Line #29 Film/TangoAndCash


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8	[[quoteright:310:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tango_and_cash_1989.jpeg]]
9	[[caption-width-right:310:[[BaitAndSwitch You almost want to take it seriously...]]]]
10
11	''Tango & Cash'' is a 1989 action comedy film directed by Creator/AndreiKonchalovsky, starring Creator/SylvesterStallone and Creator/KurtRussell in the title roles with a supporting cast including Creator/JackPalance, Creator/TeriHatcher, Creator/MichaelJPollard, Creator/BrionJames, Creator/JamesHong, Creator/ClintHoward, Creator/MichaelJeter, Creator/GeoffreyLewis, and Creator/EdwardBunker.
12
13	Dapper, straitlaced Raymond "Ray" Tango (Stallone) and aggressive, rough-around-the-edges Gabriel "Gabe" Cash (Russell) are LAPD narcotics detectives and fierce professional rivals. But when a shared archenemy of theirs, drug lord Yves Perret (Palance), decides to even the score and gets them framed for murder, Tango and Cash suddenly find themselves locked among the same prisoners they had put away themselves. It doesn't take long before they realize that they have to put aside their differences and work together in order to clear their names and get even with Perret... even if it ends up killing them.
14
15	----
16	!!This film contains examples of:
17
18	* EightiesHair: A massive afro-like mullet worn by Katherine.
19	* AccidentalAimingSkills: Used as a BondOneLiner at the climax, when Perret is using Katherine as a HumanShield. Tango and Cash decide to shoot him on the knees simultaneously at the count of three, but when they get to "three" they shoot Perret [[BoomHeadshot dead center in the forehead]] ([[ImprobableAimingSkills very tight double-tap, too]]). They both agree on claiming their gun sights were off.
20	* ActorAllusion: In the opening, Tango makes this remark:
21	-->Franchise/{{Rambo}} is a pussy.
22	* ArmedLegs: Cash's derringer-concealing boots, which fire right out of the boot's heel (or as Tango decides to deride them, "bazooka-boots").
23	* TheArmorer: Owen. One of the LAPD's R&D guys, he made Cash's "bazooka-boots" at some point before the movie started and Cash and Tango come to see him a couple of times throughout the film to get their hands on gear.
24	* ArtisticLicenseGunSafety: When Cash finds out someone adjusted the sights on his gun he decides to wave it around in the police station with his finger on the trigger.
25	* BadassBoast: When a character claims that Tango "[[ActorAllusion thinks he's]] Franchise/{{Rambo}}," Tango replies that "Rambo is a pussy." He stops just short of prefacing it with "compared to me."
26	* BadassInANiceSuit: Tango all the way. He is even called on that by his commander.
27	* BaitAndSwitch: Cash appears to be going to sneak out of the strip club in a motorcycle helmet. However the cops stop the helmet-wearing person who leaves the strip club, only for it to turn out to be Katherine, who gets on her motorbike and calls out for her 'girlfriend'. Cue DisguisedInDrag.
28	* BiggerIsBetterInBed: InvertedTrope: Tango makes several jokes throughout about the fact [[TeenyWeenie Cash's penis is smaller than his own]] (which they discover in the prison showers) (the gag would be played straight with Tango).
29	* BilingualBonus: "Requin" is [[GratuitousFrench French]] for "Shark", though the character is supposed to be Cockney.
30	* BrickJoke: crossed with a literal ChekhovsGun; Cash checks his spare pistol early in the film and notices the sight is shifted, getting pissed that someone messed with it (this is the gun that gets planted at the setup, framing him and Tango). At the climax, Tango and Cash agree to take Perett alive... Until he threatens Katherine, at which they instantly shoot him in the head. Their excuse?
31	--> '''Tango:''' My sight's shifted.\
32	'''Cash:''' Mine, too.
33	* BringMyBrownPants: Requin wets himself when Tango tapes a grenade to his mouth during an interrogation.
34	* BuddyCopShow: The main characters are two rival cops who are both known as the best in the city and are rivals forced to work together to [[ClearMyName clear their names]].
