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92-435: The Last Boy Scout is a 1991 American buddy action comedy film directed by Tony Scott from a screenplay by Shane Black , and produced by Joel Silver . It stars Bruce Willis and Damon Wayans , with Noble Willingham , Chelsea Field , Taylor Negron , Danielle Harris , and Halle Berry . The film follows a washed-up private investigator (Willis) who teams up with a scandalized former football star (Wayans) to uncover

184-732: A police tactical unit . SWAT units are generally trained, equipped, and deployed to resolve "high-risk situations", often those regular police units are not trained or equipped to handle, such as shootouts , standoffs , raids , hostage-takings , and terrorism . SWAT units are equipped with specialized weapons and equipment not normally issued to regular police units, such as automatic firearms , high-caliber sniper rifles , stun grenades , body armor , ballistic shields , night-vision devices , and armored vehicles , among others. SWAT units are often trained in special tactics such as close-quarters combat , door breaching , crisis negotiation , and de-escalation . The first SWAT units were formed in

276-399: A CD single by Curb Records . On August 25, 2015, La-La Land Records released a limited edition soundtrack album featuring most of Kamen's score, plus Medley's song. The film under-performed expectations given the star power and hype surrounding the then record price paid for the screenplay by Shane Black ($ 1.75 million). It grossed $ 7.9 million in its opening weekend, and the total gross in

368-444: A Q&A for The Nice Guys (2016) that Shane Black's original title was Die Hard . Silver asked if he could take the title for a project he was working on at the time called Nothing Lasts Forever , which eventually became Die Hard (1988). The Last Boy Scout was filmed in 90 days between March 11 and June 9, 1991. Filming took place primarily in and around Los Angeles , California. The football stadium scenes were filmed at

460-469: A character, the central focus of a private eye story which became The Last Boy Scout . Writing that script was a very cathartic experience, one of the best experiences I've ever had. I spent so much time alone working on that. Days which I wouldn't speak. Three, four days where I maybe said a couple words. It was a wonderfully intense time where my focus was better than it's ever been. And I was rewarded so handsomely ($ 1.75 million) for that script, it felt like

552-602: A congressional investigation into gambling in sports, and Stallions owner Sheldon Marcone. When Joe was in the Secret Service, he witnessed Baynard torturing a woman in a hotel room and assaulted the Senator to save her. Baynard retaliated by having Joe fired for refusing to cover up the incident. When the tape is ruined in Joe's faulty car stereo, Jimmy realizes that Cory tried using the tape against Marcone to put Jimmy back on

644-684: A follow-up to Die Hard . He was reluctant, and rightly so: 'This whole movie is about me saving my wife. I just did that in Die Hard .' So they said, 'OK, let's minimize the wife and, and while we're at it, add a big finale.' There was a general pressure to somehow make it bigger." More problems emerged during post-production, when the original cut of the film turned out be a "borderline unwatchable workprint." Different editors were hired in an attempt to address Scott's tendency for filming excessive coverage with multiple cameras. Editor Mark Helfrich described sorting through "mountains of raw material" to edit

736-512: A form of male bonding and behavior usually discouraged by social constraints." Ira Konigsberg wrote in The Complete Film Dictionary , "Such films extol the virtues of male comradeship and relegate male–female relationships to a subsidiary position." A female buddy film is similar to a buddy film except that the main characters are women, and it is centered on their situation. The cast may be mainly female depending on

828-518: A hate crime. ... It's mindless, anti-civilization formula for boys who can't get enough." Retrospective reviews praised the writing, the direction, and the chemistry between Willis and Wayans, and some critics noted it as one of the best films in Scott's catalog. In 2022, Alan Sepinwall from Rolling Stone included The Last Boy Scout on The Best of Bruce Willis: 10 Memorables TV and Movie Performances and said: "The neo-noir thriller The Last Boy Scout

920-399: A little bit of turbulence, he's right away going to throw the guy out of the window and take over the steering." Taylor Negron also remarked that Silver was directly involved throughout the production. Assistant director James Skotchdopole attributed the tension on-set to an "overabundance of alpha males on that project. Bruce was at the height of his stardom, so was Joel, so was Tony and so

1012-599: A long lag between the initial emergency and actual SWAT deployment on the ground. The problems of delayed police response at Columbine led to changes in police response, mainly rapid deployment of line officers to deal with an active shooter, rather than setting up a perimeter and waiting for SWAT to arrive. SWAT teams use equipment designed for a variety of specialist situations including close-quarters combat (CQC) in an urban environment. The particular pieces of equipment vary from unit to unit, but there are some consistent trends in what they wear and use. Much of their equipment

