Amph Robocop and Lethal Weapon 30th anniversary!

This year is the 30th anniversary to one of the best Sci-fi/action films ever made and one of my all time favorite movies, same for Lethal Weapon being one of the best adult action films around being 30 this year.

I first saw both in theaters when i was 5/6 years old with my mom and dad at one of my city's theaters and thought they rocked. I even had a few of the toys, cards, comics of Robocop and watched the animated show of Robocop. I did saw the LW sequels in theaters as a kid and teen even Robocop 2 in theaters at 9 and unfortunately the sucky watered down 3 at 12 which i wanted my moneyback.

For Robocop i own the 2014 blu-ray and Laserdisc from Criterion plus it's such an influential work of satire that it's lightning in a bottle. Lethal Weapon is still an excellent action classic when we had badasses and it also had great writing and direction by Donner.

 

I'm going to say something possibly heretical here... the new Lethal Weapon tv-series, whilst not hewing exactly to the film (because, how could they?), is a charming show, buoyed by the fact that everyone in the cast is routinely elevating basic stuff.

If you'd told me I'd be enjoying that show before the season started, I'd have thought you were crazy.

 

This is also from 30 years ago

 

Who else grew up with these movies?

 

I've only seen Robocop 2 and Lethal Weapon 5.

My '87 movie was Police Academy IV: Citizens On Patrol. I got mad excited when I saw the commercial for it. Like, another Police Academy?!

 

Lethal Weapon 5 doesn't exist. Fake news!

 

I look forward to your threads about movies that came out in 1997 and 2007.

 

They should just have an old Riggs get all shot up and become....LETHAL ROBOWEAPON!

 

Me and some buddies in AIT at Fort Devens were swilling down a case of Busch when we decided to go to the movies. I wanted to see Robocop; majority prevailed and we ended up seeing Ernest Goes to Camp. Finally saw Robocop at the Camp Humphreys theater in the fall.

 

Your parents let you see Robocop at age 5 or 6? I thought my parents were the worst for making me see Poltergeist when I was 7.

 

Yup first r-rated movie i saw in theaters was Fright Night at age 4 even saw Creepshow on HBO at age 4 as well even saw the sequel to Creepshow at 5 at the movies plus Aliens, Cobra, Die Hard 1 & 2, Total Recall, Terminator 2 and all that at the movies as a kid. I was with my dad when we saw Robocop at one of the theaters, i thought it rocked.

 

I'll admit, when I saw the first trailer I was like this looks like it'll be done after one season. Now, it's turned out to be a fairly different flavor from what the movies were and pretty entertaining so I'm not so sure.

 

Ahhh yes, my under the radar movies from my childhood. I'd surreptitiously record those onto VHS when they were aired on television, assuring Mum and Dad that I was taping some other movie that happened to be on another channel like Home Alone. Then I needed to find time with those films alone. Robocop freaked me out.

 

Denofearth, you seem to have been exposed to a lot of adult themed movies at a very young age. How do think this has affected you?

 

Alternate timeline. After Riggs took a shotgun blast to his bulletproof protected chest in the first movie, he did suggest going to Detroit to lay low. This could be the point where the timeline diverges and Riggs meets Robocop.

 

I was exposed to a lot of adult themed stuff as a kid too. Mostly because I was a sneaky bastard. Rarely with consent from the parents.

 

So American cinemas would let a 5 year old in to an R rated movie? I was 14 in 1987 and could not get in for an 18 certificate movie at all whether I was with my parents or not, which I'm pretty sure is what the Robocop rating was back then in the UK.

Anyway, both great films and in general a great era for the cinema for me. Throw Predator in to the mix, which was the best sci-fi film of the year, another one I had to watch on home video as I couldn't get in to the cinema to see it.

 

Rated R: Restricted – under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

 

I saw "Rambo: First Blood-Part II" in theaters when I was six, shortly before turning seven. I also saw "The Terminator" at the drive-in that same summer. At home I had seen "The Shining", "Jaws", "Jaws 2", "Jaws 3", "Conan The Barbarian", "Porky's", "Porky's II: The Next Day", "Revenge Of The Nerds", "Halloween" and "Halloween II". All of them between 1983 and 1985. I saw "Robocop" when I was ten, on home video in 88. Same with "Predator" and a number of other Arnold films. I didn't start watching Freddy and Jason until I was ten, starting with the third and fifth films respectively.

 

And what was the last thing you bought?

 

The last thing I bought? What does that have to do with anything?

 

whatever happened to the R rated blockbuster ? they're a rare thing these days .

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That's because there's an expectation for action movies to be big spectacle vehicles nowadays, and that's expensive. When it's expensive, you need as large an audience as possible to get a worthwhile return on investment.