Shane Black Week: Lethal Weapon

Editor Note: Chris wrote this some time ago, and since blogger's setup does not allow me to change the date it gets posted I just copied and pasted it here. Once again, Chris is responsible for this great read.
- Faze

When I was 22 I had recently graduated college and was working at a video store. When Shane Black was 22 he sold his script for LETHAL WEAPON for $250,000. On the surface it looks like Black comes out on top but I doubt he was able to rent GHOST DOG: WAY OF THE SAMURAI before its designated street date, FOR FREE! Once LETHAL WEAPON hit screens in 1987 it would mark the start of Black’s reign as one of the premiere screenwriters for the next decade.

The buddy action film wasn’t exactly an original concept in the late 80’s. The decade had already produced flicks like 48 HOURS, RUNNING SCARED, and (say it with me folks) FIREWALKER. But LETHAL WEAPON took the mold that created those films and shattered it into a million pieces. Who would have thought that a pairing of Mad Max with the guy who beat up Whoopi Goldberg in THE COLOR PURPLE could have such impact? But that’s what happened thanks largely to Black’s dialogue and a steady captain behind the camera in director Richard Donner.

The film works on every level. The action is terrific, there are tons of nice comedic bits (“DO YOU WANNA JUMP?”), and the characters are written with much more attention to detail than you usually see in the genre. But we can’t forget the bad guys. Gary Busey may actually be insane now but back when he did LETHAL WEAPON he was (mostly) acting insane. Often overlooked is Mitchell Ryan as General McAllister. Ryan is one of the those character actors who pops up all the time in films and television, usually playing kind or uptight old men. But in WEAPON he is the picture of evil. He’s the Dick Jones to Busey’s ED-209.

LETHAL WEAPON was a smash hit back in’87 and a sequel was inevitable. Black wrote a script and shockingly decided to kill Gibson’s Martin Riggs character off at the end. This didn’t fly with the producers who kyboshed that idea and handed his script over to be revised by new writers. Killing Riggs off would have been ballsy but I actually like the way part 2 ends with Glover trading jokes with a nearly dead Gibson.

After LETHAL WEAPON the buddy cop movies increased to dizzying degrees. Most were not very good and even the ones that were fun couldn’t quite match what Black already did. You don’t see as many flicks in the vein of LETHAL WEAPON because the premise has been destroyed by so many inferior knock-offs. I blame RUSH HOUR.