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1104-488: A man who warns him to win the game or he will be killed. Cole ingests PCP and in a drug-induced rage, brings a gun onto the field, shooting three opposing players to reach the end zone before shooting himself in the head. Meanwhile, private investigator Joe Hallenbeck, a disgraced former Secret Service agent who was once a national hero for saving the President from an assassination attempt, discovers that his wife Sarah

1196-533: A member of a league of time travelers and a boy travel through time repairing errors in world history. In 2018, an original anime production A Place Further than the Universe aired. It comprises four girls with contrasting personalities and life background meeting together to go to Antarctica . SWAT In the United States , a SWAT ( special weapons and tactics ) team is a generic term for

1288-479: A political conspiracy involving their former employers. The film was released by Warner Bros. Pictures in the United States on December 13, 1991, to mixed reviews and a smaller than expected box office. Retrospective reviews have been more positive, and the film has developed a cult following . During halftime at a football game, Los Angeles Stallions running back Billy Cole receives a call from Milo,

1380-786: A shooter in the Winnetka neighborhood of Los Angeles led to the first line-of-duty death of a member of the LAPD's SWAT team in its 41 years of existence. Radley Balko , an analyst for the libertarian Cato Institute , argued in his book Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America that increased SWAT raids have made no-knock raids , and danger to innocents and suspects, far greater. Another study, Warrior Cops: The Ominous Growth of Paramilitarism in American Police Departments by Diane Cecilia Weber, also of

1472-457: A shootout, as happened in Austin with Charles Whitman . After the LAPD's establishment of its own SWAT team, many law enforcement agencies in United States established their own specialized units under various names. Gates explained in his autobiography Chief: My Life in the LAPD that he neither developed SWAT tactics nor the associated and often distinctive equipment; but that he supported

1564-623: A single dedicated SWAT vehicle. By illustration, the LAPD's website shows that in 2003, their SWAT units were activated 255 times for 133 SWAT calls and 122 times to serve high-risk warrants. The NYPD 's Emergency Service Unit is one of the few police special-response units that operate autonomously 24 hours a day. However, this unit also provides a wide range of services in addition to SWAT functions, including search and rescue, and car accident vehicle extrication, normally handled by fire departments or other agencies. The need to summon widely dispersed personnel, then equip and brief them, makes for

1656-406: A small select group of volunteer officers. This first SWAT unit initially consisted of fifteen teams of four men each, making a total staff of sixty. These officers were given special status and benefits, and were required to attend special monthly training sessions. The unit also served as a security unit for police facilities during civil unrest. The LAPD SWAT units were organized as "D Platoon" in

1748-528: A strike that would last over five years from 1965 to 1970. Though the strike never turned violent, the Delano Police Department responded by forming ad-hoc SWAT-type units involving crowd and riot control, sniper skills, and surveillance. Television news stations and print media carried live and delayed reportage of these events across the United States. Personnel from the LAPD, having seen these broadcasts, contacted Delano and inquired about

1840-615: A threat to public safety which would otherwise exceed the capabilities of traditional law enforcement first responders and/or investigative units. According to the Historical Dictionary of Law Enforcement , the term "SWAT" was used as an acronym for the "Special Weapons and Tactics" established as a 100-man specialized unit in 1964 by the Philadelphia Police Department in response to an alarming increase in bank robberies . The purpose of this unit

1932-456: A variety of headgear such as M1 helmets , motorcycle helmets , bump helmets , or even soft patrol caps . Modern SWAT units use helmets similar to those issued by the U.S. military, such as the PASGT helmet or Future Assault Shell Technology helmet , though they may also use riot helmets or soft headgear such as caps . Balaclavas and goggles are often used to protect the face and protect

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2024-484: A vindication and like I was back on track. Roger Ebert , commenting on the script, said "The original screenplay for The Last Boy Scout set a record for its purchase price; that was probably because of the humor of the locker-room dialogue, since the plot itself could have been rewritten out of the Lethal Weapon movies by any film school grad." Joel Silver was guaranteed $ 1 million to produce. Silver said in

2116-522: Is a rational use of available police resources. Other defenders of SWAT deployments state that police have every reason to minimize risks to themselves during raids. By 2005, the number of yearly SWAT deployments in the United States had increased to 50,000, most often to serve drug-related warrants in private homes. According to a study by the ACLU , just under 80% of SWAT deployments were used to serve arrest warrants. Officers have cited safety as

