Loaded Weapon 1

Loaded Weapon 1
Loaded Weapon 1
	Canadian video release poster
Directed by	Gene Quintano
Screenplay by	Don Holley; Gene Quintano;
Story by	Don Holley; Tori Tellem;
Produced by	Suzanne Todd; David Willis;
Starring	Emilio Estevez; Samuel L. Jackson; Jon Lovitz; Tim Curry; Kathy Ireland; William Shatner;
Cinematography	Peter Deming
Edited by	Christopher Greenbury
Music by	Robert Folk
Production; companies	3 Arts Entertainment; Goodman Rosen Productions
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release date	February 5, 1993;
Running time	83 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$8.2 million
Box office	$51 million

National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1 (also known simply as Loaded Weapon 1) is a 1993 American parody film directed and co-written by Gene Quintano,^[4] and starring Emilio Estevez, Samuel L. Jackson, Kathy Ireland, Frank McRae, Tim Curry and William Shatner. The film mainly spoofs the first three Lethal Weapon films, as well as several others including Basic Instinct, Commando, Die Hard, Dirty Harry, Rambo, The Silence of the Lambs, Wayne's World, 48 Hrs. and TV series such as CHiPs. Loaded Weapon 1 was released on February 5, 1993.

Plot

In Los Angeles, Billie York is murdered by a man known as Mr Jigsaw because she possesses a microfilm that can turn cocaine into cookies. Her former partner, Wes Luger, who is about to retire, is assigned the case by the reluctant captain Doyle, who dismisses it as a suicide but gives Luger the case. The catch is that Luger will have to be partnered with Jack Colt, a burned out cop who recently lost his dog, Claire. The two visit Harold Leacher, who tells them that Colt's former general in the Vietnam War, Mortars, is heading the operation. Meanwhile, Jigsaw and Mortars visit Mike McCraken, whom Jigsaw murders for losing the microfilm.

After finding the body, Colt and Luger go to Rick Becker, who claims that he laundered money with York (the money actually being in the laundry machine), but Rick is shot multiple times by unknown assailants, forcing Colt and Luger to go to the Wilderness Girls factory. The head, Destiny Demeanor, claims no knowledge of the operation during the trial, but she is revealed to be working for Mortars and his gang. Colt meets Luger's family, but he runs away when they try to seduce him. Destiny and Colt hang out at Colt's house, while Mortars sends a helicopter to destroy Colt's house (a trailer that is actually a mansion inside), but they accidentally destroy John McClane's house.

Due to lack of evidence, Doyle dismisses the case, but Colt still decides to stop the operation, much to the dismay of Luger. Luger is a by-the-book cop, after he took an unscheduled break from his crossing guard duties (as a child), which led to an old lady being run over by a car and killed. Colt breaks in and Destiny, now having fallen in love with Colt, attempts to stop Mortars, but Mortars shows that he was the one who kidnapped Claire, and shows him Rick and Claire chained to a wall (Rick actually having survived the incident). Mortars shoots Destiny, who clings to life long enough to confess her feelings for him. Colt manages to catch up with Mortars, but then Luger shows up, having considered what Colt said to him earlier. He shoots and kills Mortars, and Colt kills Jigsaw, but starts a fire that destroys the whole factory. Doyle shows up, and asks Luger to stay in the force. Luger agrees, but as long as Colt is his partner. In the end, Destiny, having survived, shows up with Rick and Claire, and the team dances to "Bohemian Rhapsody".

Cast

Emilio Estevez as Sgt. Jack Colt, a parody of Martin Riggs
Samuel L. Jackson as Sgt. Wes Luger, a parody of Roger Murtaugh
Kathy Ireland as Miss Destiny Demeanor, a composite parody of Rika Van Den Haas and Catherine Tramell
- Allyce Beasley as Miss Destiny Demeanor, before she lets her hair down and takes off her glasses
Frank McRae as Captain Doyle
Tim Curry as Mr. Jigsaw, a parody mainly of Mr. Joshua
William Shatner as General Curtis Mortars, a parody of General McAllister
Jon Lovitz as Rick Becker, a parody of Leo Getz
Lance Kinsey as Irv
Denis Leary as Mike McCracken
F. Murray Abraham as Dr. Harold Leacher, a parody of Hannibal Lecter
Danielle Nicolet as Debbie Luger
Beverly Johnson as Doris Luger
Ken Ober as Dooley
Vito Scotti as Tailor
Bill Nunn as Police photographer
Lin Shaye as Witness

