RATINGS: IMDB ― 7.6/10, Rotten Tomatoes ―83%, ME ― 85%
Martin Riggs: Hey, look friend, let's just cut the shit. Now we both know why I was transferred. Everybody thinks I'm suicidal, in which case, I'm fucked and nobody wants to work with me; or they think I'm faking to draw a psycho pension, in which case, I'm fucked and nobody wants to work with me. Basically, I'm fucked.
Roger Murtaugh: Guess what?
Martin Riggs: What?
Roger Murtaugh: I don't want to work with you!
Martin Riggs: Hey, don't.
Roger Murtaugh: Ain't got no choice! Looks like we both been fucked!
Martin Riggs: Terrific.
Roger Murtaugh: God hates me. That's what it is.
Martin Riggs: Hate him back; it works for me.
Mel Gibson as Martin Riggs and Danny Glover as Roger Murtaugh
Trivia (From IMDB):
Jackie Swanson did perform the high fall on her own. Trained by legendary stuntman Dar Robinson. Also, the stunt was done using an airbag covered with a life-size painting of the driveway and cars, which, like a foreground miniature, visually blends into the real scene. Thus, the editor is able to hold the shot until just as she makes contact with the airbag, for greater realism.
Mel Gibson was only 30 when the movie was filmed, although his character Riggs was supposed to be 38.
Franco Zeffirelli reportedly decided to offer Mel Gibson the role of Hamlet (1990) after seeing his suicide contemplation scene in this film.
On E! True Hollywood Story (1996), Gary Busey says he was hired to play Joshua because they were looking for someone big and menacing enough to be a believable foe for Mel Gibson. Busey also credits the film for reviving his failing movie career.
Legendary stuntman Dar Robinson was killed in a motorcycle accident shortly after principal photography was finished. Director Richard Donner dedicated the film to him.
Shane Black's first draft of Lethal Weapon (1987) which he wrote sometime in 1985 was very different, not just from his later drafts but also from the final movie. This first draft was 141 pages long and it was much darker, it had alternate plot parts, character scenes, action sequences and many other differences, like entire ending which had big chase scene including police helicopter which gets blown up by Joshua who fires napalm missile at it causing it to crash into the Hollywood sign and start a huge fire, Murtaugh killing General McAllister while he is driving a a trailer truck full of heroin and guns which then crashes and explodes over Hollywood Hills causing for heroin to start snowing over the burning Hollywood sign, and Riggs killing Joshua by stabbing his finger through Joshua's eye right to the brain.
Riggs was also much different character in this first draft than he is in the movie, and lot more mentally unstable. For example, in the original version of the scene where he kills a sniper who is shooting at the kids, instead of using his gun Riggs uses a rocket launcher to blow up the sniper after he shot and killed several kids. In another part of the script he also uses ninja throwing stars to wound one of the villains and then tortures him for information.
Black at first thought that this draft (which was his second script, his first was unproduced action zombie horror Shadow Company which he wrote in 1984) sucked so he threw it in the garbage but later changed his mind and re-worked it into the new drafts. For the longest time, Black was the only one who had copy of his first draft until he sold it on auction, and eventually it was found by fans.
Danny Glover's character (Sergeant Roger Murtaugh) is 50 years old in the movie, but Glover was only 40 years old in 1986.
In the scene where Riggs is contemplating suicide, there is an actual bullet in the chamber which Mel Gibson was pointing at his head, thinking that it would allow for a greater sense of portraying the scene realistically and dramatically.
Leonard Nimoy was one of the choices considered for directing, but he didn't feel comfortable doing action movies, and he was working on 3 Men and a Baby (1987) at the time.
Murtaugh tells Riggs that Huntsaker saved his life in the Ia Drang Valley in 1965. Mel Gibson would later play Col. Hal Moore in We Were Soldiers (2002) which is a movie adaptation of that battle.