2208-530: Is a response to real or perceived moral panics associated with fear of crime and terrorism. Banks writes that SWAT team employment of military veterans has influenced their tactics and perspective. Countering the view that post-9/11 SWAT policing represents the militarization of police forces, scholar den Heyer writes that SWAT policing is part of a natural progression towards police professionalization. Den Heyer also argues that while SWAT teams continue to be deployed to execute large numbers of drug warrants, this

2300-418: Is abducted by Milo. Heading to the stadium to rescue Darian, Joe and Jimmy are captured and escorted to Marcone's office. Jimmy creates a diversion, allowing them to fight their way free. Realizing that Milo plans to shoot Baynard, Joe goes after Milo while sending Jimmy to warn the senator. Grabbing the game ball, Jimmy throws it at Baynard, knocking him down just as Milo starts to open fire. Joe knocks Milo to

2392-460: Is eventually knocked out by a team of hitmen. Jimmy and Cory leave the bar in separate cars while Joe overpowers the hitman left to dispatch him. When Cory is struck from behind and stops to confront the other driver, she is killed by the hitmen. Jimmy is then fired upon, but is saved by Joe. At Cory's apartment, Jimmy and Joe find a taped phone conversation between Senator Calvin Baynard, who leads

2484-468: Is having an affair with his friend and business partner, Mike Matthews. Before this, Mike gave Joe an assignment to act as bodyguard for a stripper named Cory. Mike is then killed by a car bomb outside Joe's house. That night at a strip club, Joe is approached by Cory's boyfriend, former Stallions quarterback Jimmy Dix, who was banned from the league on gambling charges and alleged drug abuse. While Cory and Jimmy exchange conversations, Joe waits outside and

2576-424: Is indistinguishable from that supplied to the military, not least because much of it is military surplus . SWAT personnel wear similar uniforms to those worn by military personnel. Traditional SWAT uniforms are usually solid tones of dark blue, black, grey, tan, or olive green, though uniforms with military camouflage have become popular with some SWAT units since the 2000s. Early SWAT units were equipped with

2668-417: Is on some level (also) trash — bookended by wildly over-the-top action sequences at football stadiums — elevated not only by director Tony Scott's self-awareness of how ridiculous it all is, but by the sheer force of Willis' performance as a disgraced Secret Service agent turned seedy private detective" Shane Black and Tony Scott both expressed dissatisfaction with the final film, and said in later years how

2760-553: The DEA . The money resulted in the creation of many narcotics task forces, and SWAT teams became an important part of these forces. In 1972, paramilitary police units launched a few hundred drug raids annually within the United States. In the early 1980s, SWAT drug raid numbers increased to 3000 annually, and by 1996, 30,000 raids annually. During the 1990s, according to The Capital Times in Madison, Wisconsin , weapons donations from

2852-587: The Department of Defense greatly bolstered the number of SWAT teams and the extent of their operations. The paper reported that the military transferred nearly 100,000 pieces of military equipment to Wisconsin police departments in the 1990s. Criminal justice professors Peter Kraska and Victor Kappeler, in their study Militarizing American Police: The Rise and Normalization of Paramilitary Units , surveyed police departments nationwide and found that their deployment of paramilitary units had grown tenfold between

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2944-511: The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and San Diego Stadium . The movie had a very troubled production. Conflict and arguments flared between Joel Silver, Bruce Willis and Tony Scott. Although they partner up in the film, Willis and Damon Wayans hated working with each other. Silver was described as "insane, with long, horrible fits of sanity," and was compared to a fighter pilot riding as a passenger. "As soon as you hit

3036-562: The "SWAT" acronym to be "Special Weapons Attack Team" but this was not accepted by deputy chief Edward M. Davis who instead approved Special Weapons and Tactics. The LAPD promoted what became known as SWAT teams for a variety of reasons. After the racially-charged Watts riots in Los Angeles in August 1965, the LAPD began considering tactics it could use when faced with urban unrest, rioting, or widespread violence. Daryl Gates, who led

3128-525: The 1940 Paramount Pictures film Road to Singapore , which led to other 1940s buddy films that the Los Angeles Times described as "escapist wartime fantasies". Hope and Crosby starred together in a series of films that lasted to the 1960s. Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis were a popular duo in the 1950s, and Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon were famous in the 1960s, starring in the hit 1968 film The Odd Couple . A major departure from

3220-651: The 1960s to handle riot control and violent confrontations with criminals. The number and usage of SWAT units increased in the 1980s during the War on Drugs and the 1990s following incidents such as the North Hollywood shootout and Columbine High School massacre , with further increases in the 2000s for counterterrorism interests in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks . In the United States by 2005, SWAT teams were deployed 50,000 times every year, almost 80% of

