The 3 Guys Podcast Recorded on 9/1/2022 Two of L.A.'s top rival cops are going to have to work together... Even if it kills them. In this podcast, we review the Classic 80s Action flick Tango and Cash starring Sylvester Stallone, Kurt Russell, Jack Palance, Teri Hatcher and directed by Andrei Konchalovsky. WARNING: There will be SPOILERS! The 3 Guys Rating 3.4/5
Notes From The Show * Quick Synopsis * Released: December 22, 1989
Directed By: Andrei Konchalovsky
Screen Play By: Randy Feldman
Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Kurt Russell, Jack Palance, Teri Hatcher and a bunch of other actors
Plot: Framed by their ruthless arch-nemesis, a mismatched LAPD crime-fighting duo has to put its differences aside to even the score with the evil kingpin who put them behind bars once and for all.
Tagline: Two of L.A.’s top rival cops are going to have to work together… Even if it kills them.
How did this movie do? Budget: $54 Million Box Office: $120 Million * Action Cuts * + Body count: 20 (Tango=11, Cash=5) + Top One-Liners - Ray Tango: Rambo? Rambo’s a pussy. - Captain Schroeder: If you really wanted to stare death in the eye, you shoulda gotten married. - Gabriel Cash: Lucky for me this place is soundproof. That way nobody gets to hear me beating the truth out of you. - Ray Tango: Genetics, peewee. - Gabriel Cash: I don’t know about you, but I have an aversion to getting F.U.B.A.R… - Ray Tango: My contribution to birth control. - Gabriel Cash: I don’t know. But it’s not raining and he’s standing in a puddle. - Gabriel Cash: Well, if it isn’t Armani with a badge. - Ray Tango: [speaking to Face behind bars] I loved you in Conan the Barbarian. - Gabriel Cash: You want my vote for the Psycho Hall of Fame, asshole? You got it! * 80's Checklist * 1. A “Muy Macho” Hero with quotable one-liners played by a recognizable star – We get the 2 for the price of one…Tango (Stallone) AND Cash (Russell) 2. Over the Top Villain – Jack Palace (Yves Perret) 3. A Montage Sequence – Nope 4. Over the Top Chase Scenes – RV From Hell & On Foot 5. Epic Fight Scenes – Many 6. A Villain Speech/Monologue – Yes 7. A Final Showdown – Yes 8. An “Oh Crap” Death for our Bad Guy – 2 Shots to the Head 9. Franchise Potential – Could have been 10. Around a 90 minute runtime – 11. A High Body Count – 104 12. A Cool Ride: The RV from Hell (built from a 1988 Chevrolet K2500 truck) * Casting * + Patrick Swayze was originally cast as Cash, but he dropped out to star in Road House (1989). + Michael Biehn, Pierce Brosnan, Kevin Costner, Harrison Ford, Richard Gere, Mel Gibson, Don Johnson, Michael Keaton, Ray Liotta, Liam Neeson, Michael Nouri, Gary Oldman, Robert Patrick, Bill Paxton, Ron Perlman, Dennis Quaid, Gary Sinise, Bruce Willis, and James Woods were considered to play Gabriel Cash. * Trivia * + When Brion James was originally hired to play Requin, it was a very small role with only two lines. In an effort to give the character something that would make him stand out, James decided to speak in a horrible “cockney” accent. Sylvester Stallone loved it, and re-wrote the script to give Requin a much bigger role. The same thing happened with Face, played by Robert Z’Dar, who was originally not meant to appear after the opening scene but Sylvester Stallone and Andrey Konchalovskiy took a liking to Z’Dar and thought his appearance was so striking he deserved a larger role in the film. + The production was beset with problems from the start. The intended star, Patrick Swayze, dropped out. Principal photography began without a completed script. Sylvester Stallone had the original director of photography, Barry Sonnenfeld, fired. Then, Jon Peters fired Andrey Konchalovskiy. The film ultimately went $20 million over budget, and had to be completely re-edited by Stuart Baird prior to release. + Director Andrey Konchalovskiy was replaced toward the end of principal photography by Albert Magnoli. In his book of memoirs, Konchalovsky says that the reason he was fired was because he wanted to give the film a more serious tone than the producers wanted and, as such, his relationship with producer Jon Peters became untenable. Konchalovsky, however, has nothing but praise for Sylvester Stallone, who he states was a constant voice of reason on the set. + The scene where Tango faces an oncoming truck with nothing but a gun was borrowed from Police Story (1985), where Jackie Chan performed the stunt. As a “response”, Chan would later reference the make shift zip-line prison escape moment in this film in a scene early in the third installment of the Police Story series, Supercop (1992). + The glasses Sylvester Stallone wears early in the film are his own, not props. He usually wears contact lenses in his films. The lenses show that he is very near-sighted in one eye, less so in the other. Plus, he has astigmatism. + Kurt Russell was originally considered and offered the role of Martin Riggs in Lethal Weapon (1987), but he turned it down, and it went to Mel Gibson, with whom he worked on Tequila Sunrise (1988). His character in this film