An alternate opening and ending were both filmed (and are available on the Lethal Weapon 4 (1998) DVD). The alternate opening featured Martin Riggs drinking alone in a bar where he is accosted by a couple of thugs who want his money. Riggs claims all of his is in the bank and tells the thugs "not to fuck with him." The thugs attack him, but Riggs easily subdues them. He is then allowed to take a free bottle of booze from the bar in exchange for never returning. Director Richard Donner felt the movie should open with a brighter look at Riggs and filmed the scene with Riggs awakening in his trailer to replace it. The alternate ending featured Riggs and Murtaugh saying good-bye to one another. Murtaugh tells Riggs he's thinking of retiring, but Riggs tells him not to.
Casting director Marion Dougherty first suggested teaming Mel Gibson and Danny Glover. She arranged for Gibson to fly in from his home in Sydney while Glover was flown in from Chicago, where he was appearing in a play, to read through the script.
Blackie Dammett (real name John Kiedis), who portrays one of the drug dealers at the Christmas tree stand, is the father of Anthony Kiedis from Red Hot Chili Peppers.
A running gag in the Lethal Weapon film series is the "One, Two, Three" false starts where Riggs and Murtaugh can't decide whether to go "One, Two, Three... then go!" or "One, Two, THREE!" (go ON "Three") While the gag does not exist in this film, there is a "One, Two, Three" false start in this movie. It happens when the uniformed cops are trying to prepare to sing "Silent Night" in a chorus and one of the cops keeps starting too soon.
The fight scene between Riggs and Joshua in the ending was originally four minutes longer, but was cut down for pacing. This explains some continuity mistakes in the final version of the scene.
According to a June 2007 Vanity Fair article, Bruce Willis was considered for the Riggs role but turned it down. He got the lead role of John McClane in Die Hard (1988) after Mel Gibson turned it down.
In Shane Black's first draft of the script from 1985, Riggs and Murtaugh were much darker characters with very grim backstories. They both had flashbacks of their time in Vietnam, with Murtaugh at one point remembering how he accidentally killed a young soldier with his bare hands during intense military training even before he went to war, and Riggs remembering how great killing machine he was and how much people he killed working as an assassin for CIA, which is why US and VC soldiers considered him a legend. The script also had more of a backstory for Joshua, who just like Riggs was also working as CIA assassin in Vietnam and he too got a legendary status due to all the things he did in the war, which explains how did they knew of each other's names and reputations in the film.
Shadow Company, the name of ex-special forces team in the film is taken from the title of first script that writer Shane Black wrote in 1984, and although it was never made into a film, people loved the way Black wrote action, dialogue and characters in the script which is why he got more writing job offers and this was what helped him to write his first draft of Lethal Weapon in 1985. The Shadow Company script was written to be an action zombie horror about group of dead special forces US soldiers who died during Vietnam war and years later after their bodies are brought back the soldiers, who were members of some secret army experiments return to life as rotting, unstoppable zombies who raid the armory from the army base near the town where they were buried and then proceed on attacking the town during Christmas night, killing everybody in it and wiping it off the ground. Around 1988 or 1989 after the final draft of the Shadow Company script was finished by Black and Fred Dekker (both of them also wrote 1987 cult horror film The Monster Squad (1987)), it was gonna be turned into action horror film directed by John Carpenter, with Kurt Russell in the main role and with Black and Walter Hill as producers (Hill also did some uncredited co-writing on the script). However, due to some problems, the movie was never made. Original script by Black and Dekker did, however, gain a cult following from theirs and Carpenter's fans.
Recent UCLA graduate Shane Black wrote the screenplay in mid-1985. His agent sent it to producer Joel Silver, who loved the story and worked with Black to further develop the script.
This is the second film in which Mel Gibson plays a mentally unstable policeman whom loses his family. The other film was Mad Max (1979), which he plays a vengeful policeman whose wife and son are murdered by a motorcycle gang. In this film, Gibson's character Martin Riggs, a suicidal policeman, lost his wife in a car accident.