3312-539: The 1990s and 2000s and were combined with different genres, such as White Men Can't Jump (1992), Bulletproof (1996), Gridlock'd (1997), National Security (2003) and The Bucket List (2007). Also in the 1990s and 2000s, John Woo 's Hollywood films imported the wuxia "themes of loyalty and trust" from his previous Hong Kong-produced films to create different takes on male bonding. Kin–Yan Szeto writes in The Martial Arts Cinema of

3404-631: The Cato Institute, raised concern about the increasing use of SWAT teams for ordinary policing tasks. The relative infrequency of SWAT call-outs means these expensively trained and equipped officers cannot be left to sit around, waiting for an emergency. In many departments the officers are normally deployed to regular duties, but are available for SWAT calls via pagers, mobile phones, or radio transceivers. Even in larger police agencies, SWAT personnel will normally be seen in crime suppression roles—specialized and more dangerous than regular patrol, but

3496-496: The Chinese Diaspora , "[In] his third Hollywood film, Face/Off ... Woo manages to deploy and politicize themes of homosociality with the possibility of contesting hegemonic masculinity that consolidates kinship and family." Woo's 2001 World War II film Windtalkers depicted two buddy pairs, with each pair indicating inequality through ethnicity (white American soldiers protecting Navajo code talkers but ready to kill

3588-427: The LAPD response to the riots, would later write that police at the time did not face a single mob, but rather "people attacking from all directions". New York University professor Christian Parenti has written that SWAT teams were originally conceived of as an "urban counterinsurgency bulwark". Another reason for the creation of SWAT teams was the fear of lone or barricaded gunmen who might outperform police in

3680-587: The Metro division. Early police powers and tactics used by SWAT teams were aided by legislation passed in 1967-8 with the help of Republican House representative Donald Santarelli . The legislation was promoted within the context of fears over the civil rights movement , race riots , the Black Panther Party , and the emerging War on Drugs . The first significant deployment of the LAPD SWAT

3772-684: The Pauper with Prince Edward and Miles Hendon. From the 1930s to the 1960s in the United States, male comedy duos often appeared in buddy films. Laurel and Hardy and Abbott and Costello were popular in the 1930s and 1940s. Laurel and Hardy starred in films like Sons of the Desert (1933), and Abbott and Costello starred in films like Buck Privates (1941). Another comedy duo was Wheeler & Woolsey , who starred in Half Shot at Sunrise (1930). Bing Crosby and Bob Hope starred together in

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3864-470: The SLA; no police were wounded, but the six SLA members died in the conflict, which ended when the house caught fire and burned to the ground. By the time of the SLA shootout, SWAT teams had reorganized into six 10-man teams, each team being divided further into two five-man units, called elements. An element consisted of an element leader, two assaulters, a scout, and a rear-guard. The normal complement of weapons

3956-640: The SWAT first entered the school. As noted in an article in the Christian Science Monitor , "Instead of being taught to wait for the SWAT team to arrive, street officers are receiving the training and weaponry to take immediate action during incidents that clearly involve suspects' use of deadly force." The article further reported that street officers were increasingly being armed with rifles, and issued heavy body armor and ballistic helmets, items traditionally associated with SWAT units. The idea

4048-553: The Sundance Kid (1969), Easy Rider (1969), Midnight Cowboy (1969), Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974), and Dog Day Afternoon (1975). The Los Angeles Times said films like Scarecrow (1973) and All the President's Men (1976) reflected the "paranoia and alienation" felt in the era. Beyond Hollywood, a notable buddy road movie of that era was the Bollywood " Curry Western " film Sholay (1975), which

4140-494: The United States and Canada was $ 59.5 million. Internationally, the film grossed $ 55 million for a worldwide gross of $ 114.5 million. Reviews were mixed, and some critics cited the Christmas time release for such a violent film as a reason for its somewhat underwhelming box office. Although the film was not a blockbuster, it helped Bruce Willis recover his star status after the disastrous Hudson Hawk and became hugely popular in

4232-416: The actors room to stretch out." Variety described the plot as "a haze of barely connected story lines about political corruption, pro-football, gambling, infidelity, and blackmail [where] all the questions are answered by another car chase, smashing someone in the face or shooting someone in the forehead." In a highly critical review, Desson Howe of The Washington Post called it "the filmic equivalent of

