From the moment that Bobby Helms’ ‘Jingle Bell Rock’ starts playing over images of the Los Angeles skyline, there’s no doubt that 1987’s Lethal Weapon is a Christmas film. It’s one of my all-time favourites and I make a point of watching it this week as director Richard Donner has sadly passed away. Donner directed classics like Superman and The Omen and I feel genuinely upset to wave goodbye to one of cinema’s greatest entertainers.
Watching this today feels like the ideal way to celebrate Donner’s life and career and, on this viewing, I realise it’s easy to forget just how Christmassy it all is. Certainly, this tale of reckless, widowed, suicidal cop Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson), partnered up with older, mellower family man Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) to take on evil drug traffickers is another reminder that the yuletide season can be a real pisser for the lonely and the bereaved. Gibson gives an electric performance as Riggs, alone in the wake of his wife’s death, depressed as hell and ready to end it all with a bullet before a festive Bugs Bunny cartoon snaps him out of it. That’s the power of Christmas, folks. He’s a man on the edge with a reputation for pulling crazy shit so nobody wants to work with him and his colleagues suspect he’s faking it all to get early retirement. He’s got nothing except the job until he’s paired with Murtaugh who gradually becomes the friend he needs.
This is all an excuse, of course, for Riggs to drag Murtaugh into a whole load of dizzying, dangerous situations for our entertainment and the script, infamously penned by a young, hungry Shane Black is a doozy. Riggs is introduced single-handedly taking on a crew of drug dealers in a Christmas tree lot, evidencing his blatant death wish by slapping them about and making silly noises, Three Stooges style. Later, remarking about how the holidays can seriously be a drag, he handcuffs himself to suicidal jumper and leaps off the top of a building with the guy. It’s good stuff.
The festive stuff continues when, later on, Riggs leaves a humorous note on Murtaugh’s family Christmas tree for the bad guys to find as a ‘twos up’ to them - a sentiment later pinched for Die Hard’s “ho ho ho!” stunt. Elsewhere, Murtaugh’s old ‘Nam buddy gets blasted by Gary Busey’s dastardly Mr Joshua - from a helicopter, no less - and the bullet goes right through a carton of delicious Christmassy eggnog he’s drinking. At one point A Christmas Carol is playing on TV in the Murtaugh household and the invading villainous Mr Joshua is so angered that Scrooge doesn’t know that it’s Christmas he blasts a hole in the TV. Best of all, Murtaugh’s missus is played by Darlene Love who, remember, sang on the classic Phil Spector track ‘Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).’ It’s a regular Christmas party.
So, the action is great, the performances unforgettable, the ‘action jazz’ soundtrack rousing and oh-so-’80s. But, the real Christmas miracle here is that, after all the shit Riggs goes through, the film ends with him being welcomed into the Murtaugh home as a respected, cherished member of the family for Christmas dinner. Fair enough, he had to earn that love by rescuing their daughter and killing a lot of bad guys, but it’s still a heartwarming way to end a Chrstmas action classic. Rest in Peace, Richard.
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