Before Tarantino the screenwriter who made a big impact with his debut script was Shane Black. A huge fan of film noir and classic detective novels he had written Lethal Weapon which as soon as his agent hawked it round the studios saw interest rocket and a bidding war erupt with Black earning $1m – a first for a debut script. He was 22.
Lethal Weapon followed Martin Riggs a Los Angeles policeman who had recently lost his wife and his behaviour was increasingly unstable. He is teamed up with his exact opposite, Martin Murtaugh a by-the-book homicide detective with an impeccable record and a loving family. Now the two are stuck with each other as partners they begin investigating a suicide that leads to an international crime ring and ever-increasing danger.
Mel Gibson had made his name with a recently completed trilogy of Mad Max films and exercised his acting muscles with roles in The River, The Bounty and The Year of Living Dangerously but Lethal Weapon would secure his A-list status (for a while anyway). He was cast opposite Danny Glover who had started acting around the same time as Gibson and was making a name for himself with roles in Witness, Silverado and The Color Purple but Lethal Weapon was very much different from anything he had done before – the closest had been a few episodes of Hill Street Blues and the film would gift him a line , I’m too old for this shit!’ that would follow him for the rest of his career. Rounding off what would be a trio essential to what would become a franchise was director Richard Donner who had been on a roll with box office blockbusters that had started with his feature film debut, The Omen (1976) quickly followed by the first two Christopher Reeve Superman films before the director went onto helm the much loved The Goonies. This first outing would also feature an unhinged villain played by the suitably (and increasingly) unhinged Gary Busey
But Black’s script was dark and this new 4K UHD version has both the theatrical and directors cut and it is that latter cut that is seven minutes longer scenes that illustrate Rigg’s state of mind had made him increasingly reckless as well as a suicide attempt all of which were cut from the theatrical version ( a version that Donner preferred) and the director’s cut was never really that but rather something to boost the film on the Home rental market which the studio used to promote its release on video.
Getting itself an 18 certificate in the UK due to its violent scenes ( it hardly helped either that the UK had seen its worst ever firearms atrocity committed by Michael Ryan running amok in Hungerford killing sixteen people before shooting himself) and it was only 11 days later that the film was released in a UK still reeling from the atrocity. So when the opening titles that saw the actor Mitchell Ryan’s name appear on screen it caused a certain initial discomfort amongst audiences
Nonetheless the went on to earn a healthy $120m and a sequel was quickly greenlit, written. shot and released two years later and was far more of an action packed summer blockbuster spectacle than the first film
The 4K Ultra HD Collector’s Edition contains the following additional features:
- Featurettes: A Legacy of Inspiration: Remembering Richard Donner
“I’m Too Old or This…”: A Chemistry That Became Iconic - Theatrical and Director’s Cut in 4K and Blu-ray SteelBook
- Rigid slipcase with removable sleeve (target outlines)
- Double-sided A3 theatrical poster
- 4x character art cards
- 3x behind-the-scenes art cards
Lethal Weapon became something of a template for future mismatched cop movies and the film saw three further sequels which became more comic each time ( the last film featured a fledgling Chris Rock as a detective even going so far as to incorporate one of his routines into his role) and even Donner started including not so subliminal messages about topics as varied as apartheid and animal rights often – check those posters in many of the sequels early scenes)
Gibson’s A-list status was secured following it up with a number of varied films that included a big screen version of Maverick ( where Glover made a knowing LW related cameo) and also Hamlet before he moved behind the camera for a second time to win an Oscar with Braveheart. Glover’s career would take off making multiple films a year ever since and were as varied as Predator 2 and Saw that have added to a back catalogue of 200+ productions. Meanwhile director Donner directed the subsequent sequels before retiring in 2016 and passing away in 2021 although even then a fifth film was rumoured to be in the works with Gibson reportedly set to helm Lethal Weapon 5 as a promise to Donner .
Black meanwhile departed after disagreeing on the Lethal Weapon 2’s ending ( his script had Riggs die) but his fascination with mismatched biddies would continue to be a trademark of most of his future scripts that included The Last Boy Scout, The Long Kiss Goodnight, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and most recently The Nice Guys.
But the original and arguably the best Lethal Weapon was the first one and this 4KUHD is a timely reminder of just how good a film it is.
related feature : Richard Donner – OBITUARY
related feature : Joel Silver introduces Russell Crowe & Shane Black at ‘The Nice Guys’ London premiere
Here’s the Lethal Weapon trailer…..
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