4324-542: The afternoon of May 17, 1974, elements of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), a group of heavily armed left-wing guerrillas , barricaded themselves in a residence on East 54th Street at Compton Avenue in Los Angeles. Coverage of the siege was broadcast to millions via television and radio and featured in the world press for days afterwards. SWAT teams engaged in a several-hour gun battle with

4416-402: The death scenes in the film. The film's score was composed and conducted by Michael Kamen (who also scored Hudson Hawk that year), his only work for Tony Scott. Bill Medley performed the song "Friday Night's A Great Night For Football", written by Steve Dorff and John Bettis , on screen during the opening credits (the song is also reprised over the end titles); the song was released as

4508-534: The decades' films as "a backlash from the feminist movement." Philippa Gates wrote, "To punish women for their desire for equality, the buddy film pushes them out of the center of the narrative ... By making both protagonists men, the central issue of the film becomes the growth and development of their friendship. Women as potential love interests are thus eliminated from the narrative space." The buddy films of these decades were also hybridized with road movies . The decades' buddy films included Butch Cassidy and

4600-653: The early 1980s and late 1990s. The Columbine High School massacre in Colorado on April 20, 1999 was another seminal event in SWAT tactics and police response. As perpetrators Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were shooting students and staff inside the school, officers did not intervene in the shooting, but instead set a perimeter as they were trained to do. By the time they did enter the school, 12 people were killed and Harris and Klebold had committed suicide. They were also heavily criticized for not saving teacher Dave Sanders, who had died from blood loss , three hours after

4692-796: The edge of the stadium light platform, where SWAT officers shoot him before he falls into the moving rotor blades of a police helicopter. The briefcase of money is recovered and Marcone, having escaped with the rigged briefcase, is killed when he opens it at his estate. The next day, Joe and Sarah reconcile, and Joe and Jimmy decide to become partners. Other actors in the film include Eddie Griffin as The Strip Club DJ, Sara Suzanne Brown as Stripper, Ryan Cutrona as Harp, Michael Papajohn as Hitman, Jack Kehler as The Scrabble Man, Manny Perry as Cigar Thug, Rick Ducommun as The Pool Owner, and Morris Chestnut as The Locker Room Kid. Singer Bill Medley , and Sports Commentators Verne Lundquist , Dick Butkus and Lynn Swann appear as Themselves. The film

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4784-435: The experience as one of the most frustrating jobs of his career and has often declined to discuss it in detail, although he did mention in a podcast interview that several editors were hired and then fired before him, and that Warner Bros. began testing the movie before it was completely finished. Studio executives fretted about the expanding budget, while less-than-enthusiastic reactions from a test screening audience, as well as

4876-408: The features of the buddy film genre, and is influenced by films like 48 Hrs. , The Defiant Ones , Lethal Weapon and Rush Hour . Other examples include Hardcastle and McCormick , in which a retired judge and his last defendant follow up on cases that were dismissed due to technicalities; CHiPs , the adventures of two California Highway Patrol motorcycle officers; and Voyagers! , in which

4968-619: The fight against drugs. Reagan subsequently declared drugs to be a threat to U.S. national security. In 1988 the Reagan administration encouraged Congress to create the Edward Byrne Memorial State and Local Law Enforcement Program. The program modified existing federal aid structures to local police, making it easier to transfer money and equipment to fight the War on Drugs. Police forces also received increased assistance from

5060-414: The film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale. Roger Ebert gave the film three stars out of four, saying it was "a superb example of what it is: a glossy, skillful, cynical, smart, utterly corrupt and vilely misogynistic action thriller." Owen Gleiberman praised it as "a cheerfully disreputable buddy thriller that also happens to be one of the most entertaining movies of the season ... [and] gives

5152-403: The first cut: "There was more footage shot for The Last Boy Scout than on any film I had ever worked on." He recalled with incredulity that the work of previous editors appeared to have been rejected, taken apart and put back into the daily reels: "There were still splices all over the place." Veteran action film editor Mark Goldblatt was also brought in to work on the film. He later referred to

5244-468: The first few minutes of the incident. In some situations, this dictates the need to rapidly assess the situation and act quickly in order to save lives." According to criminal justice professor Cyndi Banks, the War on Terror , like the War on Drugs, became the context of a significant expansion of SWAT policing. Whereas some have attributed this expansion to "mission creep" and the militarization of police , other scholars argue that increased SWAT policing

5336-515: The genre. The 1991 film Thelma & Louise featured a female pairing of Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon , and the 1993 film The Pelican Brief featured a male–female platonic pairing of Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington . The 1998 film Rush Hour featured a nonwhite male pairing of Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker , which the Los Angeles Times said symbolized color blindness in American cinema. Biracial buddy films continued in

