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

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

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:

One of James Woods' perks was to have his own personal hairdresser, at a cost to the studio of $6000 a week. The average on-set hairdresser usually costs about a third of that.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Nick is hanging off the "Smoking Gunn II" billboard by a rope, in one shot you can clearly see that he is actually wearing a rappelling harness.

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:

References Midnight Cowboy (1969)

Soundtrack:

Theme from The Today Show

Great blend of action and comedy

'The Hard Way' blends action and comedy perfectly. It is a very funny film, but also a great film for action-lovers. Michael J.Fox plays an actor who wants to learn how to play a cop in his next film, so he is assigned to work with James Woods. The combination confront some good and funny situations while James Woods can't stand Michael J.Fox. There is a good speech about how many takes (chances) a cop gets to get it right and how many an actor gets. The climax at the end is great, as is the location. This film does not disappoint and delivers another buddy cop film with a difference. One of the cops doesn't like the other.