High Five BRO! Tango & Cash, a wonderful little relic from an era when Stallone and Russel were just churning out action movies like there was no tomorrow. Another entry in the buddy cop genre with a fast playing detective paired with a straight laced, by the books cop. It’s the wacky pairing that leads them to antics and trying survive shootouts and gang fighting. It’s campy, it’s ridiculous (mainly cause Stallone is the straight laced cop here) but damn if it isn’t a seriously entertaining action movie from 1989.
Stallone is Ray Tango, a Los Angeles narcotics cop who dresses in fancy suits, wears wire-rim glasses, and talks to his stockbroker more than he talks to his mother. Kurt Russell is Gabriel Cash, another Los Angeles narcotics cop who has long, disheveled blonde hair and dresses in worn-out sweatshirts. Together, Tango and Cash are the two best narcs in LA, which causes drug baron Yves Perret (Jack Palance) no end of distress. Since Yves controls a billion-dollar drug empire, Tango and Cash have to be taken out of the picture in some way. So Yves arranges for Tango and Cash to be framed for a crime. But the duo accepts a plea bargain that will give them 18 months in a minimum-security prison. Unfortunately, Yves arranges for their destination to be diverted to a maximum-security hell-hole where Yves’s minions proceed to torture Tango and Cash –although they still have time to trade quips with each other. Ultimately, they escape from their torture chamber and seek out Yves and his gang. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
First off, Ray Tango and Gabriel Cash? Leave to action films to give out ridiculous sounding names for the sake of being in this movie. I mean fucking Stallone in Cobra was called Marion “Cobra” Cobretti, so ludicrous sounding names aren’t that far outside the realm of existing in these movies. But the biggest beef is with Gabriel Cash. Cash? Really? I mean Cash is a name that a drug dealer will give when someone signs them a check and they need a name to make it out to. Anyways that is just a small nitpick in an otherwise great, campy action film.
Tango & Cash is a non-stop parade of action scenes and witty quips that seem to find a way to be shoehorned in the middle of scuffle because, hey, they are two detectives that just play by their own rules. They are the loveable ruffians of the film and they just smile and shoot their way through tons of bad guys. Even in the most dire situations, they managed to crack a wise and just punch everyone possible. I enjoyed this movie, even for the shitty plot, but then again I don’t watch these movie to get some nuance into the mindset of two narcotic cops, I want to see Stallone and Russel be badasses and catch the bad guy, who just happens to be Jack Palance.
It’s a great action movie, one that finds a good way to just interject a lot of rapid-fire dialog and keeping it lively. Sure, the guys could probably die in the maximum security prison where the drug kingpins guys all seem to be in, but that shouldn’t stop us and the heroes from having a laugh. Stallone sort of plays against type in this movie, which is a nice break from his typical lawbreaker cop mentality. He wears a suit, glasses and is all proper and shit. Russel plays the Mel Gibson like character with his wild demeanor and antics. It’s as formulaic as it can get, but it is a fun time to watch this movie.
