History Film / LethalWeapon1987

* ArtisticLicenseGunSafety: Riggs pulls out his Beretta in the middle of the police station, a very stupid thing to do, especially since he wasn’t in uniform. RealityEnsues when Murtaugh attempts to tackle him, thinking he was a shooter.

* FamousLastWords:
** "Shut up!" Mr. Sniper
** "I am in this too deep, Roger." Michael Hunsaker
** "Sorry pal, say goodnight." Endo
** "Kill that cop son of a bitch!" Gen. [=McAllister=]
** "Come on Riggs! Come on!" Mr. Joshua

---> '''Murtaugh''' ''[re: Riggs' gun]:'' You sleep with that thing under your ''pillow'' or something?\\

---> '''Riggs:''' Do you really wanna jump ?! DO YOU WANNA?!? Alright, then, let's do it!
* TheLostLenore: Victoria Riggs. Her death is the reason Riggs is a DeathSeeker in the first film. It's only his unlikely friendship with Murtagh that later helps him get over it, though when Pieter in the second film tells him that he killed her, Riggs goes on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge.

* MeetCute: A platonic example. When Murtagh sees scruffy, wild-eyed Riggs in the police station, and Riggs draws his gun, Murtagh thinks he's a criminal and tackles him.

--->'''Martin Riggs:''' ''"'''DO YOU REALLY WANNA JUMP?''' Do you WANNA? Alright, then, let's do it!"''
* RevisedEnding: The film originally ended with Riggs and Murthaugh parting ways, with the latter revealing that he plans to retire. Warner Bros. changed this, sensing they had a hit on their hands.

-->'''Murtaugh''': You ever meet anybody you ''didn't'' kill?
-->'''Riggs''': I haven't killed ''you'' yet.
* SaltAndPepper: Subverted, Murtaugh is the old, grizzled but by-the-book cop, Riggs is the titular lethal weapon.

-->'''Riggs''': We do this my way. You shoot, you shoot to kill. Get as many as you can. Just don't miss.

* ArtisticLicenseGunSafety: Riggs pulls out his beretta in the middle of the police station, a very stupid thing to do, especially since he wasn’t in uniform. RealityEnsues when Roger attempts to tackle him, thinking he was a shooter.

* AteHisGun: Riggs is outright suicidal throughout the film. In an early scene, he actually puts his gun in his mouth, but doesn't shoot. He also almost blows his head off with Roger's revolver, but is only stopped because Roger ''sticks his finger between the hammer and the chamber'' (in other words, if Roger was half a second later, Riggs would've been dead).

-->'''Joshua:''' He's bluffing! He'd never risk harming his own daughter.

-->'''Joshua''': Shoot him!

-->'''Joshua''': He's bluffing! He'd never risk harming his own daughter.

* DesignatedBullet: Riggs tells Murtaugh that he has a special bullet picked out in case he ever decides to kill himself (which he thinks about every day). At the end of the film, [[spoiler: he gives Murtaugh the bullet as a symbol that he's come to terms with his inner demons and no longer suicidal]]. The bullet is stated to be a hollow-point, to minimise the odds of botching the job [[note]]but it looks like a full metal jacket round[[/note]].
* DidIMentionItsChristmas: They do, actually, by starting off the movie to "Jingle Bell Rock." It is also shown by the tree in Murtaugh's house and the complete destruction of a large stack of eggnog cartons in an action scene. During the climax, Joshua shoots a TV playing ''Film/Scrooge1951'' and declares, "It's Goddamn Christmas!" Plus, Riggs busts a drug dealer using a Christmas tree lot as a front for his real business.

The first film of the ''Film/LethalWeapon'' series.

Creator/DannyGlover plays Roger Murtaugh, the strict cop that plays by the rules, and worries about getting too old ([[CatchPhrase for this shit]]). He is partnered with Martin Riggs (played by Creator/MelGibson), a suicidal badass despairing over the death of his wife. Riggs is well versed with both martial arts and gun play and added to his [[TheBerserker berserker]] tendencies makes him a candidate to be registered as a [[TitleDrop lethal weapon.]] They start tracking down the BigBad of the film, a major drug dealer who has ties within the military.

