Asked whether Roger Ebert liked it, the answer given is four out of four stars.
The review is described as rapturous and quoted as saying the movie thrilled from beginning to end; the host agrees completely.
A joke that the thrill began with the opening balcony jump after lines of cocaine; the other host says it thrilled them too.

Most Rewatchable Scene

Riggs's escape through the strip-club and 101 freeway shootout; Hunsaker's killing and the helicopter shootout

In the discussion (16)

Approx. transcript time · 00:29:59Read transcript

The Christmas-tree drug bust opens the list, with the 'this is a real fucking gun' badge exchange called amazing.
Two scenes establish Riggs, whose introduction has him swallowing cocaine off a switchblade; the Christmas element is called bigger here than in Die Hard.
Riggs's Three Stooges bit and cocaine use flip the usual cop-movie arc; his 'shoot him' standoff before turning it on the dealer is called brilliant.
The handcuff jump with the jumper is next: it has no plot need but proves how crazy Riggs is and poses whether he is chasing a psycho pension or truly suicidal.
Viewers forget the jump is coming, jumps onto the big inflatable cushion are always great, and the cushion is never shown being set up.
The jumper is wished to have been a known actor, like Ellis from Die Hard.
The post-dinner talk in a boat parked in the driveway is the chemistry scene that shows why the movie works.
The desert exchange feels Joel Silver-ish; its location (White Sands or the Mojave) is a drive of hours from downtown L.A., and one host had it in nitpicks; Riggs's sniper work there is enjoyed despite 1987 communication limits.
Riggs's escape through the strip-joint and 101 freeway shootout is called 11 incredible nonstop minutes; the torture scene with Busey is 'all of the 80s in one room'.
The strip-club shooting reflects a rough decade for pedestrians in action movies, and the 101 shootout is underrated; taking over that stretch of freeway is marvelled at.
Riggs is judged faster than 1986 Cruise in a sprint and barefoot for the last half hour without the problems of Die Hard's hero; Robert Patrick in Terminator 2 tops the running hierarchy.
The front-yard fight ('would you like a shot at the title?') is a favorite despite the many implied violations; research says four more minutes of the fight were cut.
It ends with the 80s trope of the villain getting up to be shot one last time; Joshua winning then would have topped the 2004 Red Sox comeback.
Final pick: everything from Riggs's escape through the 101 shootout.
The other pick is Hunsaker's killing and the helicopter shootout, with Riggs emptying two clips toward the ocean; Shane Black redid it in Iron Man 3, and Hunsaker is shot through the eggnog.
The cliffside helicopter pullback is praised; Palos Verdes is the location guess, and a mid-80s run of helicopter stunts (Airwolf, Blue Thunder) is recalled.

What’s Aged the Best?

Riggs's mobile-home trailer; Gibson's hair; the Elvis Christmas ending; Christmas in L.A.; Gibson and Glover's chemistry; the helicopter scene and L.A. locations

In the discussion (6)

Approx. transcript time · 00:46:01Read transcript

Messed-up characters in mobile-home trailers hold up, as in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: the depressing sofa, a small TV, beer and a sad loyal dog nobody seems to feed.
Gibson's NHL hair is phenomenal and apparently his real hair; the style lasted a five-to-six-year stretch from 1987.
The film ends with an Elvis Christmas song; Elvis's Christmas album is called iconic.
Christmas in L.A.: Murtaugh's wife is Darlene Love, Shane Black sets movies at Christmas, and L.A. at Christmas is beautiful and lonely; Black's taco-truck Virgin Mary anecdote is retold.
The two leads' chemistry holds up, especially the shooting-range banter inventing a story about Dixie and Amanda.
The helicopter scene's wide cliffside shots and the film's coverage of L.A. (beach, downtown, Hollywood, Mojave) show good filmmaking.

What’s Aged the Worst?

Mel Gibson; the father-daughter dynamic and Rianne's casting; Murtaugh's portable phone

In the discussion (7)

Approx. transcript time · 00:50:08Read transcript

Gibson's later troubles (alcohol, reckless statements) aged worst, including a homophobic streak that surfaces in Riggs.
Gibson's off-screen self-destruction colors the franchise; unlike O.J. in The Naked Gun, Riggs was so beloved that separating the actor is hard, though the rewatch was still enjoyed.
The father-daughter dynamic is strange: the family surprising Murtaugh in the bathtub, the daughter's kiss and the 'heartbreaker' remark.
The daughter's actress was 27 while Glover was 40 playing 50 and Gibson 30, making the dinner-table flirtation with Riggs weird.
It seems written by people without teenage daughters, who in real life sit sullenly in their rooms.
Glover's early portable phone, possibly the first filmed cell phone, is compared with the beach phone in Wall Street; the Radio Shack-style model is dated to about 1986.
The Gibson material and Rianne are the big ones; one host thought the actress playing Rianne was good, the other that she was too old.

