The Hard Way (1991 film)

1991 action comedy film directed by John Badham

The Hard Way is a 1991 American buddy cop action comedy film directed by John Badham. It stars Michael J. Fox and James Woods in the leading roles, alongside Stephen Lang, Annabella Sciorra, Delroy Lindo and LL Cool J. In the film, a popular actor in search of credibility (Fox) uses his clout to become the partner of a streetwise cop with relationship problems (Woods), amidst the exactions of an elusive serial killer, "The Party Crasher" (Lang), who has vowed to clean up the streets of New York by executing various disenfranchised people in public. The film was released by Universal Pictures on March 8, 1991. It received positive reviews from critics and was generally a commercial success.

A serial killer known as the "Party Crasher" notifies the police before he kills another person at a night club, daring them to stop him. Converging on the club, the officers, including cynical NYPD Lieutenant John Moss, cannot stop the murder of a local drug dealer. The perp flees in the chaos, and Moss narrowly misses catching him. As Moss's injuries are tended, he mouths off on camera. Nick Lang is an entitled Hollywood movie star, known as "Smoking" Joe Gunn, the Indiana Jones like title character in a series of highly popular action films. Vying for the lead in the cop drama Blood on the Asphalt, he vows to "prepare" for the role by posing as a police officer with the NYPD. Impressed by Moss's outburst on television, Nick pulls strings with NYC Mayor David Dinkins to be assigned as Moss's new partner. Moss is forced to comply by his captain, a Nick Lang fan. Doing so, he is off the Party Crasher case at risk of being fired if he disobeys. Moss defies orders, continuing the investigation and repeatedly trying to ditch Nick, who annoys him with constant questions and attempts to mimic him. Wanting to understand what it is like to be a cop, Moss reminds him this is not a movie. Meanwhile, Moss is also trying to juggle a new romance with single mother Susan. Divorced, he has difficulty opening up, so Nick offers him advice. Moss is embarrassed even further when Nick, as Ray Casanov, appears at a pizza parlor and is a hit. Moss tries to have a Nick free day by handcuffing him to his bed with a note, ordering him to stay. When Susan invites Nick by phone to eat out, he somehow unshackles himself. Riding the subway Nick mistakenly believes Susan is infatuated with him. He later stands up to a group of delinquent juveniles, as a cop. Moss, goes to the subway station and arrests the perps. As Moss has decided that he no longer cares about the consequences, increasingly frustrated with Nick’s presence in his life, he takes Nick to a dark building to catch a perp. He orders him to stay put and gives him a real gun in case. Nick, however, enters the building and shoots a man who he believes is a criminal chasing Moss. Apparently only a bystander, Nick is terrified. Moss agrees to cover up the act, and urges him to leave town immediately. Feeling guilty, Nick returns to the police station to confess, only to see that the "dead man" is actually a cop, laughing at him with everyone. Nick confronts Moss, who admits he choreographed the stunt to get him out of town, stating that Nick's panic, self doubt, guilt, and anger are all part of being a "real" cop. Enraged with Moss, Nick punches him and furiously leaves. Nick later stumbles into a confrontation between Moss and The Party Crasher, during which he saves Moss's life. The Party Crasher is wounded, taken to an ambulance, but he kills several people and escapes. Nick briefly captures him, radioing their location before he is knocked out. Susan visits Moss, stating that being a cop will never allow them to have a secure relationship, so she breaks up with him. Moss is then visited by Nick, who predicts that The Party Crasher will follow typical revenge plot and will seek out Moss's loved ones in the third act of their story together. Nick is right, and Susan is abducted. Moss and Nick confront him on the billboard advertising Nick's latest movie Smoking Gunn II, and a brawl ensues. Nick saves Susan and Moss from being shot, but is himself shot in the chest. Moss pushes the Party Crasher off to his death, and tries to comfort Nick as he is taken to the hospital. Months later, Nick has recovered and filmed The Good, the Badge and the Ugly. Moss, now married to Susan, attends the movie's premiere with the rest of the department as honored guests. He is annoyed to discover that Nick's best lines in the film are his, while he gets no credit. The original screenplay by Lem Dobbs was significantly reworked by Daniel Pyne, who also performed rewrites on Fox's next movie Doc Hollywood. Aspects of the characters were influenced by 1941's Sullivan's Travels. The film was originally set in Chicago, and was going to be the first production of a new outfit formed by Badham and his partner Rob Cohen, simply called The Badham/Cohen Group. However, Michael J. Fox's prior commitment to the Back to the Future sequels meant that this film had to be switched around with Bird on a Wire. As Pyne had already moved on to his next movie, Jeff Reno and Ron Osborn contributed the script's final rewrites, but were not officially credited. The film's police consultant, Lieutenant Wood, recommended some roles be recast with people of color to better reflect the ethnic makeup of New York City law enforcement. His participation originally came in a package deal with the use of his music, Smith had no particular expectation of a continued acting career at the time.