DIRECTED BY: Richard Donner

WRITTEN BY: Shane Black

MEL GIBSON AS: Sergeant Martin Riggs

GENRE: Action, Crime, Thriller

TAGLINES:

- If these two can learn to stand each other… the bad guys don’t stand a chance.

- Two Cops. Glover carries a weapon … Gibson is one. He’s the only L.A. cop registered as a lethal weapon.

PLOT SUMMARY:

LA cop Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson), whose wife has recently died, is a loose cannon with a seeming death wish. This makes him indispensable in collaring dangerous criminals, but a liability to any potential partners. Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover), a conservative family man who wants to stay alive for his upcoming 50th birthday, is partnered with Riggs. As Riggs gets to know Murtaugh and his family, he begins to mellow, though his insistence on using guerrilla tactics to catch criminals is still (put mildly) above and beyond the call of duty. The main villain is The General (Mitchell Ryan), a drug dealer responsible for the death of the daughter of one of Murtaugh’s oldest friends. The General is also in charge of a deadly, militia-like gang of smugglers. Adding fuel to the fire is The General’s chief henchman, played with all stops out by Gary Busey. Moviegoers familiar only with the relatively tongue-in-cheek Lethal Weapon sequels may be amazed to find out how dangerous and unpredictable Riggs is in the first Lethal Weapon — and how likely it seems that Murtaugh might not survive until fade-out time. –All Movie Guide

RELEASE DATES:

1987 March 6 (United States)
1987 June 4 (Australia)
1987 June 6 (Japan)
1987 July 2 (Hong Kong)
1987 August 5 (France)
1987 August 7 (Spain)
1987 August 14 (Sweden)
1987 August 28 (United Kingdom)
1987 September 3 (Norway)
1987 September 10 (West Germany)
1987 September 11 (Finland)
1987 October 22 (Argentina)

BOX OFFICE GROSS:

United States: $65,207,127
International: $55,000,000

FILMING LOCATIONS:

Long Beach, Santa Monica, Inglewood, West Hollywood, and Studio City, California.

TRIVIA:

- Franco Zeffirelli reportedly decided to offer Mel Gibson the role of Hamlet after seeing his suicide contemplation scene in this film.

- Legendary stunt-man Dar Robinson was killed in a motorcycle accident shortly after principal photography was finished. Director Richard Donner dedicated the film to him.

- 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 end of the picture, looked like they happened at the end of the year.

- One sequence shows a theater marquee advertising The Lost Boys (1987), a film Richard Donner was producing at the time.

- 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.

- Jackie Swanson did perform the high fall on her own. Trained by legendary stunt-man Dar Robinson.

- Danny Glover’s character (Sergeant Roger Murtaugh) is 50 years old in the movie, but Glover was actually 40 years old when the movie was shot back in 1986

- According to a June 2007 Vanity Fair article, Bruce Willis was considered for the Riggs role.

- In his “E! True Hollywood Story” bio, 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.

- Leonard Nimoy was one of the choices considered for directing, but he didn’t feel comfortable doing action movies, and he was working on Three Men And A Baby at the time.

- 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) (TV).

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