six percent, and also has an IMDb

(01:23:20):
rating of seven point six. So this takes us to
additional thoughts and questions. What are some additional thoughts and
questions you have about this movie?

Speaker 3 (01:23:29):
I think I've asked most of my questions already or
expressed my thoughts, So the only question I have for
you is how would you rank the films in the
Lethal Weapon franchise from best to worst?

Speaker 2 (01:23:44):
Oh? Super easy? One through four? That was super easy?

Speaker 3 (01:23:49):
All right? Yeah, I Mine is only slightly different. I'll
explain a couple things. For a long time, I actually
had two Lethal Weapon two in the top spot because
I had a nice date that evening when that film
came out, and it was just I love the sequel
and I thought it was a lot of fun, and
it is a little bit lighter than the original. But

(01:24:10):
over the years I've changed my mind and I'm almost
the same. I have it one, two, but then I
have four, then three, three. I'm not invested in the
bad guy. Do not care for the bad guy in
that film? And also that there's three is the introduction
of Chris Rock's character? Is that correct? Or is he

(01:24:31):
in four? Now I'm getting confused.

Speaker 2 (01:24:33):
Now you're confusing me.

Speaker 3 (01:24:35):
Because Chris Rock ends up being Rhianne's baby daddy, and
that's they're trying, and you know what that.

Speaker 2 (01:24:41):
Might be in four.

Speaker 3 (01:24:42):
Actually, So this is tough now because I don't like
the introduction of his character and he's put in there
to do his stand up stick and that feels really forced, right,
But I love jet Lee and four now see's I know,
three just doesn't. I think three is the one I've
seen the least, even though I do like Renee Russo
a lot. It's just the plot. There wasn't much grabbing

(01:25:05):
me in Lethal Web three, and I just Jet Lee
puts the fourth one over the top for me. So
I go one, two, four to three.

Speaker 2 (01:25:11):
That's my order.

Speaker 1 (01:25:12):
I would say I've watched Lethal wepon at least forty
times more than I've watched the other three combined. Yeah, wow,
how about that. I just don't like what they did
with the Riggs character because I like, agreed that total
intensity that has in this one and then the other ones.

Speaker 2 (01:25:25):
He's just a goofball.

Speaker 3 (01:25:26):
I can't stand when they do it because they're like, oh,
we have to have more comedy. We got to needs
some comic relief. It's too dark, it's too dark. It's
too well, that's what makes Lethal Weapon great, and the
fact is it could have been so much darker. But
this is the first one, is the tone down version.

Speaker 2 (01:25:42):
Of it, which is crazy.

Speaker 1 (01:25:44):
It'll be interesting when we go back to two, because
I know most people love Too. I'm not a fan
of two either.

Speaker 3 (01:25:49):
Yeah, that'll be an interesting discussion because I'm a huge
fan of two.

Speaker 2 (01:25:52):
I really really enjoy Too.

Speaker 3 (01:25:53):
And I think there's some very dark moments in that
they do have. They actually give Riggs a little more
tram as it turns out in that one because of
the female love interest and what happens there.

Speaker 1 (01:26:05):
Yeah, who had a major crush all that was the
only reason I watched that movie because because she was gorgeouszing.

Speaker 3 (01:26:11):
So yeah, that'll be in a good discussion half. Yeah,
thoughts and questions because how messed up is Rhiann after all?
This great great thought that crossed my mind as well.
She goes through a lot and sees too much, so
much violence. Not only is she kidnapped, but then to
see her father pretty much like well immediately after torture,

(01:26:33):
and then to witness Rigs come into the room and
murder so many he killed so many people it's just
intense trauma.

Speaker 1 (01:26:42):
Yeah, intense. You figure her boyfriend gets murdered. Yeah, right,
of course, she gets kidnapped. She watches all those people
die in the middle of the desert, right, she gets rekidnapped,
her dad gets tortured, she almost gets raped, and uh
yeah she's okay at the end there.

Speaker 3 (01:26:57):
Yeah, she was driving a limousine across the just brought
this up in.

Speaker 1 (01:27:00):
The second one, like, where's three Anne back therapy?

Speaker 3 (01:27:03):
Yeah? Right, geez leth a weapon two back in therapy.

Speaker 2 (01:27:07):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (01:27:08):
Can't imagine driving a limo across the desert.

Speaker 2 (01:27:10):
Being chased by a helicopter. It's gotta be gotta be
a lot. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:27:14):
That was probably the least of her trauma though, But
I love that with Merteal Yeaser, get your fucking car.
I'm like, yeah, exactly, that's what I would have said too,
Get the fucking car.

Speaker 3 (01:27:25):
Did you have any other thoughts, observations, questions?

