The Hard Way (1991 film)
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| The Hard Way | |
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| Directed by | John Badham |
| Starring | James Woods Michael J. Fox |
The Hard Way is a 1991 action-comedy film starring James Woods and Michael J. Fox and directed by John Badham. The film also had notable performances by Stephen Lang, Annabella Sciorra, Luis Guzmán, LL Cool J, Delroy Lindo, and Penny Marshall. Also making early appearances were Christina Ricci, Mos Def, Kathy Najimy, and Lewis Black.
Fox stars as Nick Lang, a rich and spoiled Hollywood actor who grew to fame as a child star but is now best known as "Smoking" Joe Gunn, the title character in a series of highly popular action films that seem to be Indiana Jones rip-offs. Despite his extreme popularity as a celebrity, Lang feels that he can't take his career seriously until he lands "mature" roles, and defies his agent's advice by openly competing with Mel Gibson (who is mentioned but never appears) for the leading role in the heavy cop drama Blood on the Asphalt. To gain the upper hand on Gibson, Lang "prepares" for the role by attempting to be an actual cop. To do this, he pulls strings with Mayor David Dinkins and is appointed as a partner to a homicide detective on the NYPD, Lieutenant John Moss (Woods). This frustrates Moss for several reasons, most notably because it pulls him off of the case he was investigating, a serial killer known as "the Party Crasher" (played by Lang). Moss defies orders by continuing the investigation anyway and repeatedly trying to ditch Lang, whose constant questions and other annoying habits nearly drive Moss insane. In typical buddy movie fashion, Lang and Moss end up becoming unlikely friends despite their differences, and ultimately team up to defeat the Party Crasher.