Followed by ''Film/LethalWeapon2''.

* SocietyMarchesOn: Riggs' disgust at a lesbian relationship would seem out of place in a movie produced today.

* IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim: Riggs and Joshua fight on Murtaugh's front lawn. Just as Riggs has Joshua in a killing pose, he stops, saying Joshua isn't worth it. As two uniformed officers are taking Joshua into custody, he grabs a gun and starts taking aim at Riggs. Murtaugh and Riggs both open fire on him, justifiable defense.

!!Tropes:

* HollywoodLaw: Murtaugh should never have been assigned to the Hunsaker case because the victim was the daughter of a war buddy of his, a conflict of interest (the whole scene where Hunsacker starts yelling "You owe me! I want you to kill them!" in front of several witnesses would cast a great deal of doubt on whether the shootings of the villains was genuinely necessary or simply engineered to look that way by a cop who felt morally obliged to kill them anyway). In addition, due to Riggs having been involved in a deadly police shootout (two in the extended cut) in his opening scenes, he should have been been placed on administrative leave for a few days while IA reviewed the incidents, not given a partner and sent back into the field the next day, even if they were clean shoots.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: The fact that [[spoiler:General [=McAllister=] has explosives in his car enables Roger to kill him by killing his driver, causing an overturned-vehicle crash]].

** A bit of TruthInTelevision since Murtaugh is carrying an adjustable sight Smith & Wesson revolver which is much better suited to carefully aimed shots then Riggs fixed sight Beretta.

* DeadMansSwitch: During the hostage exchange, Murtaugh takes a grenade from his pocket, removes the pin and says he'll blow them all up if his daughter isn't released first. It's a smoke grenade.

** Immediately afterwards, Murtaugh, furious with Riggs, drags Riggs into a nearby building and they being arguing. Murtaugh thinks Riggs is suicidal and is a danger to himself and others. Murtaugh tells Riggs [[GetItOverWith to just kill himself already]]. Riggs actually pulls out his gun and points it at his head, screaming at Murtaugh that he'll do it. Murtaugh one-ups this and yells ''back'', telling him to ''go ahead and do it'', since it'd be doing him a favor. Ultimately, Murtaugh is horrified when Riggs almost goes through with it. He assumed he was bluffing.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lethal_weapon1.jpg]]

Followed by ''Creator/LethalWeapon2''.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The first movie, before the series embraced its comedic elements, is much darker, with moody sax music, and a bit of a FilmNoir vibe.

* AsYouKnow: A police psychiatrist helpfully explains some of Riggs's backstory. Which is bizarre, considering that it's already established that Riggs is a widower.

* DarkerAndEdgier: Although all of the movies contain a fair amount of humor and over-the-top scenarios, this movie is generally [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness a bit darker and more grim]] than the more cartoon-like later movies, focusing heavily on Riggs' suicidal tendencies and framing his out-of-control nature as borderline psychotic. Then again, the unlikable moments Murtaugh has, in the fourth movie, particularly in one where he punches Roger for a misunderstanding, gives this one competition.

* IdiotBall: Shit on a spatula, the final scene where Joshua is apprehended after being defeated by Riggs. Two cops stand on either side of him ''and handcuff him in between them,'' one on each wrist. There is nowhere in law enforcement where this method of handcuffing someone has ever or will ever be tolerated. Someone handcuffed like this not only ties up two police officers, but they are perfectly capable of causing a lot of trouble. Joshua never would have been able to grab one of their guns if ''they had followed proper and sane police procedure and cuffed him with his hands behind his back.'' This wasn't an idiot ball, it was a planet-shattering idiot asteroid.