35	* BunglingInventor: Owen. His EstablishingCharacterMoment includes a number of absurd devices that he is developing for LAPD or civilian use and are to be used for self-defense... some of which backfire hilariously.
36	* CelebrityParadox: Tango, Creator/SylvesterStallone's character, disparages {{Franchise/Rambo}}, whom he also played. Nobody mentions they're identical in appearance (well, aside from different haircuts).
37	* ChekhovsGun:
38	** Cash's backup weapon is used to frame him.
39	** Tango's .38, which he uses throughout the first act and Cash derides as dinky (although Tango's showcased himself to be badass enough to not need any more gun) is forgotten about after that... and then it turns out that Tango had been carrying it in an ankle holster all along, and so he uses it to ShootTheHostageTaker alongside Cash at the climax.
40	* ClearMyName: Both protagonists are framed for murder and sent to prison. The main plot involves them clearing their names.
41	* ClickHello: Done twice in one scene where Cash is investigating Requin's house. Requin gets the drop on Cash, but immediately after Requin utters a one-liner, Tango gets the drop on him.
42	* CombatPragmatist: Cash, particularly [[StuffBlowingUp the manner]] [[GroinAttack in which he dispatches]] TheDragon.
43	* ComplexityAddiction: Perret's plan is absurdly complicated and it's lampshaded as such by the other crime lords that hear it when he proposes it. Perret's response is that it's needed to make sure that Tango and Cash don't end up becoming martyrs amongst the other cops. The other crime lords end up agreeing as a result for the moment. When the titular duo manages to escape prison the crime lords tell Perret that they believe his plan didn't work and are going to send assassins to find them, and Perret belts out a borderline-whiny BigNo in response that shuts them up and they never do it.
44	* ConvenientlyEmptyRoads: The ActionPrologue features Tango chasing down a drug-carrying tanker truck on a deserted stretch of highway, giving him plenty of time to pull ahead and use his marksman skills to force the driver to a stop; while the truck is being searched a short while later, the cops direct a LONG line of traffic around it that sprung up out of nowhere.
45	* CoolCar: A fashionably-militarized [[http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_61187-Chevrolet-K-2500-1988.html 1988 Chevrolet Silverado 2500]] AKA the "RV from Hell."
46	-->'''Owen:''' Double-armored, bulletproof glazing. 1 20mm cannon on the driver's side. Transfer case has torque splitting. It'll see 60 in five and a half seconds and pull high-tens in the quarter.
47	* CowboyCop:
48	** Tango and Cash are both established as wild, rules-flouting cops who get results.
49	** Deconstructed when Tango and Cash are put on trial. Several witnesses are criminals they put away who testify on the methods used by the titular characters.
50	* CrazyPrepared: Tango's signature weapon throughout the first act is a .38 Special snub-nosed pocket revolver that, compared to Cash's pistol with its massive LaserSight, doesn't looks powerful (although Tango's showcased himself as badass enough that he doesn't needs a bigger gun) and Cash derides it during the MexicanStandoff when they first meet face to face... but to his misfortune, Tango demonstrates he also carries a .45 by pulling it out and aiming it point-blank at Cash's groin. At the climax, after a long second and third act where both cops have carried nothing but large guns, Cash showcases that he's been carrying the .38 all of the time in an ankle holster, which he uses to shoot Perret alongside Cash.
51	* DeadpanSnarker: Cash. Tango has his moments as well, most of them aimed at Cash. He later shoots one last dig at the fact that Owen was the inventor of Cash's "[[ShoePhone bazooka]]-[[ArmedLegs boots]]") aside from this gem:
52	-->'''Cash:''' Do you have ''any'' idea of what we're working with here?! This (the armed Silverado) is a ''violent'' work of ''art''!\
53	'''Tango:''' ''(checking the minigun on the Silverado's side)'' And who owns the pink slip? Satan?
54	* DiscOneFinalBoss: During their prison break, Tango and Cash are pursued by corrupt guards led by Face, the thug Tango arrested in the prologue. Face catches Tango on the prison roof, and Tango has to fight him off to make his escape.
