Review of Tango & Cash (1989) by Stuart K — 01 Feb 2011

From the golden age of Hollywood action films, comes this very cheesy effort. It's not very well written, it's very stupid and silly, and all the plot is absolute rubbish. That's what the film should be, but it isn't, against all the odds, it's a great piece of action cinema.

It's hokey fun, a product of it's time, and proud of it. It's a tale of two cops who work for the LAPD, Ray Tango (Sylvester Stallone) who dresses like a banker, and then there's Gabriel Cash (Kurt Russell), who is scruffy, has a mullet and has custom made gadgets.

These two are rivals, but they end up having to work together when drugs kingpin Yves Perret (Jack Palance) frames them for murder, and they get sent to jail. Determined to prove their innocence, they escape from prison despite Perret having control over the prison, and having them tortured and set up again and again.

But Tango & Cash won't give up, and they get help from Tango's sister Kiki (Teri Hatcher), these maverick detectives are gonna bust this thing wide open. Despite it's documented problems, it's a good piece of action cinema, when it really shouldn't be.

Sly and Kurt make a good pairing too, and it has a good score by Harold Faltermeyer.