Bruce Willis and Mel Gibson swapping roles; Gibson as James Bond; Ridley Scott or Leonard Nimoy directing; Brian Dennehy as Murtaugh; Michael Biehn as Riggs; Steve Railsback or John Saxon as Joshua; William Hurt as Riggs

In the discussion (10)

Approx. transcript time · 00:56:27Read transcript

Willis could have had Lethal Weapon and Gibson Die Hard; a hot take follows that Willis in 1986 was not believable as a super soldier, while his Die Hard hero is streetwise.
Willis looks like an everyman while Gibson looks cut from limestone; one host would have loved to see them switch, likened to a Brady-Brees swap.
Gibson turned down The Fly and The Untouchables for this film.
Gibson pursued Bond in The Living Daylights, but Broccoli turned him down for not being British and Timothy Dalton was cast; Dalton's Bond films are debated and called terrible.
Brosnan was held to Remington Steele and had to wait about ten years for Bond.
After the $250,000 script purchase, Ridley Scott was considered but had Blade Runner tensions with Warner Brothers; Leonard Nimoy was busy with Three Men and a Baby; Donner got it.
Brian Dennehy was lined up for Murtaugh but did not want to play a cop again; F/X is praised as influential.
Michael Bean was considered for Riggs but was filming Aliens.
The Joshua role was offered to Steve Railsback and John Saxon; Busey, ice cold after his Buddy Holly Story nomination, auditioned and lost weight.
Shane Black wanted William Hurt as Riggs; Hurt would play a damaged vet, not a super soldier, and a Hurt-Dennehy version would be a movie few watch.

The Joey Pants “That Guy” Award

Ed O'Ross; Grand L. Bush

In the discussion (4)

Approx. transcript time · 01:01:56Read transcript

A super-obscure pick is Ed O'Ross, who played Cruz in 48 Hours and Another 48 Hours, as Mendez: 'He's my choice.'
Mary Ellen Trainor, the therapist, gets a shout-out: Zemeckis's wife for a time, also in Romancing the Stone, The Goonies, Action Jackson, Die Hard and Scrooged.
Grand L. Bush, one of the Agent Johnsons in Die Hard, plays a cop and is named the winner; after his Die Hard lines are quoted, 'You're right. That guy's the winner.' follows (speaker unresolved).
Tom Atkins as Hunsaker is also mentioned, known for Halloween 3: Season of the Witch.

The Ruffalo / Hanna / Rubinek / Partridge Overacting Award

Tom Atkins; Jimmie F. Skaggs

In the discussion (4)

Approx. transcript time · 01:03:48Read transcript

Tom Atkins as Hunsaker gets a vote for the 'you find them and you kill them' scene, like nine cups of coffee in ten seconds.
The other vote is Jimmy Skaggs (credited Jimmie F. Skaggs) as Coke dealer number one in the Christmas-tree lot deal.
The hosts agree to split the vote.
Credits like 'Coke dealer number one' or 'Bank robber number three' on IMDb are a favorite thing.

The Teddy KGB Award for the Actor in a Completely Different Movie

Mitchell Ryan

In the discussion (7)

Approx. transcript time · 01:05:09Read transcript

Busey's boss McAllister seems to be in a different movie: turtlenecks, dressed differently, a bad guy who should have an accent.
Pushback that he seems exactly like someone who might have been in the CIA is accepted as fair.
He never seems like a leader, as in the 'roll up your sleeve' scene with Mendez where he burns Busey's arm with a candle.
The part needed either Jack Palance in Tango & Cash-level excess or a better actor such as William Hurt or Lithgow.
Busey is good, but unlike Die Hard with Rickman the film and series lack a true big bad; the South African villains in the sequel are good but no Rickman.
The character, the General, was played by Mitchell Ryan, whose credits include Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers and TV work.
It feels like someone better, like Sam Elliott, called in sick; more was wanted from him.

The Dion Waiters Award for Best Heat Check Performance

Police-hat cop in the Christmas-tree bust

In the discussion (3)

Approx. transcript time · 01:07:54Read transcript

Busey is runner-up: appropriately lit, and the role revived his career and set up his Point Break moment.
The right call, texted by the other host, is the police-hat guy in the Christmas-tree scene with one line.
He runs into the shot in a hat reading 'police' saying 'don't waste him Riggs, it's not worth it'; a rewatch left the host dying laughing.

