TANGO & CASH

US, 1989, 98 minutes, Colour.
Sylvester Stallone, Kurt Russell, Jack Palance, Teri Hatcher, Brion James.
Directed by Andrei Konchalovsky.

Tango and Cash is one of the many police buddy movies of the '80s - a variation on the Lethal Weapon theme. It provides a star vehicle for Sylvester Stallone and an opportunity for him to play against type, with three-piece suit, spectacles, a policeman with stock market skills. He also has a humorous at Rambo. By contrast, Kurt Russell is the police slob. Jack Palance, echoing his villain from Batman, is the drug chief.

There are the predictable actions, violence, friendships, escapes.

The film was directed by Andrei Konchalovsky, the Russian emigre director who made such serious films as Maria's Lovers, The Runaway Train, Shy People, Duet for One.

1. The popularity of the police buddy film? The odd couple? Combating drug empires?

2. Los Angeles locations, the precincts, the two different lifestyles, the world of the drug empire? Prisons? Musical score?

3. The status of the stars? Stallone playing against type?

4. 1980s police films, police as lethal weapons, drugs, violence, police corruption? Buddies, flip and comic style?

5. Tango and his pursuit of the truck, the arrest, all done neatly? Stock market interests? Relationship with his sister? Headlines -in the papers?

6. The contrast with Cash as a slob, his arrests, rough style, the newspapers?

7. Perrett and his henchmen, the drug busts, the threat to his empire? His personal manner and style, anger, the dialogue with the mice? Setting up Tango and Cash? His English henchman? The plan, buying off the police, the tape recording expert, the witnesses? His enjoying playing gaines? The visit to the jail and the threats? His headquarters, elaborate precautions, security? The attacks, the siege, confrontation and destructlon? His associates and their advice, ears, his dominance? Their deaths?

8. The set-up for Tango and Cash, the messages to lure them, getting them together, following the Englishman, the tape recording, the money, the arrest? The treatment, in prison, the lawyers, the case, the witnesses? The deals and Tango's restrained speech, Cash's outburst? The sentence? Going to the wrong jail, the rough guards, the entry into the prison, the shower sequence, the ugly cells, the big man with Cash, the eccentric with Tango? The tough prison guards, prisoners? The night and their being roughed up, the electric shocks? Perrett and his threats?

9. The possibility of escape, the plans, Cash's friend, his death, Cash being caught, Tango rescuing him? The escape along the electric wires? Ingenuity and danger?

10. The trackdowns, the corrupt policeman, his death? The recording expert? The nightclub, the strippers, Tango's sister, Cash disguised as a woman? The pursuit? With the Englishmen, their treatment of him, the grenade? The meeting with the sister, Cash's relationship with her, Tango's suspicions?

11. The sister, her relationships, contact, her work, her being abducted?

12. The build-up to the climax, the siege, the shoot-out, the explosions?

13. The sketch of the various police officers and personnel? Relationships with £ango and Cash? Lawyers?

14. The quality of the relationship between the two policemen, serious, humorous, rivalry?

15. The '80s and the popularity of these police stories, combating drugs, the public image of the police?