Lethal Weapon
Lethal Weapon is a 1987 American action thriller film directed by Richard Donner and written by Shane Black. Starring Mel Gibson and Danny Glover, the film follows two mismatched LAPD detectives—Martin Riggs, a volatile former Special Forces soldier struggling with suicidal impulses after his wife's death, and Roger Murtaugh, a seasoned homicide sergeant and devoted family man—who are partnered to investigate a young woman's apparent suicide during the Christmas season. The supporting cast includes Gary Busey, Tom Atkins, Darlene Love, and Mitchell Ryan.
Conceived by then-unknown screenwriter Shane Black as a contemporary urban Western exploring trauma, masculinity, and moral decay in Los Angeles, the film underwent extensive development under producer Joel Silver and was shaped by Donner's emphasis on character dynamics and gallows humor. Black's script, among the highest-selling spec scripts of the 1980s, helped redefine the buddy cop genre.
Released theatrically in the United States on March 6, 1987, by Warner Bros., Lethal Weapon was both a critical and commercial success, grossing over $120 million worldwide against a $15 million budget and earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Sound. Its success established Gibson and Glover as major stars and solidified Donner's reputation for high-energy, character-driven action filmmaking.
Lethal Weapon spawned a media franchise that includes three sequels, beginning with Lethal Weapon 2, and a television adaptation.
Plot
Following the recent death of his wife, LAPD narcotics Sergeant Martin Riggs, a former Special Forces soldier, has become suicidal and erratic. Despite the protests of police therapist Stephanie Woods, Captain Ed Murphy believes Riggs is faking his psychosis to be forcibly retired with a generous pension, and partners him with fellow war veteran and seasoned Homicide Sergeant Roger Murtaugh. Riggs and Murtaugh do not get along well as Murtaugh is initially dismissive of Riggs's mental state, but he is soon convinced Riggs is genuinely suicidal.During the Christmas season, Murtaugh is contacted by his former Vietnam War comrade, Michael Hunsaker, ostensibly to rescue his daughter Amanda from a life of drugs and pornography. However, before they can meet, Amanda jumps to her death from an apartment balcony. An autopsy later reveals she was poisoned with tainted drugs, indicating she would have died even if she had not jumped. Riggs and Murtaugh attempt to question Amanda's pimp, but are ambushed after finding cocaine on the premises, forcing Riggs to kill the pimp to save Murtaugh. Their final lead is Dixie, a prostitute who witnessed Amanda's death, and who the pair believe have poisoned her. Dixie's home explodes as they arrive and her corpse is later recovered. Riggs locates components of a mercury switch explosive among the debris, a specialty explosive he recalls being used by Central Intelligence Agency mercenaries in the war. The bomber was witnessed by neighborhood children, who noticed he had an elite special forces tattoo similar to Riggs's.
Suspecting Hunsaker is withholding information, Riggs and Murtaugh visit him at Amanda's funeral. He reveals that during the Vietnam War he worked for "Shadow Company", a defunct CIA paramilitary unit tasked with destabilizing the local heroin trade. Following the war, those involved reformed Shadow Company as a drug smuggling operation under the leadership of retired General Peter McAllister and his right-hand man Mr. Joshua. Hunsaker's role as a banker allowed him to make the illicit funds seem legitimate. Hunsaker initially called Murtaugh to confess and turn witness against Shadow Company, but McAllister had Amanda killed in retaliation. Joshua arrives in a helicopter and kills Hunsaker before escaping. He later shoots Riggs in a drive-by shooting, unaware Riggs wore a bullet proof vest. Riggs fakes his death in the aftermath to give the pair an advantage.
Concerned Murtaugh knows too much, Shadow Company kidnaps his daughter Rianne and forces him to meet them at El Mirage Lake. Riggs provides sniper support to help them escape, but all three are captured and taken to a nightclub basement, a Shadow Company front, on Hollywood Boulevard. Riggs and Murtaugh are tortured for information until Riggs escapes, kills several Shadow Company members, and frees Murtaugh and Rianne. As the three escape, Murtaugh fires on McAllister as he flees in a car, which flips over detonating the grenades inside; Joshua, however escapes after a chase with Riggs on the freeway. Deducing Joshua will seek revenge at Murtaugh's home, Riggs and Murtaugh ambush him. Riggs defeats him in a brawl, but chooses not to kill him. Police officers take Joshua into custody, but he breaks free, takes an officer's revolver, and attempts to shoot Riggs and Murtaugh; the pair return fire, killing him.
A short time later, after visiting his wife's grave, Riggs shares Christmas Day dinner with Murtaugh and his family. He gifts Murtaugh a hollow-point bullet he has been saving to commit suicide, as he no longer needs it.
