The Hard Way (1991)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

John Badham

Writers (WGA):

Lem Dobbs (story) and
Michael Kozoll (story) ...

Release Date:

8 March 1991 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Crime

Tagline:

There's only one way these two are going to get along...

Plot:

An action film star researching a role is allowed to tag along with a hardboiled New York cop, who finds him superficial and irritating.

Plot Keywords:

Actor | Detective | Serial Killer | Movie Star | Police

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Michael J. Fox	...	Nick Lang / Ray Casanov
James Woods	...	Detective Lt. John Moss, NYPD
Stephen Lang	...	Party Crasher
Annabella Sciorra	...	Susan
John Capodice	...	Detective Grainy, NYPD
Luis Guzmán	...	Detective Benny Pooley, NYPD
LL Cool J	...	Detective Billy, NYPD
Mary Mara	...	Detective China, NYPD
Delroy Lindo	...	Captain Brix, NYPD
Conrad Roberts	...	Witherspoon, Gun Dealer
Penny Marshall	...	Angie, Nick's Agent
Christina Ricci	...	Bonnie
George Cheung	...	Drug Dealer
Frank Geraci	...	Newsman
Sophie Maletsky	...	Pizza Waitress

Runtime:

111 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Iceland:16 (video rating) | South Korea:15 | Australia:M | Finland:K-14 | France:U | Germany:16 (w) | Italy:T | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R | Argentina:13 | Ireland:15 | Netherlands:16 | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Badham-Cohen Group, The

Trivia:

The film was originally slated to shoot for 16 weeks, but was reduced to 13 because producer/second unit director Rob Cohen was shooting at the same time as John Badham in different locations to save more time and money.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Roll bars are visible as the police car overturns near the end of the movie.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Operator: 9-1-1 Emergency.
Party Crasher: Hello there! It's me - again! Well, what can I say? I'm about to crash another party.

Movie Connections:

Featured in 1992 MTV Movie Awards (1992) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Runaround Sue

It's "The Odd Couple" meets "Dirty Harry" head-on.

Wildly violent, but hilarious comedy about a showboat-like Hollywood action star (Michael J. Fox) who in order to prepare for his next film, comes to the Big Apple and tags along with a hard-boiled police detective (James Woods) who is desperately determined to nab a notorious killer dubbed "The Party Crasher" (Stephen Lang) despite nearly getting himself killed in the process. Fox and Woods certainly make an interesting comedy team. There's no way that this movie could without the presence of a seriously funny actor like Woods to be included in the film. The film has a few great moments including one where the Woods character impolitely asks the captain (Delroy Lindo) to get the Fox character off his back and the film's climax is exciting and makes a great reference to "North by Northwest". It's the "The Odd Couple" meets "Dirty Harry" head-on.