History Film / FX

[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/FX_poster_1058.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:Is it murder or is it TitleDrop?]]

->'''Rollie:''' In this hand are [[ItWorksBetterWithBullets the bullets for the gun]].
->'''Rollie:''' And in ''this'' hand... is [[ProductPlacement Krazy Glue]]. A thousand and one uses. [[PreMortemOneLiner Now a thousand and two]].

He's a special effects man from Australia. He's a New York detective who specializes in pissing people off. Together, {{they fight crime}}!

No, wait. That was the second movie.

''F/X: Murder by Illusion'' is a 1986 movie starring Brian Brown and Brian Dennehy, about a movie special effects man, Rollie Tyler (Brown), who gets dragged into the criminal underworld when he is hired by the F.B.I.'s witness protection program to [[FakingTheDead fake the death]] of a notorious [[TheMafia mob boss]].

The F/X shoot [[GoneHorriblyWrong goes awry]], and now it looks like Rollie - through criminal negligence or deliberately - is responsible for the death of the man whose death he was supposed to ''fake''.

While Rollie frantically tries to figure out what went wrong, [[BigApplesauce NYPD]] Detective Leo [=McCarthy=] (Dennehy) is investigating the same murder, and increasingly frustrated that the FBI [[ObstructiveBureaucrat is being less helpful than usual]].

Not to be confused with Creator/{{FX}}, the Fox Entertainment-owned cable channel, or Music/{{FX}}, the South Korean GirlGroup.

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The movie was followed up in 1991 with ''F/X 2: The Deadly Art of Illusion'', in which Rollie, now retired from special effects, is asked by his girlfriend's ex-husband to help him catch a killer. When the ex-husband and killer are ''both'' killed by an unknown assailant, Rollie turns to former-detective turned PrivateInvestigator [=McCarthy=] to help him figure out why and bring the killer to justice.

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Both movies were followed up by ''Series/FXTheSeries'', which has its own page, and recast the roles of both Rollie and [=McCarthy=], likely for budget reasons.

!!''F/X'' and ''F/X 2'' contain examples of:

%%* AmoralAttorney
* BannedInChina: Rollie's work got him banned in Australia.
%%* CarChase
* [[ChekhovsArmory Chekhov's Armory]]: Any and all special effects equipment that is shown at one point in either movie ''will'' come in to play by the end for more than Rollie's work.
** Also pay attention to any and all character traits mentioned, even if it's only once. [[BatmanGambit Rollie does]].
%%* CowboyCop
* CrypticBackgroundReference: There are plenty of mentions of Rollie's past work.
* DirtyCop: Main villain of the second film.
%%* GadgeteerGenius
%%* GroinAttack
* FakeActionPrologue: Both movies open up with a shooting of a film.
%%* FakingTheDead
%%* FightScene
%%* ItWorksBetterWithBullets
* JumpScare: Rollie has a latex movie monster set up to leap at his door while a recording of the monster's roar is played, whenever somebody comes in. An effective anti-intrusion method.
%%* KnifeNut
* LampshadedDoubleEntendre: [=McCarthy=] finishes a "how to use a gun" lecture to a female cop with, "And this is how you 'cock the sucker'...in a manner of speaking, that is."
%%* LatexPerfection
* {{MacGyvering}}: Rollie is a special effects wizard. If you ever get the chance, ask an effects man just how much of their job involves this trope.
* TheMafia: Appears in the second movie.
%%* MasterOfDisguise
%%* NumberedSequels
* ShowerScene: Used to lure out the killer in the second movie.
%%* SlashedThroat
* SpecialEffectFailure: Happens in-universe to the alien in the FakeActionPrologue of the second movie.
* TheresNoBInMovie: Second movie opens with a shooting of a film which features a sex starved transexual alien on a rampage.
%%* StagedShooting
%%* TheyFightCrime
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''F/X: Murder by Illusion'' is a 1986 movie starring Brian Brown and Brian Dennehy, about a movie special effects man, Rollie Tyler (Brown), who gets dragged into the criminal underworld when he is hired by the F.B.I.'s witness protection program to [[FakeAssassinationAttempt fake the death]] of a notorious [[TheMafia mob boss]].

!!F/X and F/X 2 contain examples of:
* AmoralAttorney
* BannedInChina - Rollie's work got him banned in Australia.
* CarChase
* [[ChekhovsArmory Chekhov's Armory]] - Any and all special effects equipment that is shown at one point in either movie ''will'' come in to play by the end for more than Rollie's work.

* CowboyCop
* CrypticBackgroundReference - There are plenty of mentions of Rollie's past work.
* DirtyCop - Main villain of the second film.
* GadgeteerGenius
* GroinAttack
* FakeActionPrologue - Both movies open up with a shooting of a film.
* FakingTheDead
* FightScene
* ItWorksBetterWithBullets
* JumpScare - Rollie has a latex movie monster set up to leap at his door while a recording of the monster's roar is played, whenever somebody comes in. An effective anti-intrusion method.
* KnifeNut
* LampshadedDoubleEntendre: [[=McCarthy=]] finishes a "how to use a gun" lecture to a female cop with, "And this is how you 'cock the sucker'...in a manner of speaking, that is."
* LatexPerfection
* {{MacGyvering}} - Rollie is a special effects wizard. If you ever get the chance, ask an effects man just how much of their job involves this trope.
* TheMafia - Appears in the second movie.
* MasterOfDisguise
* NumberedSequels
* ShowerScene - Used to lure out the killer in the second movie.
* SlashedThroat
* SpecialEffectFailure - Happens in-universe to the alien in the FakeActionPrologue of the second movie.
* TheresNoBInMovie - Second movie opens with a shooting of a film which features a sex starved transexual alien on a rampage.
* StagedShooting
* TheyFightCrime

->'''Rollie:''' In this hand are the bullets for the gun.

* HeyItsThatGuy: The mob guy is [[Series/LawAndOrder Detective Lennie Briscoe]] and [[DirtyDancing Baby's dad]].
** One of Leo's colleagues is Gordon from ''SesameStreet''!

* AccidentalInnuendo: [[=McCarthy=]] finishes a "how to use a gun" lecture to a female cop with, "And this is how you 'cock the sucker'...in a manner of speaking, that is."

Both movies were followed up by ''[[FXTheSeries F/X: The Series]]'', which has its own page, and recast the roles of both Rollie and [=McCarthy=], likely for budget reasons.

''[[{{FX}} F/X]]: Murder by Illusion'' is a 1986 movie starring Brian Brown and Brian Dennehy, about a movie special effects man, Rollie Tyler (Brown), who gets dragged into the criminal underworld when he is hired by the F.B.I.'s witness protection program to [[FakeAssassinationAttempt fake the death]] of a notorious [[TheMafia mob boss]].

Not to be confused with FX, the Fox Entertainment owned cable channel.

The movie was followed up in 1991 with ''[[{{FX}} F/X 2]]: The Deadly Art of Illusion'', in which Rollie, now retired from special effects, is asked by his girlfriend's ex-husband to help him catch a killer. When the ex-husband and killer are ''both'' killed by an unknown assailant, Rollie turns to former-detective turned PrivateInvestigator [=McCarthy=] to help him figure out why and bring the killer to justice.

''[[{{FX}} F/X]]: Murder by Illusion'' is a 1986 movie starring Brian Brown and Brian Dennehy, about a movie special effects man, Rollie Tyler (Brown), who gets dragged into the criminal underworld when he is hired by the F.B.I.'s witness protection program to fake the death of a notorious [[TheMafia mob boss]].