Lethal Weapon (1987)

A veteran cop, Murtaugh, is partnered with a young suicidal cop, Riggs. Both having one thing in common; hating working in pairs. Now they must learn to work with one another to stop a gang of drug smugglers.

Director:

Richard Donner

Writer:

Shane Black

Stars:

Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Gary Busey

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 5 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mel Gibson	...	Martin Riggs
Danny Glover	...	Roger Murtaugh
Gary Busey	...	Joshua
Mitchell Ryan	...	The General
Tom Atkins	...	Michael Hunsaker
Darlene Love	...	Trish Murtaugh
Traci Wolfe	...	Rianne Murtaugh
Jackie Swanson	...	Amanda Hunsaker
Damon Hines	...	Nick Murtaugh
Ebonie Smith	...	Carrie Murtaugh
Bill Kalmenson	...	Beat Cop
Lycia Naff	...	Dixie
Patrick Cameron	...	Cop #1
Don Gordon	...	Cop #2
Jimmie F. Skaggs	...	Drug Dealer #1

Storyline

Martin Riggs is an L.A. cop with suicidal tendencies and Roger Murtaugh is the unlucky police officer with whom Riggs is assigned. Together they uncover a huge drug-smuggling operation, and as their success rate grows so does their friendship.

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Plot Keywords:

mullet | suicidal | police | drugs | police officer | 

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Taglines:

After 20 years on the force, police detective Roger Murtaugh has come face-to-face with the most dangerous killing machine in Los Angeles... his new partner.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 March 1987 (USA)

Also Known As:

Arma mortal

Filming Locations:

4318 Comly Street, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$15,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$65,207,127 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., Silver Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min 108 min (cut) 117 min (director's cut)

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) Dolby Stereo (35 mm prints) (4 channels)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Each movie of the 'Lethal Weapon' series features a goon with glasses. Here, in the first one, it is the balding goon, Gustaf (Gustav Vintas), who delivers the line "He has a grenade!" during the desert scene and is later shot in the club by Riggs.

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Goofs

In the desert sequence when Rianne is driving the Limousine, the blood and bullet hole continually switch locations on the windscreen.

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Quotes

Roger Murtaugh: Pretty thin, huh?
Martin Riggs: Anorexic.

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Crazy Credits

There is a dedication to Dar Robinson, a stuntman who died in a motorbike accident as Lethal Weapon was in Post-Production.

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Connections

Referenced in On Probation (2005)

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Soundtracks

Deck The Halls
(uncredited)
Written by Thomas Oliphant

User Reviews

Started it all

If there's one movie that's an absolute an unquestionable action classic, it's without a moment of doubt "Lethal weapon". Who would have guessed back in 1987 that the same team would make a third sequel eleven years later? Still, the fact that "Lethal weapon" got sequels doesn't make it a miraculous movie. The fact that it means the same thing to "a buddy film" -genre than "Die hard" means to "one man saves the day from terrorists" genre makes it a special motion picture. It practically started the whole phenomenon as we know it today and just take a good look at all the dozens and dozens of buddy flicks that tries to imitate the mixture of vivid action and relaxing, splendid humor of "Lethal weapon". I have to admit that part of me would still like to see Riggs and Murtaugh together for the very last time. On the other hand Mel Gibson is already 46 years old and Danny Glover just turned 55 and he's definitely starting out to be "too old for this".