In 1989, a tenuous year when the iron-pumpin’ 80’s were skidding full-stop into the spandex-sportin’ 90’s, the stars aligned with the combined power of action-comedy ham Kurt Russell and Mr. Rambo himself, Sylvester Stallone, to form a buddy-cop flick the likes of which the decade had never seen. Well, aside from “48 Hours.” And “Lethal Weapon.” Regardless, it’s a noteworthy piece of cinema.

Ray Tango (Stallone) and Gabriel Cash (Russell) are the two baddest narcs on the LA beat: Tango, a truly debonair class-act, naturally works the Beverly Hills circuit, while Cash, a muscle tee and black socks type of guy, patrols the seedier parts of town. They’re opposites. They’re rivals. They’re box office gold.

When drug lord Yves Perret (Jack Palance) gets a little sick and tired of them confiscating mountains of his blow, he vows to take them down. As opposed to, say, shooting them, he conspires to elaborately frame Tango and Cash for murder with irrefutable evidence proclaimed irrefutable by experts bribed to say so.  He’ll also bribe the prison board so the two cops wind up in a maximum security facility, where they’ll surely be killed in combat by one of the many narcotic-slinging blokes with an ax to grind they’ve put away over the years. Well, Perret’s plan goes awry, though later than one might expect. The two do in fact get convicted for voluntary manslaughter and, because they’re proud, untarnished members of the LAPD, receive the minimum sentence in a minimum security facility. However, the corrupt prison board affiliates do come through, acting against legislation and placing Tango and Cash in a maximum security prison where an angry mob of convicts does engage them in combat. But what Perret didn’t anticipate is Tango and Cash totally kicking ass. ‘Cause that’s what they do. They pulverize dozens of furious, beefy low-lives with the coolest, and, in Tango’s case, suavest, combat moves ever. Unfortunately, in the wake of their victory, our men are faced with the tricky task of staying alive trapped inside a prison filled with enemies, not to mention clearing their good names in the cold, hard eyes of the LAPD and nabbing the man who screwed them.

Despite the fact that viewers must stare down the giant, gaping hole in its plot - why in hell didn’t Perret just shoot them? - “Tango & Cash” is one wild and damn entertaining ride. Stallone and Russell are two peas in a action-packed pod. They’re complimenting sides of a ying yang. They’re two hands held up, frozen in a high-five so joyous you’ll squeal with glee and sing their praises as the credits roll.

Click here to check out the trailer.

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