5428-1310: The identities of team members. Ballistic vests , sometimes including rigid plate inserts, are standard-issue. These vests are labelled with "POLICE", "SHERIFF", "SWAT", or similar, to allow for easy identification. SWAT units are equipped with special weapons that are not normally used by regular police units, typically military firearms such as assault rifles , submachine guns , riot shotguns , sniper rifles , riot control agents , smoke grenades , stun grenades , and stinger grenades . Though these armaments make SWAT teams resemble military infantry squads , they are still law enforcement units tasked with arrest , and are thus often also equipped with less-lethal weapons such as tasers , pepper spray , pepperballs , baton rounds , bean bag rounds , and rubber bullets to incapacitate suspects. Many SWAT units also have access to specialized equipment such as ballistic shields , entry tools , battering rams , armored vehicles , thermal and night-vision devices , fiberscope cameras , and motion detectors . Canine units may also be incorporated within SWAT teams, or may be used on an ad hoc basis. SWAT units often employ SWAT vehicles, also called "armored rescue vehicles" (ARV), for insertion, maneuvering, and during operations such as

5520-478: The individual roles in biracial buddy films are reversed. The "racial other... is too civilized" while the white man "is equipped for survival in... the urban landscape". The 1980s was a popular decade for action films , and the genre that "blended masculinity, heroism, and patriotism into an idealized image" was hybridized with buddy films. Following the Civil Rights Movement , black advancement

5612-405: The main reason for use of SWAT teams, stating that SWAT units would frequently be called if there were a possibility a suspect might be armed. For instance, in 2006, only two police officers were killed in the arrest of 2 million drug suspects, a low casualty rate possibly stemming from the military equipment and tactics used in the raids. On February 7, 2008, a siege and subsequent firefight with

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5704-494: The male–male relationship depend on the genre: women in comedies, the law in films about outlaw buddies, and criminals in action films about cop buddies. The buddy film is more common to cinema in the United States than cinema in other Western countries , which tend to focus on male–female romantic relationships or an individual male hero. Film historian David Thomson observes that buddy films are rare among British and French films, "You just wouldn't see three Englishmen behave

5796-635: The more comic buddy films of the era was Akira Kurosawa 's 1949 Japanese film Stray Dog , starring Toshirō Mifune and Takashi Shimura . It was a more serious police procedural film noir that served as a precursor to the buddy cop film genre. Throughout the 1960s and the 1970s, the feminist movement and "a widespread questioning" of social institutions influenced buddy films. The films explored male friendships more dramatically and encouraged individualism —particularly to be free from women and society. Critics like Molly Haskell and Robin Wood saw

5888-449: The officers would not be carrying their distinctive armor and weapons. Since officers have to be on call-out most of the day, they may be assigned to regular patrol duties. To decrease response times to situations that require a SWAT team, it is now a common practice to place SWAT equipment and weaponry in secured lockers in the trunks of specialized police cruisers instead of forcing officers to travel to gather their equipment or only use

5980-435: The original script was far better. Scott accused Joel Silver of interfering with the production and swore off working with the producer again. His next film, True Romance , features an unflattering film producer character patterned after Silver. The film was nominated for two MTV Movie Awards . Buddy film A buddy film portrays the pairing of two people, often the same sex, frequently men. A friendship between

6072-602: The plot. There are far fewer female buddy films than there are male buddy films; however, notable examples include 1991's Thelma and Louise , which had a popular impact similar to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and paved the way for onscreen female friendships such as those in Waiting to Exhale , Walking and Talking , and Fried Green Tomatoes . Buddy films are often hybridized with other film genres, such as road movies , Westerns , comedies , and action films featuring police. The "threats to [the] masculinity" of

6164-637: The program. One officer then obtained permission to observe the Delano Police Department's special weapons and tactics units in action, and afterwards, he took what he had learned back to Los Angeles, where his knowledge was used and expanded on to form the LAPD's own first SWAT unit. John Nelson was the officer who conceived the idea to form a specially trained and equipped unit in the LAPD, intended to respond to and manage critical situations involving shootings while minimizing police casualties. Inspector Gates approved this idea, and he formed

6256-536: The report, the Department cites four trends which prompted the development of SWAT. These included riots such as the Watts riots , which in the 1960s forced the LAPD and other police departments into tactical situations for which they were ill-prepared; the emergence of snipers as a challenge to civil order; political assassinations; and the threat of urban guerrilla warfare by militant groups. "The unpredictability of

