lethal weapon

Plot

The story begins in December of 1986 with the apparent suicide of Amanda Hunsaker (Jackie Swanson), the daughter of Michael Hunsacker (Tom Atkins), who is an old friend and former army buddy of LAPD Detective-Sergeant Roger Murtaugh. A veteran cop of 20 years, Roger Murtaugh gets stuck with a new partner on his 50th birthday. That partner is 37-year-old Detective-Sergeant Martin Riggs, whose wife of 26 years old was killed in a car accident two years earlier. As a result, Riggs is considering suicide, has become a borderline alcoholic, and has become so reckless and violent in his law-enforcement methods that he is considered a "lethal weapon". Sergeant Murtaugh is not happy about having a partner 'on the ragged edge' and 'with a death wish', but is soon indebted to his new partner for saving his life.

While investigating Amanda Hunsacker's death, the two uncover a heroin-smuggling operation organized by Vietnam War veteran special forces troops, known as 'Shadow Company', through their war-era CIA contacts in Air America - a front company used for drug smuggling from the Golden Triangle. The scheme is masterminded by the evil, ruthless General Peter McAllister (Mitchell Ryan) - the former commander of Shadow Company - and his malevolent right-hand man, Mr. Joshua (Gary Busey). Murtaugh and Riggs - both Vietnam War veterans - discover that Michael Hunsacker was "laundering" the profits through his bank, and McAllister engineered the murder of Amanda Hunsacker to keep Michael from confessing all he knows about the heroin-smuggling ring; shortly after the pair confront Michael Hunsacker, Mr. Joshua makes a surprise appearance in a helicopter and kills him.

As Riggs and Murtaugh discover more about Shadow Company's network, the increasingly violent members of Shadow Company kidnap Murtaugh's daughter Rianne to pressure him to reveal everything Michael Hunsacker had told him. Riggs, though initially captured by McAllister, frees himself and then liberates both Murtaugh and Rianne. The pair then attack Shadow Company and shoot down most of its members; McAllister perishes in a car explosion (along with his shipment of heroin) and both Riggs and Murtaugh shoot Mr. Joshua after Riggs beats him in unarmed combat on Murtaugh's front lawn.

Murtaugh and Riggs are now solid friends, and Riggs spends Christmas Day at the Murtaugh home with Roger's family; Riggs brings his dog Sam to be a friend to the Murtaugh family cat, Burbank, and gives Murtaugh a symbolic gift; an unfired 9mm hollow point bullet Riggs had been saving to commit suicide with.

Reaction

The film, which had a moderate budget of $15 million, grossed $65 million domestically and $55 million abroad, ranking it among the Top 10 movies of 1987. The movie was released in the spring, a rather unusual time for action movies. It also solidified the careers of both Gibson and Glover.

The film's success inspired a number of sequels, with each successive film placing a greater emphasis on action and comedy over drama. Each film also introduced a new main character: Leo Getz (Joe Pesci) in 1989's Lethal Weapon 2, Lorna Cole (Rene Russo) in 1992's Lethal Weapon 3, and Detective Lee Butters (Chris Rock) in 1998's Lethal Weapon 4.

Trivia

• Lethal Weapon's stunt man Dar Robinson was killed shortly after he filmed the movie. Director Richard Donner dedicated the movie to him in the credits, "This picture is dedicated to the memory of Dar Robinson one of the motion picture industry's greatest stuntmen"
• Dar Robinson trained Jackie Swanson, who did her own stunt fall for the opening sequence of the film (Amanda Hunsaker's suicide).
• Roger Murtaugh's wife, Trish, is played by Darlene Love, a popular singer in the 1960s.
• Danny Glover has a momentary cameo in Mel Gibson's 1994 movie, Maverick, playing a masked bank robber. When Maverick pulls down the robber's bandana (revealing that he's Danny Glover), they stare at each other for a moment, apparently trying to remember why each looks familiar to the other. It's during this scene that Danny Glover once again speaks his Lethal Weapon catch phrase, "I'm gettin' too old for this shit!".
• There is a similiar suicide jumper sequence in Dirty Harry which ends with unconventional cop Harry Callahan punching the jumper unconscious and carrying him down.
• The term Shadow Company is borrowed by an unproduced screenplay Shane Black had written years earlier to acquire an agent.
• The Captain is played by Steve Kahan, director Richard Donner's cousin. There is an obvious resemblance between the two. He appears in all the Lethal Weapon films and is the partner of the cop that Lex Luthor kills in the subway in Donner's Superman: The Movie.
• Richard Donner was a fan of Gibson and originally wanted him for Ladyhawke (the part was played by Rutger Hauer).