Tango & Cash (1989)

Director:

Andrei Konchalovsky

Writer (WGA):

Randy Feldman (written by)

Release Date:

22 December 1989 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

Two of L.A.'s top rival cops are going to have to work together... Even if it kills them.

Plot:

Two cops are framed and must clear their names.

Plot Keywords:

Prison | Escape | Framed | Torture | Car Bomb

Awards:

3 nominations

Cast

Sylvester Stallone	...	Lt. Raymond Tango
Kurt Russell	...	Lt. Gabriel Cash
Teri Hatcher	...	Katherine 'Kiki' Tango
Jack Palance	...	Yves Perret
Brion James	...	Requin
James Hong	...	Quan
Marc Alaimo	...	Lopez
Philip Tan	...	Chinese Gunman
Michael J. Pollard	...	Owen
Robert Z'Dar	...	Face
Lewis Arquette	...	Wyler
Edward Bunker	...	Capt. Holmes
Leslie Morris	...	Hendricks
Roy Brocksmith	...	Fed. Agent Davis
Susan Krebs	...	Prosecutor

Also Known As:

The Set Up (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

98 min | USA:104 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Brazil:16 | Singapore:NC-16 | Iceland:16 | New Zealand:M | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:18 | UK:15 (original rating) (cut)

Filming Locations:

Irwindale, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

The scene where Tango (Sylvester Stallone) faces an oncoming truck with nothing but a gun was borrowed from Ging chat goo si (1985), where Jackie Chan (a good friend of Stallone's) performed the stunt.

Goofs:

Continuity: During the prison escape, on the roof while attempting to jump to the power line, the camera front view has Cash wearing a sleeveless shirt. When camera shot is on the back of them Cash (or rather his stunt double) is wearing a tee shirt with sleeves.

Quotes:

Ray Tango: When this is over, we have to pay Jabba the Hutt here a visit.
Gabriel Cash: I'll bring the chainsaw.
Ray Tango: I'll bring the beer.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Shock 'Em Dead (1991)

Soundtrack:

Harlem Nocturne

works best as a goofy star vehicle, not as a knowing parody of Lethal Weapon

If there is any reason to watch Tango & Cash today, and there is, it's because Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell work excellently on screen together. There's Jack Palance too, of course, mugging and doing his Jack Palance thing so much his performance in this and his performance in Batman should have a face-off to see who's the gnarliest villain (this one might win just due to his penchant for senseless mice torture in mazes). But for all intents and purposes, this is a fun guy knock-off flick dependent on its stars for a lot of the heavy lifting. The plot and dialog are only so clever; one knows for sure that because Lethal Weapon was the huge smash it was they decided to go down that route: give us characters that are not too over the top or too serious (albeit Lethal Weapon took itself more seriously AND had some genuinely funnier bits). It is also incredibly, occasionally painfully, 1980s. This is so 80s that Russell can not only be forgiven for the mullet, it's actually kind of cool.

This is also the one big shot that the director, Konchavalesky, who previously had knocked it out of the park (or at least to the fence) with his movie Runaway Train. He directs it with some flair, maybe even an over-abundance of wretched action-movie style. But his skills as an action movie director are put by the wayside for his leading stars (the original DP, Barry Sonenfeld, was fired midway through production by *Stallone* for not giving enough 80s light on him), so if there's joy in watching the movie it's all in credit to the beefy and sometimes very funny actors. We've seen so much of this before that only the limited twists and the charisma and talent of the cast drive it along to some redeemable fate.

If you're up for some reason at 3:30 on a weeknight and decide to say "screw it" to your next day's work and Tango & Cash is on... there's certainly worse things you could be doing other than sleeping. At the least there's a near perfect self-knowing Rambo joke.