* PlotHole: When Riggs and Murtaugh head to the desert to free Murtaugh's kidnapped daughter, Riggs is dropped off with a sniper rifle and takes up position on a ridge several hundred yards away, overlooking the events. At this point, the villains believe Riggs is dead. Yet within a few seconds of Riggs opening fire on the antagonists, General [=McCallister=] has ascertained Riggs' ''exact'' location and managed to sneak up behind him and [[ClickHello put a gun to his head]].
** Compounding this is the fact that [=McAllister=] doesn't immediately kill Riggs, despite the fact that he had [[TheDragon Mr. Joshua]] try to gun him down in cold blood the previous day. If the villains only need Murtaugh taken alive for interrogation (And Joshua explicitly states this to Riggs after his capture), [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim why bother to capture Riggs at all?]]
*** Because he believes in being thorough. He said it himself. Plus there's always the chance they could get Riggs on their side. An amazingly badass person like him would be a huge asset to their organization.
*** Riggs was unhinged and would've been easier to interrogate, [=McAllister=] decided if they couldn't get information out of one they could get it out of the other.
*** After Riggs opens fire on the henchmen, Joshua quietly says "Dammit, it's Riggs." He probably contacted McAllister over the radio sometime during the shootout.
** Also, near the end of the film, when Riggs is chasing down Mr. Joshua on foot, Joshua commandeers a car and escapes. Riggs then has to run all the way back to Hollywood Boulevard to find Murtaugh, who realizes that Joshua will seek revenge against his family. Bearing in mind that Joshua has a massive head-start and knows exactly where he is going, the heroes still get to Murtaugh's house so far ahead of Joshua that they have time to evacuate everyone and set up an [[OverlyPrePreparedGag overly-elaborate trap]], which involves [[NiceJobBreakingItHero destroying the front of Murtaugh's house with an unmanned squad car]]. How did they get there so much quicker than him and why didn't they just have the plethora of uniformed cops they have with them draw down on Joshua and arrest him as soon as he rolled up? (Glaringly, their RuleOfCool approach to his capture costs two lone uniformed officers their lives, when Joshua guns them down on arrival at the house).
*** While there is no way Joshua would take out all those cops, he is a special forces operative and could [[TakingYouWithMe kill a few of them before he dies.]] This plan prevented police casualties and gave Joshua a false sense of security before they ambushed him.

*** While there is no way Joshua would take out all those cops, he is a special forces operative and could [[TakingYouWithMe killed a few of them before he dies.]] This plan prevented police casualties and gave Joshua a false sense of security before they ambushed him.

* HydrantGeyser: At the end of the movie one of these creates the mood for the climactic fist fight scene between Riggs and Joshua, thanks to Joshua kills a cop, who crashed his car into the fire hydrant.

* TheRat: Leo Getz is an unusually sympathetic version of this character; described by Riggs and Murtaugh as "an annoying asshole with a lot of connections," he's a bit annoying but essentially a decent guy who actually seems to look up to Riggs and Murtaugh a bit, however badly they treat him. In the later movies, the three become friends, something of a PowerTrio, and Leo ends up acting as Murtaugh's estate agent in the third film.

Glover plays Roger Murtaugh, the strict cop that plays by the rules, and worries about getting too old ([[CatchPhrase for this shit]]). He is partnered with Martin Riggs, a suicidal badass despairing over the death of his wife. Riggs is well versed with both martial arts and gun play and added to his [[TheBerserker berserker]] tendencies makes him a candidate to be registered as a [[TitleDrop lethal weapon.]] They start tracking down the BigBad of the film, a major drug dealer who has ties within the military.

** Rika in the second film, Lorna from 3 onward.

* EvilAlbino: Mr. Joshua is a seemingly psychopathic hit man. He's specifically referred to as "albino" in the film and yep: he's both an expert sniper '''and''' appears in an extended desert scene.

* WithMyHandsTied: Riggs manages to kill Endo while tied up and hanging from the ceiling.

In ''Lethal Weapon'', Glover plays Roger Murtaugh, the strict cop that plays by the rules, and worries about getting too old ([[CatchPhrase for this shit]]). He is partnered with Martin Riggs, a suicidal badass despairing over the death of his wife. Riggs is well versed with both martial arts and gun play and added to his [[TheBerserker berserker]] tendencies makes him a candidate to be registered as a [[TitleDrop lethal weapon.]] They start tracking down the BigBad of the film, a major drug dealer who has ties within the military.