6348-485: The report. The report states on page 109, "The purpose of SWAT is to provide protection, support, security, firepower, and rescue to police operations in high personal risk situations where specialized tactics are necessary to minimize casualties." In 1981 U.S. Congress passed the Military Cooperation with Law Enforcement Act, giving police access to military intelligence, infrastructure, and weaponry in

6440-869: The rescue of personnel and civilians who may be in danger of receiving fire from suspects if extracted through other methods. Common armored SWAT vehicles include the Lenco BearCat , Lenco BEAR, BAE Caiman , Cadillac Gage Ranger , Cadillac Gage Commando , and similar vehicles. Some departments use decommissioned, disarmed military vehicles acquired from the Law Enforcement Support Office . Alternatively, SWAT teams may use unmarked police cars to respond faster, provide better mobility when splitting up, or avoid detection. Police aircraft , commonly helicopters , are used to provide aerial reconnaissance or insertion via rappelling or fast-roping . The use of armored vehicles by SWAT teams

6532-411: The senator and frame Joe for the murder. Joe is taken to a wooded area and forced to hand a briefcase with money to Baynard's bodyguards, and Marcone's men surreptitiously switch it with a briefcase containing a bomb. Joe is rescued by Jimmy and Darian, and acquires both briefcases after running the bodyguards and Milo off the road. However, Milo survives and while Darian is left to wait for the police, she

6624-399: The sniper and his anticipation of normal police response increase the chances of death or injury to officers. To commit conventionally trained officers to a confrontation with a guerrilla-trained militant group would likely result in a high number of casualties among the officers and the escape of the guerrillas." To deal with these under conditions of urban violence, the LAPD formed SWAT, notes

6716-480: The talkers to protect the code). Szeto explains, "Woo uses the twin buddy pairs to explore the shifting meanings and multiple possibilities in interracial bonding, rather than simply recuperating and empowering dominant positions for white heterosexual men." Lethal Weapon was adapted into a television series which ran from 2016 to 2019. The 2021 series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier has many of

6808-404: The team, prompting Marcone to send the hitmen. Joe saves Jimmy from another car bomb, and tricks two hitmen into blowing themselves up. However, the explosion destroys the remaining evidence. At Joe's house, Jimmy attempts to use cocaine in the bathroom. However, Joe catches Jimmy and kicks him out. As Jimmy leaves, Joe's daughter Darian asks him to sign a football trading card. She states that Joe

6900-737: The time to serve search warrants , most often for narcotics . By 2015, the number of annual SWAT deployments had increased to nearly 80,000 times a year. Despite their heightened involvement in high-risk scenarios, research on their use of force has shown varied results. A study by professor Jimmy J. Williams and professor David Westall found that there wasn't a significant difference in the frequency of use of force between SWAT and non-SWAT officers when responding to similar situations. The United States National Tactical Officers Association's definition of SWAT is: SWAT : A designated law enforcement team whose members are recruited, selected, trained, equipped and assigned to resolve critical incidents involving

6992-467: The two people is the key relationship in a buddy film. The two people often come from different backgrounds or have different personalities, and they tend to misunderstand one another. Through the events of the buddy film, they gain a stronger friendship and mutual respect. Buddy films often deal with crises of masculinity . American Masculinities: A Historical Encyclopedia explains, "[Buddy films] offer male movie-going audiences an opportunity to indulge in

7084-598: The underlying concept, tried to empower his people to develop it, and generally lent them moral support. SWAT-type operations were conducted north of Los Angeles in the farming community of Delano, California on the border between Kern and Tulare Counties in the San Joaquin Valley . At the time, the United Farm Workers union led by César Chavez was staging numerous protests in Delano in

7176-430: The unlikeable character played by Willis, did little to allay these concerns. When editor Stuart Baird was hired, the film finally took a positive turn. Baird had been brought in to help re-edit other troubled productions, including Tango & Cash (1989) and Demolition Man (1993). Some later cuts were done with the film's graphic scenes after it was originally rated NC-17, which explains quick-cut edits in some of

7268-462: The video rental market. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 46% based on 41 reviews, with an average rating of 5.2/10. The site's critical consensus reads: " The Last Boy Scout is as explosive, silly, and fun as it does represent the decline of the buddy-cop genre." On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 52 out of 100, based on 22 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave

7360-538: The way American men do, who are truly happiest when they are together with other men." Portrayal of male bonding in the United States traces back to 19th-century author Mark Twain 's characters Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer as a "good boy–bad boy combo", as well as Huck Finn and the slave Jim in Twain's 1884 novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn . Vaudeville acts in early 20th-century United States often featured male pairs. Another example could be 1881's The Prince and

