MovieChat Forums > True Lies (1994) Discussion > Was this the first movie to use this typ...

Was this the first movie to use this type of humor with action mix?


Movies before this were either full action or straight up comedy.

I know Arnold had some one-liners during the 80s and early 90s (Predator's "stick around" stabbing, multiple one-liners in T2, etc)

But True Lies keeps itself as a very serious toned R rated action film with lots of humor (no Airplane!, Naked Gun type of humor, just enough to not take us away that it's an action movie first).

It's all over the movie, it's so clever and fast-paced and it's used nowadays in movies in the current James Bond and Mission: Impossible movies... I would even dare to say that this balance is being used in Marvel's PG-13 movies, but not as perfect as it was used in True Lies.

Which movie had a similar tone to True Lies before it came out???

James Bond during the late 80s was way too serious, Roger Moore's was mostly a parody and Connery was just delivering one-liners.

I can't think of anything else to compare it to pre-1994.

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Nope, it was not the first one, it wasn't even original in its delivery.

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Lethal Weapon films
Army of Darkness & Evil Dead


Am sure there are plenty more.

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Has nobody mentioned "Remo Williams" ? It should at least be included in the discussion.

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What a good story with lots of potential. It could use an update.

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La Totale

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Last Action Hero (1993) which even had some of the same cast ;)

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No. Not even close. How old are you? Conan the Barbarian mixed comedy, action AND a Basil Poledouris score.

You proceed from a false premise: that action and comedy in movies are mutually exclusive. You clearly know nothing of So Close or The Last Action Hero.

Prithee, return when you’ve been
educated in a recognized institute of learning, not by Bob Jones online.

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48 Hours.

Although, 48 Hours was WAY more hard-nosed than True Lies.

Tango & Cash was another that did the hard-R action-comedy before True Lies, mixing tons of one-liners and tongue-in-cheek comedy with bloody shootouts and fisticuffs.

I think True Lies was just a grade above Tango & Cash. And it was definitely more lighthearted and less grim than 48 Hours, which is what made True Lies more of the blockbuster icon compared to the other two.

But yeah as others pointed out, Lethal Weapon I think really solidified the action-comedy mixture with hard-R content at break-neck speeds, much more so than 48 Hours and Tango Cash, and really set the paradigm shift to create a plateau for movies like True Lies to launch from.

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Freebie and the Bean (74) starring Alan Arkin and James Caan

Arguably the first ever "cop/buddy" movie that mixed action and comedy.

I bought the DVD about a year ago, it is way too unPC to be aired today. "Bean" is short for beaners (Alan Arkin plays a Mexican/American cop, Caan cop enjoys "perks") some mild homophobic comments and racial stereotyping that couldn't be written today.

But that said, it's a enjoyable film, with some very funny scenes and pretty good stunt work.

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