"Lethal" Weekend Evening

They don't really make them like this anymore...

When I was visiting Ryan for that week back in July we got stuck for a pair of hours on the couch watching "Lethal Weapon 2" on commercial television. Here's an excerpt:

Scene: Interior of Murtaugh's wife's station wagon, Joe Pesci's Leo Getz realizes he got the wrong sandwich from a (hypotheical) drive-thru Subway.

Leo: Tuna? I didn't order this...Hey...guys...

Riggs: Tuna!?

Leo: I didn't order this.

Murtaugh: You can't eat tuna!

Leo: Were you listening? I didn't order this! Let's go back.

Riggs and Mutaugh: (in unison) No!

*Cut to commercial break.*

Even with the "I don't give a frigs" and the quick cuts to commercial, it was pretty fun seeing the time before Mel Gibson was outed as a bat-shit crazy person, and to try and enjoy the mindless destruction and laugh at the corny one-liners. The chemistry between Danny Glover and Mel is obvious.

I told Ryan about how "Lethal Weapon 2", from 1989, was the first one of the series that I saw. My mom took me and my dad's brand new car to the drive-in to watch a new action movie. My dad and brother were off doing something else, maybe at the Cabin. I remember pretty clearly that my mom got me a Kit-Kat bar from the concession stand, and that that alone made it a special trip.

Once I got back to Long Beach, and maybe after we returned from Idaho, I called my brother Dan and asked if he had a Lethal Weapon four-pack DVD. He did not.

Eventually, procuring some sundries from Target, I'm guessing, we found the exact four-pack I thought my brother had, and picked it up. All four discs in one slim container for under ten bucks.

Corrie and I watched the first entry (from 1987) on some random Wednesday, and got a pretty decent buddy-cop action flick. The quips were flying, the action set pieces were grand; one cop feels his age, the other is dealing with the constant threat of suicide...the buddy-cop action movie is created here with "Lethal Weapon". Buddy-action movies existed since Butch and Sundance, but the comedic, action, buddy-cop blockbuster started here. Or gained widespread acceptance here.

It was enjoyable if you're looking for a competent action vehicle that's self-aware about it's humor.

Then, over a recent weekend, Corrie pushed for a Saturday night marathon wherein we powered through the next three, and, in between, we talked about what we liked, what worked and what didn't, and how it compared on it's own to other action movies as well as to the other entries in the canon.

The second, the one I saw at the drive-in with my mom, is my favorite. The bad-guys are serious bad-guys---South African Apartheid-era bureaucrats; the chemistry is set without being yet over-the-top; Joe Pesci pre-"Goodfellas"; the quips ("They fuck you at the drive-thru!"); the closure for Riggs and his former'wife's "accident"; the repeated, for some reason, destruction of Murtaugh's wife's station wagon; the condom commercial; the toilet bomb, and in general the action set pieces are more lively.

Two helicopters shoot up an LAPD detective's seaside trailer? ACTION SET PIECE. But the best of them all?

BRINGING DOWN THE HOUSE ON STILTS. I'm on the couch, cheering, yelling at my television at 9:30 at night on a Saturday, eventually turning to Corrie and saying, "Imagine the random canyon they found where they could build an entire house on stilts, just to tear it down. They don't make these kinds of movies anymore..." The scene, later when a bloody Leo and sweaty Murtaugh find Riggs, is perfect: Mel Gibson, leaning on his truck, puffing on a cigarette, is in post-coital bliss.

The movie takes a stand against both dolphin-killing-tuna-concerns as well as apartheid. The action is as well executed as it is planned. We found ourselves having this conversation:

Me: So, don't you think if the South African consulate had planned out a brazen attack on a major American metropolitan police force in which it had killed multiple detectives, that the state department might consider that an act of war?
Corrie: Something like that. they certainly wouldn't be able to hide behind "Deeplo-mahtic I-moo-ni-tee."

Then we watched the third, from 1991. Mel's mullet is bigger and fresher, Joe Pesci looks like he's aged ten years, and is blond; and Danny Glover looks the same. The new addition here is Rene Russo, and for many a young man my age, this was our introduction to her.

Corrie and I had a long conversation about this movie in which she made the case that it could be the best one of the first three. The chemistry between Leo and the detective pair feels real and, frankly, not quite reasonable considering the trios origins. Anyway, the boogeymen are money-hungry ex-cops, Rene Russo kicks ass, and the action kinda stopped trying to top the previous sequel.

We followed up this entry with a late night viewing of the fourth, about slavery, counterfeiting currency, and Mel's Riggs coming to terms with being "too old for this shit." Chris Rock is here and given some good work, but as a character the young detective from the 5th season of The Wire is better (that's not really fair, though, is it?). Rene Russo is pregnant, and Jet Li get's a major American mainstream introduction. The end reminds me of the end of "Return of the King," lots of slow motion smiling...

I'd forgotten how enjoyable '80s era action movies were, if you're into that kind of thing.

And, there's this: "Lethal Weapon", from 1987, opens with a helicopter shot of a beach-side condo suicide. That's literally our exact neighborhood, the Villa Riviera and the circular condo at the end of Lime, less than a thousand feet away.