Tagline: Two of L.A.’s top rival cops are going to have to work together…Even if it kills them.

Synopsis: Tango and Cash are two L.A. narcotics cops that go together like caviar and French fries. Dressed in three-piece suits and glasses, Tango (Sylvester Stallone) is the suave policeman; in his nine-dollar shirts and jeans, Cash (Kurt Russell) is Tango’s salt-of-the-earth rival on the force. Each has spent his days and nights cracking down on drug dealers, to the fury of crime boss Yves Perret (Jack Palance). When Perret and his gang frame the two cops and have them sent to prison, it turns out that Tango and Cash don’t get along any better behind bars than they did in the station house (they trade insults, and protest having to shower together). But when the ruling underground goons of the penitentiary torture them, Tango and Cash join forces to overthrow the prison menace, and, in the process, escape. Once free, they pursue Perret and attempt to destroy his cartel for good–that is, when Cash isn’t busy romancing Tango’s sister, Kiki (Teri Hatcher), further straining the pair’s already tense working partnership.

Atypically directed by Russian filmmaker Andrei Konchalovsky (collaborator with arthouse cinema legend Andrei Tarkovsky and older brother of director Nikita Mikhalkov), TANGO & CASH remains one of the unsung action-comedy buddy films of the 1980s.

Source: Tango And Cash @ Amazon

Trivia: Patrick Swayze was originally intended to play the character Cash, but instead chose to star in Road House.

Tagline: When a tough cop has a cool convict as a partner and 48 hrs to catch a killer, a lot of funny things can happen in . . . 48 HRS.

Synopsis: A tough, super-jaded cop (Nick Nolte) springs a hard luck robber (Eddie Murphy) from jail for two days to help nab his former partners. They form a kind of friendship (based on mutual hatred) as they chase a trio of remorseless villains through the streets of San Francisco. Rounded characters and crackling comedy keep this hard-hitting film beautifully balanced. A violence-heavy sequel was made in 1990 called Another 48 Hrs.

Source: 48 Hours @ Amazon

Trivia: This was Eddie Murphy’s movie debut.

Tagline: In Detroit a cop learns to take the heat. In L.A. he learns to keep his cool.

Synopsis: While its sequels were formulaic and safe, the first Beverly Hills Cop set out to explore some uncharted territory and succeeded. A blend of violent action picture and sharp comedy, the film has an excellent director, Martin Brest (Scent of a Woman), who finds some original perspectives on stock scenes (highway chases, police rousts) and hits a gleeful note with Murphy while skewering LA culture. Good support from Judge Reinhold and John Ashton as local cops not used to doing things the Detroit way (Murphy’s character hails from the Motor City). Paul Reiser has a funny, brief moment at the beginning and Bronson Pinchot makes an hilarious impression in a great, never-to-be-duplicated scene with the star.

Source: Beverly Hills Cop @ Amazon

Trivia: Tying in with it’s mass box office taking compared to the other movies in this selection, Beverly Hills Cop was first film to be shown at over 2,000 theatres in the U.S.

Tagline: It’s a tough job but somebody’s got to do it!

Synopsis: A comedy thriller with a silken thread of romance, 1987’s Stakeout stars Richard Dreyfuss and Emilio Estevez as a pair of undercover cops assigned to watch the apartment of the former girlfriend (Madeleine Stowe) of a violent escaped convict. Complications ensue when Dreyfuss’ cop poses as a telephone inspector to get in and bug the girlfriend’s phone and they strike up a relationship.

Initially coming on a bit like a cross between Hitchcock’s Rear Window and Porky’s, Stakeout ends up falling between the two stools of mirth and suspense. Some half-amusing business involving a series of practical jokes between the cop duo and their relief partners doesn’t add materially to the film. Emilio Estevez’s sidekick role is under-developed and he brings to this none of the loose cannon mania he would later bring to Young Guns. Dreyfuss isn’t entirely convincing as a tough, seasoned cop and Aidan Quinn as the villain comes across as a poor man’s James Woods. Yet for all these flaws, director John Badham just about manages to cobble together a watchable caper.

Source: Stakeout @ Amazon

Trivia: Richard Dreyfuss and Emilio Estevez were having a movie trivia contest on the set one day. Estevez asked Dreyfuss to identify the movie that the line “This is no boating accident” was from. Dreyfuss didn’t recognize the quote, despite the fact that he was the actor who said it in Jaws (1975). Deciding that this was too good to pass up, this incident was re-enacted for the film.

Tagline: If these two can learn to stand each other… the bad guys don’t stand a chance.

Synopsis: Mel Gibson set aside his art-house credentials to star as a crazy cop paired with a stable one (Danny Glover) in this full-blown 1987 Richard Donner action picture. The most violent film in the series (which includes three sequels), Lethal Weapon is also the edgiest and most interesting. After Gibson’s character jumps off a building handcuffed to a man, and Gary Busey (as a cold, efficient enforcer) lets his hand get burned without flinching, there is a sense that anything can happen, and it usually does. Donner’s strangely messy visual and audio style doesn’t make a lot of aesthetic sense, but it stuck with all four movies.

Source: Lethal Weapon @ Amazon

Trivia: According to a June 2007 Vanity Fair article, Bruce Willis was considered for the Riggs role.