In the 1980s you can guarantee that the Vietnam War and the aftermath of it would be a rich source of inspiration for film-makers and screenwriters, whether the serious side of it in films like FULL METAL JACKET, HAMBURGER HILL or the Oscar-winning PLATOON, all of which came out around the same time.
There were the more exploitative films like MISSING IN ACTION and RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II which rewrote history books whilst providing the likes of Chuck Norris and Sylvester Stallone a chance to strut their stuff with whichever gun was bigger.
However, in 1987, the cop thriller used the Vietnam concept in Richard Donner’s LETHAL WEAPON, which marked Mel Gibson’s return to the big-screen after a break of eighteen months.
Gibson plays LA Narcotics Detective Martin Riggs. Riggs is a Vietnam-veteran-turned-talented cop and an expert marksman, but unfortunately has a powder keg of a temperament which lights every time he hits the bottle, coupled with the trauma of losing his wife in a car crash shortly before.
Danny Glover plays just-turned-fifty Detective Roger Murtaugh, another Vietnam veteran but a bit more reserved and someone who has managed to move on from the War with a loving wife, Trish (Darlene Love) and three lovely kids.
The focus of their work is a mysterious suicide, Amanda Hunsaker, who has jumped from a high-rise. Amanda’s father, Michael Hunsaker (Tom Atkins) contacts Roger about the tragedy and requests that he hunt the guilty parties down.
Roger is none-too-pleased with his new partner when he literally jumps handcuffed with a potential suicide and reveals his dark side, where he is comes across as a potentially psychotic form, but work imposes and the case deepens….
With three sequels and a fourth in the works, all directed by Donner as well and starring Gibson and Glover (a TV series was also produced) LETHAL WEAPON sparked the dawn of the big high-concept blockbusters that Joel Silver was responsible for (PREDATOR, ROAD HOUSE, THE LAST BOY SCOUT).
Admittedly, it is a little old-hat given the well-trodden use of the Vietnam War references by 1987, but the film redeems itself based on the chemistry of the two leads and some stunning physical and gun-toting action all in camera.
LETHAL WEAPON 2 (1989) proved to be bigger, simply because people watched the original on video and wondered why they didn’t see it on the big-screen, an idea that steam-rollers the myth that home entertainment would kill big-screen offerings.