From the early pre-production stages, Richard Donner wanted the final fight sequence to be unique, yet also to make a strong statement about the characters involved. Coincidentally, assistant director Willie Simmons had an avid interest in unusual forms of martial arts, and he invited several practitioners to the set to demonstrate for Donner. The result was the hiring of three technical advisors, each a master of a particular martial arts style. Cedric Adams was the first expert brought in. "Adams thought the best possible way to show just how lethal Riggs really is - is to show his mastery of a form of martial arts never before seen onscreen," said Donner. Adams taught the actors the movements of Capoeira. A second technical advisor, Dennis Newsome, brought jailhouse rock to the fight sequence. The third technical advisor was Rorion Gracie, who specialized in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. The filming was spread over four complete nights, shooting from dusk to dawn, resulting in an edited sequence that would last minutes on screen.
The two leads were signed by early spring 1986. Mel Gibson and Danny Glover then flew home to pack, and, returning to Los Angeles, began an intensive two months of physical training and preparation.
Kurt Russell, Patrick Swayze, Michael Keaton, Christopher Reeve, Harrison Ford, Liam Neeson, Pierce Brosnan, Kevin Costner, Michael Douglas, Richard Gere, Sean Penn, Christopher Lambert, Michael Nouri, Richard Norton, Charlie Sheen, Jeff Goldblum, Dennis Quaid, Jeff Bridges and Rutger Hauer all turned down the role of Martin Riggs.
Director Richard Donner thought that no matter how many drafts he wrote, Shane Black's original script was still way too dark for his liking, so he brought writer Jeffrey Boam for some uncredited rewriting in order to add some more bits of humor into the script and change some parts. For example, in the scene (which was eventually deleted completely) where Riggs kills a psycho sniper who is shooting at kids there was originally going to be a part showing one dead kid being carried on a gurney. Almost all other graphic parts of Black's script were bloodier than in the film. Donner still deleted some scenes for being too dark in his opinion, including the sniper scene and the original introduction scene for Riggs where he beats up two guys in a bar when they try to rob him.
Jeffrey Boam also completely re-wrote Shane Black and Warren Murphy's original script for Lethal Weapon 2 (1989) after it was rejected for being too dark and bloody and because Riggs died in the end. He wrote the script for Lethal Weapon 3 (1992), and he also wrote an unused draft for fourth film which had Riggs and Murtaugh dealing with racist white trash right wing neo-Nazi survivalists doing a terrorist attack in L.A. The script was written some time in January of 1995 and it dealt with real life neo-Nazi activity in US that was only superficially dealt with in just one movie before, John Frankenheimer's 1989 action crime film Dead Bang (1989). Despite the fact that everybody liked it, Boam's script was rejected and Boam later said in interviews how it was much better than the final movie which suffered some problems with constant re-writes of the script that was chosen for filming and actually didn't have a completed script during filming.
Once Jeffrey Boam was hired to re-write some of Shane Black's script and make it lighter, Richard Donner also wanted to change some scenes in the film which were already shot because he thought they were too dark, so he had Boam write two new introduction scenes for Riggs which were gonna replace the scene where Riggs beats up two punks who try to rob him in the bar and scene where he kills a crazy sniper who is shooting at the kids on the playground.
First new scene that Boam wrote was different introduction for Riggs where he is walking along the beach and finds the dog being tormented by drunks. Riggs pretends he can communicate with the dog and tells the bullies what the dog is thinking, asking Riggs to beat them up, and he does, and the dog follows Riggs home. But it was decided not to re-shot this new introduction scene. Second new scene which was filmed was the Christmas tree lot shootout scene which replaced the sniper scene. When Warner Bros. put together unofficial director's cut of Lethal Weapon for DVD release, they decided to put the sniper scene back in. Even Richard Donner and Shane Black said in interviews how that was not the true director's cut and how it makes no sense that now Riggs had three different introduction scenes.