Recasting Couch

Lisa Bonet as Rianne; Mimi Rogers as the doctor; Sam Shepard, Harry Dean Stanton or Robert Duvall as the General

In the discussion (5)

Approx. transcript time · 01:09:01Read transcript

The actress playing Rianne has eight IMDb credits, four of them Lethal Weapon; she married and had kids; she is seen as a good actress but too old for the part.
Prime Lisa Bonet could have done this instead of Angel Heart.
The doctor could be Mimi Rogers with some sexual tension with Riggs; one host likes Mary Ellen Trainor but sees the point.
The General is 'the winner for this': Sam Shepard, Harry Dean Stanton, or DeVal paid for three days to do his Apocalypse Now scene.
Even a Road House-style over-the-top town-owner villain would have been more enjoyable.

Half-Assed Internet Research

Urban-western origin; Gibson's horseshoe kidney; Jackie Swanson's own high fall; a blank in the suicide scene; the Beretta 92F; director's cut and alternate opening and ending; the original Shane Black script

In the discussion (8)

Approx. transcript time · 01:11:17Read transcript

Shane Black wrote the screenplay in mid-1985, first intending an urban western.
Gibson has a horseshoe kidney (two kidneys fused), joked as the source of his sprint speed.
Jackie Swanson, who played Hunsaker's daughter, did the high fall herself.
In the suicide-contemplation scene there was a blank in the chamber of the gun Gibson pointed at his head.
The gun was a Beretta 92F, also used by Bruce Willis in Die Hard and since retired.
A director's cut runs about seven minutes longer; an alternate opening had Riggs drinking alone in a bar and beating up thugs.
The original 1985 Shane Black script is online and much darker, with a possible school-shooting opening, a rocket launcher and more Vietnam material.
The alternate ending, on YouTube, has Riggs telling a retiring Murtaugh not to retire; the fight was four minutes longer.

Apex Mountain

Richard Donner; jumps onto an inflatable cushion; drinking Coors in movies

In the discussion (9)

Approx. transcript time · 01:13:26Read transcript

Gibson is not at Apex Mountain here; neither is Glover, whose peak is placed at Lethal Weapon 2 through Grand Canyon, though Silverado and The Color Purple are floated.
Grand Canyon got Premiere coverage as if it were Godfather 2 but now plays as problematic, a Crash precursor.
Busey's Apex Mountain is The Buddy Holly Story, his nomination.
For Donner it is this or The Goonies, probably this because it set up three sequels and made him generationally wealthy.
For helicopter shootings, Godfather 3 is offered but lacks enough chopper; First Blood is chosen.
For cocaine balcony jumps this is called probably the Apex, but the other host offers Jenny in Forrest Gump, who never jumps.
For jumps onto an inflatable cushion, this movie is number one, over The Game.
For Christmas-in-L.A. movies it is this or Die Hard; as a Christmas movie both go Die Hard.
This is the Apex for drinking Coors in movies; Nomadland is the Apex for mobile homes.

Picking Nits

The family walking in on the bath; the not-dead-yet villain; torturing instead of killing; Murtaugh's fading gunshot wound; the unheard helicopter; the Phoenix program in Riggs's file

In the discussion (7)

Approx. transcript time · 01:16:30Read transcript

A family coming into their dad's bath will never stop being weird.
The 80s trope of the villain thought dead who gets up to be shot is flagged.
Why torture instead of killing them immediately? Just move the shipment day and murder Riggs and Murtaugh.
Murtaugh's desert gunshot wound comes and goes, like other 80s flesh wounds; a point-blank shot from Mr. Joshua would be felt for 36 hours.
Murtaugh turning his front yard into a UFC event is noted again.
Nobody hears the helicopter coming to Hunsaker's house though it is 15 feet away.
Murtaugh reading Riggs's Phoenix program assassinations in his file is implausible for a classified CIA program; movies never get files right.

Sequel, Prequel, Limited Series, or All-Black Remake

Already remade as the Fox series; True Detective as a de facto remake of the partnership

In the discussion (4)

Approx. transcript time · 01:19:23Read transcript

The Fox show already did it, with a legendary casting mismatch: Damon Wayans and a co-star never worked together.
It should have been a profane, violent cable show, like Cinemax.
True Detective effectively remade this cop dynamic: the family man with problems versus the rugged outsider.
Andy Greenwald never came around on True Detective and died on that hill.