55	* DisguisedInDrag: Cash, when he gets away from the strip club that Katherine works in with Katherine in tow. The cops don't look close enough (even when they are at point-blank range), mistaking Katherine and Cash for a same-sex couple.
56	* DistractedByTheSexy: When Cash eludes the cops searching the Cleopatra club during Katherine's striptease, Katherine covers for him by flirting with one of the uniformed officers.
57	* DontCreateAMartyr: The reason why [[BigBad Perret]] manages to convince the other criminal leaders that his plan to set up the titular pair of [[CowboyCop Cowboy Cops]] is the best ([[ComplexityAddiction even if they complain about how complicated it is]], and instead of just tossing as many assassins as it takes to kill them) is that if they just up and die, while they are still respected by the public and the LAPD as hero cops, the response will be an increase of difficulty in their criminal enterprises courtesy of crusading cops--''but'' if they are disgraced as a set-up for the kill...
58	* TheDragon: Requin. Aside from using Katherine as a HumanShield at the end, Perret is a NonActionBigBad.
59	* FanserviceExtra: During a car chase in a parking garage, one of the vehicles used bumps into a parked car where a couple is having sex in the back seat. The girl is on top and her naked upper half is shown as they stop and see what's going on. Several topless female strippers are seen in the strip club.
60	* FingertipDrugAnalysis: Tango checks a substance in the beginning to confirm that it's cocaine by tasting it.
61	* FlashedBadgeHijack: Cash takes a guy's car this way, who loudly protests (especially after it gets wrecked in his chase with a suspect).
62	* {{Foil}}: Tango and Cash both work different sides of the city, dress differently, with Tango being a SharpDressedMan and Cash being more the unkempt type. Even their initial sidearms are polar opposites, with Tango favouring a small revolver and a larger automatic, while Cash opts for a large revolver and a small automatic.
63	* FrameUp: Both protagonists are framed by gangsters for murder to get rid of them, so they won't keep shutting down their drug business.
64	* FunWithAcronyms: F.U.B.A.R.-F*cked Up Beyond All Recognition.
65	* GloryHound: Tango initially pegs Cash as this.
66	* GoodCopBadCop: Invoked with much relish by Tango and Cash while interrogating Requin, though they like to call it "Bad Cop, Worse Cop." The "worse cop" part involves a grenade ''duct-taped to Requin's mouth'', by the way.
67	* GreatEscape: The second act ends with Tango and Cash leaving the HellholePrison that they were thrown in order to [[ClearMyName Clear Their Names]].
68	* GroinAttack: In this case, [[spoiler: Cash killing Requin by shoving a live grenade down his pants]].
69	* HandCannon: Cash lugs around a large pistol with an enormous laser sight on top of it.
70	* HiddenWire: Placed on the man Tango and Cash are framed for the killing. But the wire isn't used to incriminate them, but to explain the origins of the tape with an incriminating recording of them that had been constructed from numerous real recordings of their voices.
71	* HighAltitudeInterrogation: Used by Tango and Cash, though the victim is unfazed and even taunts them to let go.
72	* HollywoodLaw: The protagonists are prosecuted on a charge of murdering an undercover FBI agent, a federal crime. However, it was explicitly done by the LA county District Attorney, who only has jurisdiction over state crimes. Later though it's said they're sent to a federal prison.
73	* ImprobableWeaponUser: Cash has a gun built into his boot, with the barrel in the heel, causing him to take an unusual stance when firing. It comes in handy whenever he is knocked off his feet and needs to get counterattack quickly.
74	* ImprovisedZipline: How they escape prison, using their belts and the prison's electrical cables.
75	* InnocentInnuendo: The back massage scene (Cash and Katherine are working on putting one of the discs of Cash's spine back into place. The excited, pleased sounds and talking about how "I can feel it's almost in!" don't really make Tango comfortable). To Tango's credit, he ''doesn't'' immediately run in and kick Cash's ass for hitting on his sister. Unfortunately, sis has [[TheGadfly no interest in explaining]] that it's NotWhatItLooksLike.
