Mel Gibson & Richard Donner On The Set Of LETHAL WEAPON

The mighty Richard Donner’s Lethal Weapon is one of the great action films of the 1980s. Shane Black wrote the screenplay (his first produced script) for the 1987 release, which broke the rules of action cinema.

Mel Gibson and Danny Glover are brilliant as Riggs and Murtaugh, two mis-matched LA cops taking down bad guys over the Christmas period. Every element of Donner’s film works –  from the casting and script to the scorching score from by Michael Kamen, Eric Clapton and David Sanborn. 

We were able to watch the Riggs and Murtaugh friendship grow and develop across three sequels and the chemistry between Gibson and Glover is what helps to make the films so special – and why they stand head and shoulders above all imitators. 

The last film in the series was 1998’s Lethal Weapon 4 but there have been rumblings about a fifth and final sequel in recent years.

This image shows Richard Donner and Mel Gibson taking it easy during the filming of the Lethal Weapon‘s ‘Christmas Tree’ shoot-out. 

Lethal Weapon grossed more than $65 million at the US box office and more than $120 million globally in 1987.