The Hard Way (1991)

Director:

John Badham

Writers (WGA):

Lem Dobbs (story) and
Michael Kozoll (story) ...

Release Date:

8 March 1991 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Crime

Tagline:

There's only one way these two are going to get along...

Plot:

An action film star researching a role is allowed to tag along with a hardboiled New York cop, who finds him superficial and irritating.

Plot Keywords:

Actor | Detective | Tuxedo | Movie Star | Arrest

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Michael J. Fox	...	Nick Lang / Ray Casanov
James Woods	...	Detective Lt. John Moss, NYPD
Stephen Lang	...	Party Crasher
Annabella Sciorra	...	Susan
John Capodice	...	Detective Grainy, NYPD
Luis Guzmán	...	Detective Benny Pooley, NYPD (as Luis Guzman)
LL Cool J	...	Detective Billy, NYPD
Mary Mara	...	Detective China, NYPD
Delroy Lindo	...	Captain Brix, NYPD
Conrad Roberts	...	Witherspoon, Gun Dealer
Penny Marshall	...	Angie, Nick's Agent
Christina Ricci	...	Bonnie
George Cheung	...	Drug Dealer
Frank Geraci	...	Newsman
Sophie Maletsky	...	Pizza Waitress

Runtime:

111 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Iceland:16 (video rating) | South Korea:15 | Australia:M | Finland:K-14 | France:U | Germany:16 (w) | Italy:T | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R | Argentina:13 | Ireland:15 | Netherlands:16 | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Badham-Cohen Group, The

Trivia:

According to the baseball cap that Captain Brix puts on (just before the end credits roll), the movie that Nick Lang has been working so hard to nail the audition for is called "The Good, The Badge, and The Ugly".

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Nick is pretending to be John's girlfriend in the bar, he sighs. Even though his mouth his wide open as he sighs, he says, "Susan".

Quotes:

[first lines]
Operator: 9-1-1 Emergency.
Party Crasher: Hello there! It's me - again! Well, what can I say? I'm about to crash another party.

Movie Connections:

Featured in 1992 MTV Movie Awards (1992) (TV)

Soundtrack:

El Milloncito

Woods and Fox make it worthwhile

Truth be known this would be a fairly average action comedy if it wasn't for the performances of James Woods and Micheal J.Fox, both of whom are perfectly cast here. Woods plays detective John Moss, a hard boiled cop who's trying to catch a killer known as the party crasher. Fox plays film star Nick Lang, who wants to play the part of a police officer in an upcoming film. After seeing Moss being interviewed on the news, Lang feels that if he were to hang around with him and get to known what motivates him, what makes him tick etc then he would be well prepared to audition for the part. So Lang arranges to be Moss's partner. However, Moss isn't so keen on the idea as he still has his sights set on catching the party crasher(cue a series of highly amusing interactions between Woods and Fox).So with Lang as his new partner, Moss continues his investigation on the party crasher. Out of the two, Woods takes the acting honours, as his John Moss character is by far the more entertaining. I read somewhere that this film didn't do so well at the box office, which is a real shame given the performances of it's leading stars.