76	* InPrisonWithTheRogues: After being framed, Tango and Cash are forced to accept a plea bargain that allows them a light sentence in a minimum-security prison. Instead, they're dumped in a supermax loaded with violent inmates the duo themselves put away.
77	* InterrogationByVandalism: Cash's interrogation of the sound technician who testified in court against them (and who was also the one who manufactured the incriminating fake audiotape) takes it up to eleven via Cash demolishing the sound tech's equipment with a shotgun ''and'' threatening to shoot said tech's head off with it.
78	* JackBauerInterrogationTechnique:
79	** Cash sitting in a chair on the throat of a suspect, despite him having already asked for an attorney. When asks why he did this, Cash says that he couldn't find a piano instead.
80	** Also "Plan B", when pulling a HighAltitudeInterrogation on Requin doesn't work... duct-taping ''a grenade'' to his face, which [[EveryoneHasStandards actually makes Cash classify Tango as a complete psychopath and say that it disgusts him]]. [[spoiler: Turns out that the grenade was a dud and Cash was just ''pretending'' to be disgusted.]]
81	* LargeHam: [[EvilIsHammy Perret]], played with much gusto by Jack Palance. He sees the StormingTheCastle CarChase on his office's screens and cheers for his henchmen like he was watching the UsefulNotes/SuperBowl!
82	* LaserSight: Cash has a preference for them (and it being technology from TheEighties, the laser sights are almost as big as the handguns they are attached to!).
83	* MassageOfLove: PlayedForLaughs: Cash is given shelter by Katherine, Tango's sister (whom Cash believes is actually his girlfriend). She gives him a friendly massage to help fix his back, injured in their prison escape, and he makes a point of not letting it get too friendly even though he gets a crush on her. Unfortunately, Tango quietly enters as they enthusiastically slip a disc back into place, and is dismayed to think they're having sex (to his credit, he doesn't immediately interrupt to beat the shit out of Cash).
84	* MrFanservice: Despite heavily targeting a male demographic, seeing the backsides of Stallone and Russell in the shower scene likely helped many a girlfriend sit through this film.
85	* MsFanservice: Tango's sister, Katherine. She's seen doing a striptease in front of a giant fan (she's a stripper and her bar has some high-quality routines... ItMakesSenseInContext).
86	* MySisterIsOffLimits: Tango doesn't want Cash dating his sister. When Cash says he'll wait until he has Tango's blessing, he tells him, "In that case, never!" One of the more respectful cases, actually; he walks in on his sister massaging one of Cash's spinal discs into place (which from dialogue along with her movements made it seem like they were having sex), but stays quiet and out of sight, plotting his ''future'' vengeance on Cash.
87	* NotWhatItLooksLike: Averted; after the InnocentInnuendo scene, Katherine trolls her brother by refusing to explain what was actually happening.
88	* OddCouple: Interestingly, ''both'' members of the couple are examples of the CowboyCop. It's just that looks-wise they are almost SlobsVsSnobs.
89	* OhCrap: The reaction of the pair when they realize that rather than a "country club" prison where they'd be in protective custody, they're being sent to ''the'' most maximum-security prison in California that happens to be packed with guys they put away.
90	* OneLiner: Maybe the most one-liner-ridden script ever written.
91	* OohMeAccentsSlipping: Requin has probably the worst Cockney accent this side of Creator/DickVanDyke.
92	* PinPullingTeeth: When struggling with Requin, Cash pops up with a hand grenade and pulls the pin with his teeth (and using his middle finger to pop the spoon handle). Justified, as his free hand is grasping Requin's wrist to keep him from using his straight razor, and his other has him locked in a clinch.
93	* {{Pun}}: Seeing newspaper headlines on the rivalry between the two super cops, DaChief growls that it's "Downtown Clown versus Beverley Hill Wop."
94	* PrettyLittleHeadshots: Yves, the main villain, gets ''two'' bullets, fired simultaneously by Tango and Cash, in his face, resulting in two dainty little bleeding holes on his forehead.