In one scene, Riggs asks Murtaugh, "Did the stock market crash?". The infamous Black Monday of October 19, 1987 occurred 7 months after its film's release, and one year after its filming.
Theatrical and TV trailers for the film show few deleted and extended scenes that were never released in full on any DVD or Blu-Ray release of the movie; Murtaugh saying "New Partner?" after he gets thrown to the floor by Riggs when they first meet and when he is told that Riggs is his new partner, Riggs and Murtaugh driving in the car and Murtaugh telling Riggs "Don't kill anybody" and Riggs repeats the same line, couple shots of short deleted scene where Murtaugh is shooting his gun at target range alone, Riggs beating up two guys who try to rob and kill him while he is in the bar (original introduction scene for his character), Riggs saying additional line "Nobody can touch me" after Murtaugh asks him is he really that good as he says he is, additional dialogue between Rianne and Riggs in the ending where she tells Riggs how people say he is the best and he again says "Nobody can touch me" and winks, and part of original ending showing Riggs and Murtaugh outside the bar where Riggs beat up two guys in the original opening and where they say goodbye to each other. Some other scenes were also deleted and never released.
This is the first collaboration of Richard Donner and Mel Gibson.
Throughout filming, technical advisers from the L.A.P.D. as well as the L.A. County Sheriff's Department worked closely with Richard Donner and the actors to ensure authenticity.
Riggs's firearm is a Beretta 92F, meanwhile Murtaugh's gun is a classic Smith & Wesson model 19.
Film's soundtrack includes Elvis Presley song I'll Be Home for Christmas. Darlene Love, who plays Murtaugh's wife, was background dancer in Elvis' production Elvis (1968).
Mary Ellen Trainor (the woman police psychologist) and Grand L. Bush both later had parts in Die Hard (1988).
Despite popular misconceptions, Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) never actually says, "I'm getting too old for this shit" in this movie. He simply says, "I'm too old for this shit." He does however say he's "getting too old for this shit" in the sequels. But in later versions it is dubbed over with him saying shit at the end of the sentence.
Danny Glover played against Gary Busey again in Predator 2 (1990), where Glover played a cop again.
First movie to show a modern cell phone. It was a Portable Radio Shack Model 17-1003, launched circa 1986 (close to the filming dates of the movie). Impressive stuff at the time.
When Murtaugh and Riggs are walking down the street discussing how Murtaugh owes Hunsacker, a movie theater's marquee displays "Lost Boys: This Year's Hit". Richard Donner also produced The Lost Boys (1987).
Features the film debut of Joan Severance.
TITLE DROP: Murtaugh speaks the title of the film when he says to Riggs, "I suppose we better register you as a Lethal Weapon."
Stunt coordinator Bobby Bass planned and supervised all phases of Mel Gibson's and Danny Glover's intense pre-production training; physical conditioning, weight workouts, and weapons handling and safety. Bass also used his own military experiences to bring a greater depth of understanding to the Riggs character.
A clip of this movie is played on television in The Last Boy Scout (1991). Not only are both movies written by Shane Black and produced by Joel Silver, but actor Damon Wayans from that film would play Roger Murtaugh on the TV series Lethal Weapon (2016).
On Roger's refrigerator at his home is a bumper sticker about South Africa. In Lethal Weapon 2 (1989), the villains are South African.
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.
After the Explosion at Dixie's house, Sgt. Murtaugh calls out on the police radio that there is a "fire and explosion at 111th and Larch". This is one-half block west, the nearest intersection of the actual house used during filming in Lennox, CA (4521 111th St).
The only Lethal Weapon movie not featuring Joe Pesci as Leo Getz.
Out of the whole Lethal Weapon series, this is the only one, which wasn't shot in CinemaScope.
Hollywood city officials hung Christmas decorations on Hollywood Blvd. a few months early so that the scenes shot for this film, particularly the action scenes near the film's end, looked like they happened at the end of the year.