Probably Unanswerable Questions

Cosbys or Murtaughs on Family Feud; was Running Scared better; is this a Christmas movie; the police report after the 101 shootout

In the discussion (5)

Approx. transcript time · 01:20:43Read transcript

Cosbys or Murtaughs on Family Feud: the Murtaughs in the long run, but the Cosbys at their 1987 peak.
Running Scared is not better; its Key West hour and roller skates make it a Rewatchables candidate, and the Crystal-Hines pairing deserved a sequel.
Is this a Christmas movie? One host who does not count Home Alone is called the Grinch; the holidays explain why the Murtaughs keep inviting Riggs over.
A giant Mitsubishi TV giveaway display in Hunsaker's scene is a funny tech moment.
What the police report and L.A. news coverage looked like after the 101 shootout; KCOP is confirmed as a real L.A. station.

What Piece of Memorabilia Would You Want From This Movie?

A cast of Gibson's hair; the Beretta

In the discussion (2)

Approx. transcript time · 01:23:30Read transcript

Gibson's wig, or a cast of his blown-out mullet from the motorcycle look.
The Beretta from the beginning, since it was discontinued and would be worth money, game-used.

Who Won the Movie?

Mel Gibson and Danny Glover

In the discussion (2)

Approx. transcript time · 01:23:58Read transcript

The award goes to Gibson and Glover together as a duo.
Agreement follows because it vaulted both of them; they brought Shane Black's material to life.

Podcast choices

Speaker not identified: Mel Gibson and Danny Glover

More from the conversation

Cold open uses the original trailer (too old for this shit, the two cops, 'register you as a lethal weapon', rated R, starts Friday March 6th).

Approx. transcript time · 00:02:14Read transcript

The episode is framed as a setup for a Lethal Weapon 2 episode, which one host thinks is the superior movie.

Approx. transcript time · 00:02:42Read transcript

People think of Lethal Weapon 2 (diplomatic immunity, jokes, Leo Getz, banter) when they think of the franchise; the first is a much darker movie, and would have been darker still had the Shane Black script been made as written; Richard Donner found more humor.

Approx. transcript time · 00:03:04Read transcript

Lethal Weapon 2 is likened to WrestleMania 3, with the first film as WrestleMania 1; Lethal Weapon 2 is called one of the four greatest sequels (with Godfather 2, Aliens, Terminator 2; Before Sunset is also mentioned as top 10).

Approx. transcript time · 00:03:38Read transcript

Buddy-cop lineage: 48 Hrs. (done on the pod a couple years earlier) as the first modern buddy-cop movie, then Running Scared (86), Stakeout and Lethal Weapon (87); Kevin Smith's Cop Out with Tracy Morgan and Bruce Willis is cited as a failed imitation.

Approx. transcript time · 00:04:13Read transcript

Distinction between buddy-cop movies and buddy-cop comedies such as Rush Hour; this one plays on opposites attract, and the Gibson-Glover pairing is a one-in-a-hundred casting with lasting chemistry, still visible in a video tribute to Richard Donner.

Approx. transcript time · 00:05:00Read transcript

Donner quote on the screen test: two hours, 'seventh heaven', they found innuendos, laughter and tears and a relationship on one reading; 'magical, total dynamite'.

Approx. transcript time · 00:05:58Read transcript

Glover came off The Color Purple with a recognizable face but was not a big star; the script was not written for a Black actor; he was about 40 playing 50, 13 years older than Gibson.

Approx. transcript time · 00:05:58Read transcript

Gibson went from 1981 to 1986 as an anointed star without a cementing vehicle, compared with Russell Crowe before Gladiator, Trae Young before a playoff win, and Ryan Reynolds; Mad Max films, The Year of Living Dangerously, The River and The Bounty preceded Lethal Weapon.

Approx. transcript time · 00:07:05Read transcript

Gibson's intensity and bulging eyes give Riggs a does-he-want-to-live quality; Crowe calculates calmly while Gibson might lose it, as in Ransom (planned as a future episode) and its 'give me back my son' TV scene.

Approx. transcript time · 00:08:27Read transcript

The jumper scene is the museum piece, the moment the movie leaves the earth; the core tension is a suicidal Riggs and a Murtaugh who feels dead inside at 50 and is brought back to life.

Approx. transcript time · 00:10:42Read transcript

The film feels 80s but not too dated, moves like a modern star vehicle, and rips off 48 Hrs., flipping Jack Cates into the Reggie Hammond wildcard; Shane Black wrote it in 1985.