Cast
- Mel Gibson as Martin Riggs
- Danny Glover as Roger Murtaugh
- Gary Busey as Mr. Joshua
- Mitchell Ryan as General Peter McAllister
- Tom Atkins as Michael Hunsaker
- Darlene Love as Trish Murtaugh
- Traci Wolfe as Rianne Murtaugh
Other actors in the film include Jackie Swanson as Amanda Hunsacker, Grand L. Bush as Detective Boyette, Jack Thibeau as Detective McCaskey, Don Gordon as Officer Hines, Ed O'Ross as Mendez, Al Leong as Joshua's assistant Endo, Lycia Naff as Dixie, and Sven-Ole Thorsen and Gilles Kohler as Shadow Company mercenaries. Jimmie F. Skaggs, Jason Ronard and Blackie Dammett play the trio of drug dealers Riggs apprehends.
Production
Development
Recent UCLA graduate Shane Black wrote the screenplay in mid-1985. Black stated that his intention was to do an "urban western" inspired by Dirty Harry where a violent character "reviled for what he did, what he is capable of, the things he believed in" is eventually recruited for being the one that could solve the problem. The protagonists would be everymen policemen, "guys shuffling in a town like Los Angeles searching for something noble as justice when they're just guys in washed and worn suits seeking a paycheck".According to Black, his original first draft of the script was very different and much darker than the final film. It was 140 pages long and both the plot and characters were different, and action scenes were also much bigger. The ending of the script contained a chase scene with helicopters and a trailer truck full of cocaine exploding over Hollywood Hills with cocaine snowing over the Hollywood sign. Black hated this first draft and initially discarded it but later picked it up again and re-wrote it into the new drafts that were eventually used for filming.
His agent sent the Lethal Weapon script to various studios, being rejected before Warner Bros. executive Mark Canton took a liking to it. Canton brought along producer Joel Silver, who loved the story and worked with Black to further develop the script. Writer Jeffrey Boam also did some uncredited re-writes on Black's script after complaints that parts of it were too dark. Boam added more humor to the script, and later did a complete re-write of Shane Black and Warren Murphy's rejected script for the second film. He also wrote the script for the third film and an unused draft for the fourth film.
After the script was purchased for $250,000, studio production executives offered it to director Richard Donner, who also loved it. Leonard Nimoy was among the directors considered for the project, but he did not feel comfortable doing action films, and he was working on Three Men and a Baby at the time.
Casting
Donner, having just finished filming Ladyhawke, had long been interested in working with Mel Gibson. Casting director Marion Dougherty first suggested teaming Gibson with Danny Glover, given Murtaugh had no set ethnicity in the script. 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. Bruce Willis was approached for the role of Riggs, but turned it down as he found the script "too violent". This is referenced in the spoof of the Lethal Weapon films, Loaded Weapon 1; Bruce appears after the villains attack the wrong beach residence, looking for the protagonist. Christopher Lambert and Christopher Reeve were both approached, but neither was interested. Michael Biehn was also a brief contender to play Riggs as Donner had enjoyed his performance in The Terminator, but he was already committed to Aliens. Other actors that were considered for the role included Pierce Brosnan, Stephen Lang, Ron Perlman, Michael Nouri, Sylvester Stallone, Patrick Swayze, Michael Douglas, Jeff Goldblum and Kurt Russell.According to Donner: "It took about two hours and by the time we were done, I was in seventh heaven. They found innuendoes; they found laughter where I never saw it; they found tears where they didn't exist before; and, most importantly, they found a relationship—all in just one reading. So if you ask about casting... it was magical, just total dynamite".
Gibson said that "this particular story was a cut above others I had passed on, because the action is really a sideline which heightens the story of these two great characters. I picture Riggs as an almost Chaplinesque figure, a guy who doesn't expect anything from life and even toys with the idea of taking his own. He's not like these stalwarts who come down from Mt. Olympus and wreak havoc and go away. He's somebody who doesn't look like he's set to go off until he actually does".
The draw for Glover was equally strong. Fresh from his success as Mister in The Color Purple, he felt the role of Roger Murtaugh offered a whole new range of character expression and experience: "Aside from the chance to work with Mel, which turned out to be pure pleasure, one of the reasons I jumped at this project was the family aspect. The chance to play intricate relationships and subtle humor that exist in every close family group was an intriguing challenge, as was playing a guy turning 50. Murtaugh's a little cranky about his age until everything he loves is threatened. His reawakening parallels Riggs'".
Both actors were signed by early spring 1986. Gibson and Glover then flew home to pack, and, returning to Los Angeles, began an intensive two months of physical training and preparation. Meanwhile, the crucial role of Mr. Joshua was settled when Gary Busey asked to read for the part. An established star since his Academy Award-nominated performance in The Buddy Holly Story, Busey had not auditioned for a film in years but was suffering from a career slump; he credited Lethal Weapon with reviving his stardom. In Busey's comment: "I had butterflies, I'd never played a bad guy. And no one had seen me since I'd lost 60 pounds and got back into shape. But I decided to take the initiative in order to have the opportunity to work with Dick, Joel, Mel, and Danny. I'm constantly looking for someone to pull the best performance out of me and any of those guys could. They even talked me into dyeing my hair!" In his E! True Hollywood Story biography, Busey says he was hired to play Joshua because the producers were looking for someone big and menacing enough to be a believable foe for the imposing Gibson.