Cameos

James Doohan as Scotty
Erik Estrada as Francis Poncherello
Larry Wilcox as Jon Baker
Corey Feldman as Young cop
Whoopi Goldberg (uncredited) as Billie York^[5]
Paul Gleason as FBI agent
Phil Hartman as Officer Davis
Richard Moll as Prison attendant
J. T. Walsh as Desk Clerk
Rick Ducommun as D.A. #1
Bruce Mahler (uncredited) as D.A. #2
Robert Shaye (uncredited) as Interrogation Room Person
Charles Napier and Charles Cyphers as Interrogators
Bruce Willis (uncredited) as John McClane
Denise Richards as Cindy
Joyce Brothers as Medical Examiner
Christopher Lambert (deleted scene) as Man with car-phone
Charlie Sheen as Gern, Parking valet

Release

Box office

Loaded Weapon 1 opened at number 1 at the US box office and grossed almost $28 million in the United States and Canada in total.^[6]^[7]^[8] Internationally, it grossed $23.2 million for a worldwide total of $51.2 million.^[3] The movie, along with Excessive Force and Three of Hearts, was cited for its contribution to New Line's record pre sales in 1992 totaling $91.2 million.^[9]

Critical reception

The film received mostly negative reviews. Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a C, comparing it negatively to the Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker films, while also noting that "the Lethal Weapon films, with their hyperbolic explosiveness, lurid repartee, and quasi-loco Mel Gibson hero, are already winking at the audience. (Last year's spoofy, ragtag Lethal Weapon 3 practically turned its own slovenliness into a running gag.) The only way to make light of them is to exaggerate the cartoon funkiness that's already at the center of their appeal. It's no wonder this Weapon ends up shooting blanks."^[10] Lawrence Cohn of Variety opened his review by saying "More an imitation than a parody, this would-be comedy is very short on laughs."^[11] Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times said the film's main failure was that the Lethal Weapon movies already contained sly spoofs of the police film genre: "The send-up doesn't feel much different than the real thing".^[12]

Clifford Terry had a more mixed review of the film; in the Chicago Tribune he remarked that "the salt-and-pepper protagonists are no-nonsense, rapid-firing cops down to their very names: Colt and Luger. Obviously, National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon I is designed as a sendup of the Lethal Weapon movies, but the benchmarks are really Police Academy and The Naked Gun. Once again, criminal activity is the game but sophomoric silliness and tastelessness call the shots."^[13]

Loaded Weapon 1 has a 21% score on the film-critic aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on 34 reviews with the consensus: "Loaded Weapon 1 hits all the routine targets with soft squibs, yielding a tired parody that cycles through its laundry list of references with little comedic verve".^[14]

References

^ "NATIONAL LAMPOON'S LOADED WEAPON 1 (PG)". British Board of Film Classification. February 23, 1993. Retrieved August 3, 2015.
^ "Loaded Weapon 1". February 5, 1993 – via www.imdb.com.
^ ^a ^b Klady, Leonard (January 3, 1994). "Int'l top 100 earn $8 bil". Variety. p. 1.
^ "Loaded Weapon 1". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved March 29, 2016.
^ Canby, Vincent (February 5, 1993). "National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1 (1993): Review/Film; Whatever Is Loaded, Laugh at It". The New York Times. Retrieved March 8, 2016. Whoopi Goldberg makes an unbilled appearance as Mr. Estevez's former partner, her life snuffed out too early...
^ Fox, David J. (February 9, 1993). "Weekend Box Office Here Come the First Hits of 1993". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 25, 2010.
^ Kleid, Beth (February 15, 1993). "Movies". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 25, 2010.
^ "Loaded Weapon 1 (1993)". Box Office Mojo. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved August 3, 2015.
^ Buoyed by pre-sales of such upcoming films as their “National Lampoon’s Loaded Weapon 1,””Excessive Force” and “Three of Hearts,” New Line Intl. will finish out 1992 with firm sales of $ 91.2 million.
^ Gleiberman, Owen (February 12, 1993). "Loaded Weapon". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on December 2, 2008. Retrieved December 5, 2010.
^ Cohn, Lawrence (December 31, 1992). "Loaded Weapon". Variety. Retrieved December 5, 2010.
^ Ebert, Roger. "Loaded Weapon". Chicago Sun Times. Retrieved December 5, 2010.
^ Terry, Clifford (February 5, 1993). "'Loaded Weapon' Takes Its Shots But Then Misfires". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved December 5, 2010.
^ Loaded Weapon 1 at Rotten Tomatoes Retrieved August 3, 2015