Approx. transcript time · 00:11:42Read transcript

The movie is rooted in the 70s and Vietnam as much as cop movies; Robert Stone's novel Dog Soldiers is compared, and Mr. Joshua, McAllister, Murtaugh and Riggs each carry Vietnam.

Approx. transcript time · 00:12:15Read transcript

Joel Silver produced; the opening helicopter shot of a semi-topless woman on cocaine jumping from a Century City balcony (also where the Die Hard tower is) is very early-mid-80s and Joel Silver's dream start.

Approx. transcript time · 00:13:06Read transcript

The film spans street-level L.A. to coked-out rich L.A., including the nightclub meeting with Mendez; buddy-cop dynamics worked on TV first (Starsky and Hutch, Dukes of Hazzard, Hill Street Blues).

Approx. transcript time · 00:14:44Read transcript

Hill Street Blues, Spenser: For Hire and Vega$ had a Lethal Weapon-style dynamic on TV; Running Scared came out about a year and a half earlier and is judged just as good but did not launch a franchise.

Approx. transcript time · 00:15:45Read transcript

Four Lethal Weapon films over 12 years with a fifth wanted; a young Riggs and Murtaugh Vietnam limited series is predicted as IP mining.

Approx. transcript time · 00:16:22Read transcript

The 80s action run on the show (Commando recently) is framed around unconventional casting of strong actors in physical roles; Gibson and Glover are far better than the roles demand.

Approx. transcript time · 00:16:38Read transcript

Murtaugh's family echoes the Cosby Show's upper-middle-class Black family; the casting was described as colorblind (best available actor), race surfaces only in the Dixie house scene, and becomes bigger in the sequel with its South African apartheid villains.

Approx. transcript time · 00:17:21Read transcript

Shane Black's script sold for about $250K in the Joe Eszterhas-style spec boom; he wrote Lethal Weapon 2 (heavily rewritten), then Last Boy Scout and Long Kiss Goodnight; Premiere magazine made screenwriters known, and franchise writers' rooms now resemble the 40s and 50s.

Approx. transcript time · 00:19:02Read transcript

Joel Silver inspired Saul Rubinek's character in True Romance (a former category name before it went to Vincent Hanna); his credits include Commando, the Lethal Weapons, the first two Die Hards, Predator and The Matrix; he feuded with Michael Eisner over 48 Hrs. and hid his involvement in Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

Approx. transcript time · 00:20:55Read transcript

Era of Don Simpson, Bruckheimer, Silver, and Carolco's Andrew Vajna and Mario Kassar, joked about as a dream narrative podcast.

Approx. transcript time · 00:22:01Read transcript

Richard Donner's career: The Omen and Superman first, then Inside Moves, Ladyhawke, The Goonies, all four Lethal Weapons and Maverick.

Approx. transcript time · 00:22:42Read transcript

One host has repeatedly demanded the other watch Inside Moves (featuring the 1979-80 Golden State Warriors); the other apologizes and promises to watch it; producer Craig is called out over it, and an 'I have not' follows (speaker unresolved).

Approx. transcript time · 00:23:20Read transcript

Premiere magazine's heavy Maverick coverage led to disappointment that it was just card playing.

Approx. transcript time · 00:24:40Read transcript

An absent colleague (ASR 'fantasy') might be snobby about action movies but is wished for on Donner, who never gets his due.

Approx. transcript time · 00:25:12Read transcript

Donner came up in the Spielberg era without the Spielberg-Lucas-Scorsese-Coppola association or a signature masterpiece; the safest pair of hands in Hollywood for 15-20 years, compared with Zemeckis; Spielberg executive-produced The Goonies.

Approx. transcript time · 00:25:25Read transcript

Lethal Weapon 3's perk package is imagined after the sequel became a monster; Craig Horlebeck (ASR) digs up a $200 million net worth for Donner; the film cost $15 million and made $120 million.

Approx. transcript time · 00:26:29Read transcript

The episode sets up the Lethal Weapon 2 episode, which Van Lathan will join; the first film is now underrated as people gravitate to the second, which is more enjoyable though worse things happen to Riggs in it.

Approx. transcript time · 01:24:07Read transcript

Predator is the next 80s action episode in a couple of weeks; producer Craig will build a chronological Spotify playlist of the show's action-movie episodes from The Warriors on (48 Hrs., Die Hard, Speed).

Approx. transcript time · 01:24:43Read transcript