The famous line, "I'm too old for this shit" had already been said in To Live and Die in L.A. (1985) and also by a cop Michael Green.
Shane Black stated that he wanted actor William Hurt to play the role of Martin Riggs, but studio executives informed him that Hurt was too obscure for the part.
After shooting Riggs, Joshua calls the police pretending to be a journalist from a radio station called "KCOP" to confirm Riggs' death. "KCOP" is an abbreviation of "killer cop", referring accurately to the attempt of Riggs' assassination. *KCOP is the call letters for an actual local channel in Los Angeles (Ch. 13 KCOP) They changed the name to the UPN after this film was made, but the actual station is still KCOP-13, just like KTTV-11, KTLA-5. There is no factual basis from any proven source that this trivia is what the film makers intended.
There is a scene early in the movie that takes place in Riggs' trailer. In that scene Riggs puts his gun in his mouth for another suicide attempt. Right after he does so the camera cuts to the television. The program shown on the television is the Christmas special Bugs Bunny's Looney Christmas Tales (1979).
The only film in the Lethal Weapon series where Riggs' shoulder is not dislocated.
The Mar 4, 1987 Variety and Mar 6, 1987 Los Angeles Times reviews criticized the film's flimsy narrative structure and "plot holes", but Mel Gibson's performance received consistent praise. In a positive review on Mar 6, 1987, Janet Maslin of New York Times described the film as "all fast action, noisy stunts and huge, often unflattering close-ups" but stated that "it packs an undeniable wallop". Variety magazine noted that Donner wanted an action film with a sensitive side, but said the two "strains" never quite melded.
Shooting began 6 Aug 1986 in Los Angeles, CA. Production notes stated that the following Southern California locations were used: The Burbank Studios; Long Beach; Palos Verdes; Santa Monica; Studio City; West Hollywood; Inglewood; and the El Mirage dry lake bed near Victorville. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce allowed the production to decorate a portion of Hollywood Boulevard with the street's traditional Christmas decorations in Oct 1986, prior to the scheduled date of 29 Nov 1986; in exchange, filmmakers paid an estimated $4,000 for the decorations, financially benefiting the Chamber of Commerce. Production was completed mid-November, 1986.
During pre-production, Mel Gibson and Danny Glover shadowed Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers, and Richard Donner consulted the Sheriff's Department to ensure an authentic portrayal of the police force.
When Murtaugh meets Michael Hunsaker at the bank he looks at a photograph of them both during their service in Vietnam. In the photo Hunsaker is wearing the shoulder patch of the 82nd Airborne and Murtaugh the patch of the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team.
The girl in black playsuite (uncredited but played by actress #Joan Severence') that Riggs arrests at the house in the hills, also played a small role in Bird on a Wire (1990), which also starred Mel Gibson.
The prop Beretta 92F Mel Gibson uses in this film is the same exact prop gun that would be used by by Bruce Willis in Die Hard (1988). Today the gun has now been retired.
The only film in the series in which Riggs drives a GMC R30 crew cab pickup truck. In the sequels, Riggs drives GMC extended cab pickup trucks. The extended cab was introduced for Chevrolet and GMC pickup trucks (GMT400 platform) in April 1987 (1988 model year). GM pickup trucks (1973-87 generation including the 1988-91 crew/chassis cab and utility models) were only available in regular and crew cab styles before the introduction of the GMT400 platform for the 1988 model year - production commenced in April 1987.
Though the movie takes place during Christmas, the film was released in theaters March 6, 1987.
Call sign used by Riggs and Murtaugh: 3W56 (3-William-56)
Michael Nouri who was considered to play Martin Riggs and turned it down, did a similar buddy cop movie made the same year called The Hidden (1987) which was also set in Los Angeles.
The characters of Murtaugh and Riggs were 50 and 38 years old respectfully. Danny Glover and Mel Gibson were only 41 and 31 years old respectfully.
John Saxon was the first choice for the role of Joshua. But due to him shooting A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), he was unavailable.
