Tango and Cash (1989)

×

Tango and Cash (1989)

Close

Ray Tango (Sylvester Stallone) and Gabe Cash (Kurt Russell) are rival L.A. policemen with one thing in common: each thinks he is the best. Team them and theyre like oil and water. But frame them for a crime and theyre like a match and kerosene. Unjustly jailed among lowlifes they put behind bars, the two stage a prison breakout thats a breathless rush of weapons and wisecracks then roar after the shadowy crimelord (Jack Palance) who set them up. Tango & Cash are out to clear their names. Join them and feel the rush.

×

Tango and Cash (1989)

Close

Los Angeles Police Detectives Ray Tango (Stallone) and Gabriel Cash (Russell) are two of the city's finest and two of her most diverse. The Armani-wearing Tango and the boots-and-jeans Cash compete for publicity on the top fold of the local paper's front page and both prove a painful thorn in the side of drug kingpin Yves Perret (Jack Palance, Batman). Angered at the latest bust, Perret sets in motion a scheme to frame Tango and Cash for murder. The plan is a success, and the decorated cops find themselves disgraced and behind bars, and in a maximum-security hellhole of a prison to boot, far from the minimum-security paradise they were promised, no thanks to Perret's seemingly unending connections. With the city's drug problem about to get a whole lot worse and her two top cops locked up and left for dead, Tango and Cash are left with no alternative but to execute a daring prison escape and fight on the outside as fugitives in hopes of clearing their names and taking down Perret before it's too late.

×

Tango and Cash (1989)

Close

Viewers hoping for a deep plot, highly-developed characters, an Oscar-caliber script, and high drama need look elsewhere, but for audiences simply in search of a well-made and clever Action movie that's, yes, completely over-the-top but still nothing but fun from start to finish, Tango & Cash fits the bill perfectly. Nevertheless and amazingly enough, Tango & Cash does indeed sport a decent plot, substantial characterization, and a pretty good script, at least when analyzed from a detached perspective and within the confines of Action movies only. The film is infinitely witty, the action loud and bold, the characters nicely rounded out and engagingly acted, and the plot basic but more than adequate to allow for big explosions, chase scenes, gunfire, and plenty of humorous banter between two cops who are drastically different in style but not in purpose or effectiveness. One unique aspect of Tango & Cash that's evident now but not necessarily at the time of its release comes by way of the film's ability to sustain a fresh and viable tone. Even 20 years later and unlike most 1980s movies, Tango & Cash barely looks or feels its age. There are plenty of hints, from the beat of Harold Faltermeyer 's exceptional tone-capturing score to grotesquely large surveillance cameras and pistol laser sights, but other than earning the props and not the film a few hearty chuckles, the aged technology and decade-influenced score never once hurt the picture's watchability long after the fact, with the latter still representing one of the finer Action movie scores of the 1980s.

×

Tango and Cash (1989)

Close

Indeed, it is both the film's ability to play things completely over-the-top but retain an edge of seriousness to the proceedings, as well as the fabulous chemistry between leads Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell, that make and have kept Tango & Cash one of the better Action films to come out of the 1980s. Finely-tuned humor abounds not necessarily from the suit-and-tie versus jeans-and-boots personality clash, but instead from a good script that provides both actors an abundance of subtle but wonderfully effective and memorable one-liners, retorts, and general sight and verbal gags that are always welcome and never once too outrageous or otherwise inappropriate within the established parameters of the film and, in a broader context, 1980s Action movie style. Stallone and Russell turn in exemplary performances, again within the context of the style of film and expected level of excellence. They're a natural pairing, and veteran Jack Palance, too, is perfectly cast as the film's wealthy, bitter, and cunning villain. These performances and even those of secondary and tertiary actors are in some ways well over-the-top, but each actor integrates seamlessly into the picture's inviting and fun tone that doesn't hinder the excitement and heavy-duty action that plays perfectly with the offbeat humor and wit.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman

×

Tango and Cash (1989)

Close