7452-434: Was Shane. There were a lot of people who had a lot of opinions about what to do. There were some heated, early-Nineties, testosterone charged personalities on the line. It was a 'charged environment,' shall we say." Writer Shane Black had to wrestle with the script. "I was forced to do more rewriting on that movie than on anything else I've done. There was tremendous pressure from the studio to get Bruce Willis and have this be

7544-488: Was a fan of Jimmy's and never watched another game after he was banned from the league. Learning of Mike's affair with Sarah, the police assume that Joe killed him and move to make an arrest. Milo, Marcone's top henchman, captures Joe first and shoots a detective using Joe's gun. Marcone has been buying Senate votes to legalize sports gambling, but Baynard tried to blackmail Marcone for $ 6 million. Aware of Joe's history with Baynard, Marcone explains it would be cheaper to kill

7636-429: Was a significant change to have police armed with semi-automatic rifles. The encounter with the heavily armed Symbionese Liberation Army, however, sparked a trend towards SWAT teams being issued body armor and automatic weapons of various types. A report issued by the LAPD after the SLA shootout offers one of the few firsthand accounts by the department regarding SWAT history, operations, and organization. On page 100 of

7728-402: Was a sniper rifle (a .243 -caliber bolt-action , based on the ordnance expended by officers at the shootout), two .223 -caliber semi-automatic rifles, and two shotguns. SWAT officers also carried their service revolvers in shoulder holsters. Standard gear included a first aid kit , gloves, and a military gas mask . At a time when officers were usually issued six-shot revolvers and shotguns, it

7820-420: Was also reflected in more common biracial pairings. In this decade, the buddy cop film took the place of the buddy road movie. Action films with biracial pairings include the 1982 film 48 Hours starring Eddie Murphy and Nick Nolte and the 1987 film Lethal Weapon starring Mel Gibson and Danny Glover . Another combination of the action film and the buddy film in the 1980s and another biracial reversal

7912-606: Was based on an original script by Shane Black . He wrote the script after having taken a two-year break from writing, triggered in part by the end of a relationship. The Geffen Film Company outbid other companies, paying a record $ 1.75 million for the script, with over a $ 1 million guaranteed up front. Black later recalled: I was busy mourning my life and, in many ways, the loss of my first real love. I didn't feel much like doing anything except smoking cigarettes and reading paperbacks. All things come around. Time passed and eventually I sat down and transformed some of that bitterness into

8004-399: Was never actually used. The Panthers eventually surrendered, with four Panthers and four officers being injured. All six arrested Panthers were acquitted of the most serious charges brought against them, including conspiracy to murder police officers, because it was ruled that they acted in self-defense. By 1974, there was a general acceptance of SWAT as a police resource in Los Angeles. On

8096-537: Was on December 9, 1969, when an attempt by the LAPD to serve arrest warrants against the Black Panthers led to a four-hour standoff at their Los Angeles headquarters at 41st and Central, during which over 5,000 rounds were exchanged between police and the Panthers. During the shootout, Daryl Gates called the Department of Defense , requesting and receiving permission to use a grenade launcher ; however, it

8188-468: Was the highest-grossing Indian film of all time. Biracial buddy films emerged in the 1970s and 1980s; Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder initiated the movement with Silver Streak (1976) and Stir Crazy (1980). Eddie Murphy was a key actor in biracial buddy films, starring in 48 Hours (1982) with Nick Nolte and in Trading Places (1983) with Dan Aykroyd . Throughout the 1980s,

8280-455: Was the 1988 film Die Hard in which Bruce Willis 's heroic character John McClane is supported by the black cop Al (played by Reginald VelJohnson ). In the early 1990s, the masculine figure in films became more sensitive, and some buddy films "contemplated a masculinity that required sensitive relations between men". Such films included The Fisher King (1991) and The Shawshank Redemption (1994). The decade also saw new approaches to

8372-431: Was to react quickly and decisively to bank robberies while they were in progress, using a large number of specially trained officers who had a great amount of firepower at their disposal. The tactic worked and was used to resolve other types of incidents involving heavily armed criminals. The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Special Weapons and Tactics was established in 1967. LAPD inspector Daryl Gates envisioned

8464-509: Was to train and equip street officers to make a rapid response to so-called active shooter situations. In these situations, it was no longer acceptable to simply set up a perimeter and wait for SWAT. As an example, in the policy and procedure manual of the Minneapolis Police Department , it is stated, "MPD personnel shall remain cognizant of the fact that in many active shooter incidents, innocent lives are lost within

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