Roger Murtaugh wasn't written with any ethnicity in mind. Danny Glover was suggested by casting director Marion Dougherty after seeing him in The Color Purple (1985).
Michael Kamen' and Eric Clapton had worked together on the music for Edge of Darkness (1985). Coincidentally, Mel Gibson starred in Edge of Darkness (2010).
According to a 2016 interview with Joel Silver, Ridley Scott was his first choice to direct the film. Due to Scott's still recent tensions with Warner Bros. during the making of Blade Runner (1982), the studio refused to offer him the job. Silver would later work with Ridley's brother, Tony Scott on The Last Boy Scout (1991).
The only Lethal Weapon movie not released in the summer. Also the only one that didn't make $100 million at the box office.
Howie Long, a professional football player on the Los Angeles Raiders team, initially planned to make his feature film debut playing a cameo role in the film but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts.
Murtaugh's license plate of his car is E641985.
The actors were trained in three types of martial arts: Capoeria, a fighting style originated by West Africans, used to fight off slave traders: Jailhouse Rock, a technique evolved in United States prisons; and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu a style founded by the Gracie family. The fight choreography was first tested on stuntmen Mic Rogers and Shane Dixon. The film's final action sequence, involving the fistfight between Martin Riggs and Joshua, was filmed "over four complete nights, shooting from dusk to dawn.
Murtaugh's boat has an internal engine as well as an outboard. This is not a goof. Outboards are often used as 'trolling motors' on such boats for fishing, propelling the boat quieter and more efficiently at low speeds than the bigger main engine.
The only Lethal Weapon movie that takes place during Christmas.
Mel Gibson and Gary Busey later guest-voiced themselves on the animated sitcom, The Simpsons (1989). They are the only veterans of the entire 'Lethal Weapon' film series to be guest voices on that series.
Director Trademark ―
Richard Donner: [Three Stooges] there are several references to The Three Stooges in the film.
Spoilers ―
Both Mel Gibson and Bruce Willis were considered for each other's roles in Lethal Weapon (1987) and Die Hard (1988) and both movies were produced by Joel Silver with music by Michael Kamen. Willis was offered the role of Martin Riggs but turned it down and a year later he did Die Hard (1988). Gibson was considered to play John McClane along with his costars from The Expendables 3 (2014), Harrison Ford, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger but they all turned it down. Coincidently, the script for Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995) was written as a Lethal Weapon sequel.
Body count: 26
Tom Atkins (Michael Hunsaker) reveals that he worked for an operation called Air America which involved the CIA and dealt with shipping heroin out of Laos. Mel Gibson starred in a movie titled Air America (1990) that may have been based on this conversation. However, it is equally possible that Hunsacker (as well as Air America (1990)) was referring to the historically factual Air America, an American passenger and cargo airline covertly owned and operated by the Central Intelligence Agency from 1950 to 1976. It supplied and supported covert operations in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War.
The Styles of Martial Arts displayed in the film include Shotokan Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Wing Chun, Muay Thai, Boxing, Capoeira, Judo, & Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
The assassination of Michael Hunsaker, featuring a bullet-hit through a carton of eggnog, is most likely inspired by the assassination of Senator Jordan in The Manchurian Candidate (1962): bullet-hit through a carton of milk.
Mel Gibson references his famous scene from Lethal Weapon in The Expendables 3 (2014) as he tells the people he's fighting with to kill him. Expendables 3 also had Sylvester Stallone and Antonio Banderas who worked with Richard Donner and Joel Silver for Assassins (1995) 8 years later. Gibson also suggested and joked that both his characters Martin Riggs and Jerry Fletcher from Conspiracy Theory (1997) also directed by Donner would be good as Expendables.
Michael Hunsaker explains to Murtaugh that right after the Vietnam war, his associates formed a special group called Air America. Coincidentally, Mel Gibson co-starred Robert Downey Jr. in the 1990 film Air America (1990).
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