is loosely based on Riggs. + While filming the scene in which the back of the SUV catches fire, the flames would not go out when filming was over. Kurt Russell and Sylvester Stallone were caught in a cross draft. Stallone was so close to the fire that his hair was singed in places. + The climactic battle in the quarry was shot in a real quarry in Irwindale, California, east of Los Angeles. Every shot in the sequence was filmed by a minimum of eleven cameras, and some of the set-ups were so dangerous, the stunt team was only allowed to do them once. + Years later, Sylvester Stallone offered the role of “Mr. Church” to Kurt Russell in The Expendables (2010). Russell declined the role, which was then accepted by Bruce Willis. + This was one of the first American movies to get a wide release in Soviet bloc countries after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Bootleg VHS tapes became hot sellers in Russia. Brion James once claimed he never felt more like a celebrity than when he was swarmed by crowds of people in Ukraine who recognized him as one of the movie’s villains. + The theatrical trailer shows some alternate and deleted scenes; alternate cut of the shower scene between Tango and Cash, deleted or alternate fight scene between Cash and the Chinese assassin during which Cash says “I hate you karate guys”, and a deleted scene in which Tango is reading the newspapers and then pulling out a Spas 12 shotgun at someone and shooting at some car with it. + Shortly after this film was released, a very potent batch of heroin was sold in The Bronx, New York. “Tango & Cash” was stamped on the bags. So many users overdosed, some fatally, that the NYPD drove around neighborhoods using loudspeakers to tell people not to use that particular batch of heroin. This was reported on all the flagship network TV stations there as well. + One of the monster trucks at the quarry scene towards the end is the famous Bigfoot truck. Although it’s painted different colors than its trademark blue color, and does not feature any Bigfoot decals, it was confirmed that it is in fact Bigfoot by owner of the original monster truck Bob Chandler. + The sound effect used for Tango and Cash’s truck in the quarry is the same as Luke Skywalker’s landspeeder in Star Wars (1977). + Jeffrey Boam, who worked on the scripts for two of the Lethal Weapon films, was one of the writers who did a re-write of the script during the movie’s troubled production. But, because he either didn’t like the draft he wrote, or the film, he refused to be credited. + Tango’s call sign by the dispatch is 20 William 12. The same call sign used by Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh in Lethal Weapon (1987). + Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell later co-starred in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), although they do not share screen time together. + This was the final film of the 1980’s to go in theaters. + When Tango and Cash escape from the prison, Cash turns to Tango and asks if he stopped “for coffee and a Danish.” Tango says, “I hate Danish,” an in-joke referring to Sylvester Stallone’s recent divorce from Danish actress Brigitte Nielsen.
Released: December 22, 1989
Directed By: Andrei Konchalovsky
Screen Play By: Randy Feldman
Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Kurt Russell, Jack Palance, Teri Hatcher and a bunch of other actors
Plot: Framed by their ruthless arch-nemesis, a mismatched LAPD crime-fighting duo has to put its differences aside to even the score with the evil kingpin who put them behind bars once and for all.
Tagline: Two of L.A.’s top rival cops are going to have to work together… Even if it kills them.
How did this movie do? Budget: $54 Million Box Office: $120 Million
Top One-Liners
A “Muy Macho” Hero with quotable one-liners played by a recognizable star – We get the 2 for the price of one…Tango (Stallone) AND Cash (Russell)
A Cool Ride: The RV from Hell (built from a 1988 Chevrolet K2500 truck)
Patrick Swayze was originally cast as Cash, but he dropped out to star in Road House (1989).
Michael Biehn, Pierce Brosnan, Kevin Costner, Harrison Ford, Richard Gere, Mel Gibson, Don Johnson, Michael Keaton, Ray Liotta, Liam Neeson, Michael Nouri, Gary Oldman, Robert Patrick, Bill Paxton, Ron Perlman, Dennis Quaid, Gary Sinise, Bruce Willis, and James Woods were considered to play Gabriel Cash.
When Brion James was originally hired to play Requin, it was a very small role with only two lines. In an effort to give the character something that would make him stand out, James decided to speak in a horrible “cockney” accent. Sylvester Stallone loved it, and re-wrote the script to give Requin a much bigger role. The same thing happened with Face, played by Robert Z’Dar, who was originally not meant to appear after the opening scene but Sylvester Stallone and Andrey Konchalovskiy took a liking to Z’Dar and thought his appearance was so striking he deserved a larger role in the film.
About The Movie From IMDB
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