Tango & Cash **** (1989, Sylvester Stallone, Kurt Russell, Teri Hatcher, Jack Palance) – Classic Movie Review 7651

Director Andrei Konchalovsky’s appealing 1989 Tango & Cash teams Sylvester Stallone as Lieutenant Raymond Tango with Kurt Russell Stallone as Lieutenant Gabriel Cash, LA’s top two rival cops.

Rivals they may be, but the mismatched LAPD crime-fighting duo are going to have to work together to bring down their nemesis, ruthless drug lord Yves Perret (Jack Palance). But soon Stallone’s city slicker cop Tango and his scruffy denim-clad partner Cash (Russell) are framed for murder by Perret.

Tango & Cash is yet another buddy-buddy cop movie, but it is a likeable caper action thriller, lifted by the laid-back turns of the stars, who form a lively bickering partnership and deliver their rapid-fire one-liners with gusto. The over-familiar premise is developed in Randy Feldman’s screenplay that is packed with clichés, but the movie is still fast-moving fun entertainment with plenty of shoot-’em-up action in the exciting set pieces.

Tango & Cash is an endearingly ramshackle vehicle for both the Eighties Hollywood macho-men to crack jokes as they crack skulls. Albert Magnoli replaced Konchalovsky as director for the final days of filming after a script row.

Also in the cast are Teri Hatcher, Michael J Pollard, Brion James, Geoffrey Lewis, James Hong and Marc Alaimo, Lewis Arquette, Philip Tan, Robert Z’Dar and Edward [Eddie] Bunker.

Tango & Cash is directed by Andrei Konchalovsky [Andrey Konchalovskiy] and Albert Magnoli (uncredited), runs 104 minutes or 97 minutes (heavily cut), is made by Warner Bros and The Guber-Peters Company, is released by Warner Bros, is written by Randy Feldman, is shot in Technicolor by Donald E Thorin, is produced by Peter Guber, Jon Peters and Larry Franco, and is scored by Harold Faltermeyer.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7651

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