95	* RecordedSplicedConversation: Perret's plan to frame the duo for the murder of an undercover federal agent and thus disgrace them includes hiring an audio expert to create one of these out of audio samples of them, plant it on the agent's HiddenWire pickup, and have the audio expert (that is the best in the business in L.A.) testify the veracity of the recording.
96	-->'''Cash:''' ''(while he's [[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique interrogating]] the technician)'' Oh, hey, look! (pulls out various audio tapes) Here's some of my best hits... ''(pulls out more tapes)'' ...and Tango's. I suppose you (the technician) could create quite the nice mix-tape with them, right?
97	* RelativeError: Cash initially assumes Tango's sister to be his girlfriend. For that matter, so did probably most viewers, since it's never spelled out until Tango accidentally walks in on them. Which, when you think about it, [[UnintentionallyUnsympathetic unwittingly makes Cash far more of an asshole]] when he starts flirting with her behind Tango's back than he would [[MySisterIsOffLimits otherwise be]].
98	* RememberTheNewGuy: An odd example, in the film's climax, Requin just suddenly introduces some random heavy that also holds heavy grudges against Tango & Cash... mostly so Tango has someone to fight while Cash tangles with Requin.
99	* RightForTheWrongReasons: When they are in the jailhouse showers, Cash tells Tango his theory that the FrameUp was made by Cash's ArchEnemy drug lords, Cheng and Lopez (or rather Lopez pretending it's Cheng). Cash is correct that they are involved, but that is because they are lackeys to [[BigBad Perret]].
100	* {{Sexophone}}: PlayedForLaughs during Cash's "drag scene."
101	* SharpDressedMan: Cash refers to Tango as "Armani with a badge".
102	* ShowerScene: In prison, complete with SlipperySoap gag.
103	* SoftGlass: Both villains and heroes go through windows without any cuts.
104	* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: In a film full to the brim with CowboyCop antics of the highest octane, there is a minor moment of reality when the Triad soldier Cash [[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique strangles info out of]] early on is called as a witness by the FBI and showing the bruises of Cash brutalizing him puts our heroes in hotter water.
105	** The weaponized Chevy Silverado has some truly impressive armor plating... which probably helps reduce the vehicle's already-lower gas mileage. During the assault on Perret's airfield, the vehicle almost runs out of gas before Tango and Cash have to abandon it.
106	* TakeThat: Sylvester Stallone does one at himself. When a fellow cop compares his character to Rambo, Stallone declares "[[{{Franchise/Rambo}} Rambo]] is a pussy" and shoots a tanker truck full of gasoline.
107	* TeenyWeenie: During the aforementioned shower scene, Cash takes a glance down below and calls Tango "Pee-Wee". Later, when the two pick up guns for battle, Cash notices he has the smaller gun. He asks, "Why's yours so much bigger than mine?" and Tango replies, "Genetics, Pee-Wee."
108	* TransparentCloset: There are several moments that hint at Tango being gay, although it never explicitly says as much. And he is not very enthusiastic when Cash drops the soap in the prison shower.
109	-->'''Cash:''' I hear they have a gym. You can start pumping at 5 am!
110	* {{Troperrific}}: One of the last movies Hollywood released in the 1980s (it came out December 22nd, 1989) it seems out to cram every single '80s action movie moment into one movie, although it can swing wildly between {{Deconstruction}} and [[PlayedStraight Playing It Straight]], sometimes in the same scene.
111	* WeaponizedCar: The fashionably-militarized 1988 Chevrolet Silverado 2500, with a side-mounted minigun, concealed machine guns, armored and up-engined up the wazoo.
112	-->'''Owen:''' It could drive through a brick wall.
113	* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: This is all but ''openly stated'' by Perret's allies, who repeatedly fail to see the logic in Perret's over-complicated scheme and basically suggest sending their heavies out to kill Tango and Cash instead. Perret rejects this on the basis that doing so would make the two martyrs, but the real reason appears to be a mixture of ComplexityAddiction and the fact that there wouldn't be a movie if they did.

Context Film / TangoAndCash