“Lethal Weapon” is a Christmas movie.
For years I’ve been saying it’s actually much more of a Christmas movie than the hotly debated “Die Hard,” but I’ve never fleshed out my case — until now.
The 1987 action classic “Lethal Weapon” opens to the sounds of Bobby Helms’ “Jingle Bell Rock,” as we swoop in on a high-rise featuring Christmas lights rimming some balconies. (Some floors pitch-black — no lights inside or out — as if to indicate the hopelessness of the non-believers.)
The camera zooms in on an apartment with Christmas lights and a tree on the balcony. Inside, a girl (Jackie Swanson) takes a snort of cocaine, staggers out to the balcony, climbs onto the railing — and jumps to her death.
Cut to the Murtaugh household, on the morning of the 50th birthday of family man and LAPD Sgt. Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover). There’s a plastic Santa Claus on the roof, lights hanging from the gutters, a wreath on the front door, a tree and Christmas stockings and other holiday decorations inside.
Meanwhile, in a trailer on the beach, and in stark contrast to Roger’s morning, Mel Gibson’s Martin Riggs starts his day alone — smoking and coughing, a gun on the pillow next to him, as “Family Feud” plays on the TV.
Not a Christmas decoration in sight.
The first time we see Riggs in action, he’s working undercover and making a drug buy — at a Christmas tree lot.
Later that night, Riggs is drunk in his trailer, mourning his deceased wife, as a Bugs Bunny Christmas special plays on the TV. It’s the polar opposite of a Wonderful Life, and like the desperate George Bailey, Martin Riggs considers taking his own life — but he doesn’t go through with it.
Cut to the police station, where officers are rehearsing “Silent Night.” When Murtaugh first gets a glimpse of Riggs, there’s a Christmas wreath in the background.
Murtaugh’s supervisor tells a story about weeping in bed alone the night before, and punctuates it by saying, “Merry Christmas.”
Christmas red abounds in “Lethal Weapon.” Riggs wears shades of red throughout, while Murtaugh sports a red tie. Riggs sports red headphones at the shooting range. After a house (with a plastic Santa on its roof) explodes, neighborhood kids wearing red sit near a red (of course) fire truck. A drive-by gunman in a red car tries to take out Riggs. Murtaugh’s wife (Darlene Love) wears a red blouse.
When Riggs steps out on the ledge to talk to a possible jumper, he cynically says, “Merry Christmas,” and tells the guy, “A lot of people have got problems, especially during the silly season …”
The “silly season.” Riggs is the epitome of the non-believer.
After Riggs handcuffs himself to the jumper and they take a leap of faith, Murtaugh drags Riggs into a store on its last legs. The window lettering proclaims, “Christmas Sale … Everything Must Go.”
Which pretty much sums up Riggs’ attitude about his own life.
When Riggs frees Murtaugh and his daughter from their captors, he says, “Let’s do what one shepherd said to the other shepherd. … Let’s get the flock out of here!”
Back to the Murtaughs’ block. The hitman Joshua assassinates two police officers, and as their squad car rolls into a fire hydrant, we see a plastic light-up Santa “looking on” from a neighbor’s window.
Joshua blasts his way into the Murtaugh home. “A Christmas Carol” is playing on the TV. When Scrooge says, “What day is it?” Joshua shoots the TV and roars, “[Bleeping] Christmas!”
But Joshua can’t kill Christmas and hope. The movie continues to play on another TV in the Murtaugh home.
Even when Riggs hands over the bullet he intended to use to kill himself, it’s wrapped in a red velvet bow.
Cue “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” and the end credits.
• • •
In addition to the consistent references to Christmas, the constant framing of shots to include Christmas imagery and the key placement of holiday songs, TV shows and movies, “Lethal Weapon” has plot parallels to “A Christmas Carol” and “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
Like Ebenezer Scrooge, Martin Riggs is a miserable, lonely cuss who snarls at the very idea of Christmas. But with the help of Murtaugh, he receives quite a wake-up call practically overnight and is even welcomed into the Murtaugh home for Christmas dinner, just as Scrooge was welcomed into the Cratchit home for Christmas dinner at the end of “A Christmas Carol.”
Murtaugh is a spiritual cinematic brother to Clarence in “It’s a Wonderful Life.” He is the agent of change helping Riggs realize he shouldn’t end it all and in fact life is still very much worth living.
Moreover, Christmas isn’t just the backdrop for the movie, a la “Die Hard.” It’s a driving force illustrating the vast differences between the lives of Murtaugh and Riggs at the start of the movie — and the unifying catalyst that brings them together by the end of the story.
Christmas is an integral, vital element to this movie. Without Christmas, “Lethal Weapon” simply wouldn’t be “Lethal Weapon.”
