The aftermath of the Vietnam War, the war on drugs, the CIA, mental illness: These are not the ingredients one would expect from a big-budget action-comedy. But Lethal Weapon is not your typical big-budget action-comedy. The story of Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) and Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) uncovering a conspiracy involving ex-special forces soldiers and L.A.’s drug trade is mostly remembered for spawning the “buddy-cop” genre and spotlighting Gibson’s mullet.

Chris Ryan takes a closer look at Richard Donner’s 1987 film and unearths what it has to say about race, friendship, and aging—and about its co-conspirators Donner, Gibson, Glover, screenwriter Shane Black, and producer Joel Silver. Ryan sifts through the blood, guts, and cocaine of eighties Hollywood to find out what makes this violent and profane artifact so disturbingly mesmerizing.

Chris Ryan has written about music, sports, and movies for publications such as Spin, Rolling Stone, Vibe, and the The Village Voice. His work has been anthologized in the Best Music Writing series and he is the author of two blogs: Chauncey Billups and Gabe Said, “We're Into Movements.” He lives in Brooklyn.