Speaker 2 (01:27:28):
No, that's it all right.

Speaker 1 (01:27:29):
I had to move on to review. So Jason, on
the scale of one to five police badges, what do
you give lethal weapon?

Speaker 3 (01:27:37):
Easy? Five? Solid police badges for me. The buddy cop
genre started before this. Often you hear that credit is
given to forty eight Hours Eddie Murphy McNulty, which is fantastic.
We covered it on this very pod. This though, I
consider to me at least the best of and my
favorite of the buddy cop genre. Bill said it earlier.

(01:27:58):
Great casting, I've said it, great chemistry, great action, great music,
great direction, great pacing. The pacing of this the movie
is under two hours. It's literally bang bang, and you're
done and you're thoroughly entertained. Guess what else. I was
actually invested in the relationships, and I cared about what
would happen. Not only that, I wanted to see more,
and thankfully we did with the sequels. Maybe not so

(01:28:18):
much thankfully for Bill, but for me. I enjoyed a
couple of the sequels. This movie completely holds up for me.
I actually got excited, as mentioned rewatching it.

Speaker 2 (01:28:28):
I literally did.

Speaker 3 (01:28:29):
This was a real pleasure to revisit once again. I
found it reinvigorating on a couple different levels. It's rock
and roll. That's all five police badges for me, Bill Bent,
what say you? I'll be honest going into this, I
thought for sure I was gonna give this five no problem.
I wish you could give it like a four point
seventy five. I'm just gonna get it four point five. Sure,
I still love this movie, but I think I was

(01:28:49):
just kind of noticing some cracks. I just feel like
throughout the movie there's little things that are little bits
that are missing, and I kind of want to know
what it is. So something's felt a little off, but
not enough to not still love this movie.

Speaker 2 (01:29:06):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:29:06):
Literally, the other night I just had it on repeat.
I just I was just playing over and over again.

Speaker 2 (01:29:11):
It's great.

Speaker 1 (01:29:11):
I enjoy it so much. Maybe I should just give
it fine regardless of its flaws. But it's so weird
how much I love this movie and don't really care
about the sequels whatsoever. And it's not like the sequels
were bad. I'm just like they just couldn't recapture what
they did in this movie. I just love mel Gibson's character.

(01:29:33):
I just love Riggs in this I just love the
contrast with Martal. There's a scene in the opening when
everyone's getting up in the morning and trist drops an
egg on the floor. I'm like, why is that in
the movie, But that's something that would happen in the household,
And then Marton makes a joke about, oh yeah, you know,
I should be looking on the floor for eggs, and
it's such a throwaway, but I'm like it adds so

(01:29:55):
much to the film because it makes like this is
a real home life, This is the real stuff that
kind of happened. It's not all lovey dovey like little
things happened here and there.

Speaker 3 (01:30:05):
Real life family man and a real real family with
real family goings on.

Speaker 1 (01:30:11):
Gary Busey is so much fun. I don't we didn't
get into Gary Busey enough of this good point. And
he'll say too, it really saved his career. I don't
know if we'll do anything else from the early eighties,
but yeah, I mean, he's certainly one of those first
people he learned about that having a drug problem and
derailing his career and this and this turned things around
for him. But I really liked him as Joshua. I

(01:30:31):
thought he was a great contrast to Riggs and Burntal.
I really wish we got a little bit more out
of McAllister. Like I said, I do like that one scene.
I'd like him in it. That one scene with mister Mendez.

Speaker 2 (01:30:43):
I'm like, I.

Speaker 1 (01:30:44):
Would see more of that guy throughout the movie. So
for some reason you have not watched this movie yet,
you got to check it out and just see where
it all all started.

Speaker 3 (01:30:53):
It's a blast, no question about it. Entertainment value, and
I unapologetically will say, you know, I gave my rating
tube for my nostalgic attachment as well, and that's that's
what we do here. That's fine in the All Eighties
Movies Podcast. Yeah, absolutely loved it. Great to talk about
it with you. All right, So about wraps it up
for this week's episode. As always, we appreciate tuning in,

(01:31:15):
don't forget to follow, So in your favorite streaming platform,
leave a rating and drop us.

Speaker 1 (01:31:19):
A review, hopefully a positive one. I want to know
more about the show, of course you do. Head over
to All Eightiesmovies podcast dot com. We're all the rad details.
We hope you'll join us next time as we dive
into another classic from the greatest movie decade ever, the
nineteen eighties. Until then, but excellent to everyone.

Speaker 3 (01:31:37):
What did one shepherd say to the other shepherd, Let's
get the flock out of here.

Speaker 2 (01:31:42):
Thanks for staying up with us.

Speaker 3 (01:31:44):
Good night world,

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