Yes, I must be really bored.
Lethal Weapon 27 was on last night. Well, part 2. I've been thinking about this for awhile now and last night just reminded me. I'm going to take two blockbuster movies and show how much they parallel. Maybe you've noticed the same things. The movies are "Lethal Weapon" and "Die Hard."
1) The movies were released in the US somewhat close to each other as blockbuster action movies. LW in March of '87. DH in July of '88.
2) Both had major action roles played by white guys fairly new on the Hollywood scene. Gibson was known for "Mad Max" but Willis was "famous" for "Blind Date."
3) Both white characters had African-American sidekicks. Gibson/Glover. Willis/Sgt. Al Powell (Carl Winslow as most of you know him). Side note: His real name is Reginald VelJohnson and is the textbook definition of "type cast." I think more often than not his character is a police officer.
4) Both main characters in both movies are police officers.
5) Both have a Christmas time theme.
6) Both give Joel Silver a credit as one of the Producers.
7) Both give Original Music credit to Michael Kamen. LW also added Eric Clapton.
8) Both "tough guys" playing "bad guy" roles were blond. Busey in LW and "Karl" in DH.
9) Both have the classic fight scene near the end of the movie between the hero and tough guy. Gibson v Busey in LW and Willis v "Karl" in DH.
10) Both have the stereotypical Hollywood ending where the "tough guy" is still alive at the end of the movie after everyone thought they were dead. Busy in LW and "Karl" in DH.
I think that's all I could remember. There may be more.
Stayed tuned for my next movie parallelism between "Escape from Alcatraz" and "The Shawshank Redemption."
1 comment:
I'm pretty sure there was an "80's Action Movie Playbook" and you just figured out all the plays. Did Reginald VelJohnson every play anything but a cop? (Checks IMDB) IMDB says he's played a doctor and reverend too, but I'm pretty sure they were secretly cops.
Post a Comment