Riggs and Murtaugh are L.A. cops who fought in Vietnam. Both hate to work with partners. They have nothing more in common.

Martin Riggs (MEL GIBSON) is, in a phrase, a killing machine. Highly trained in the precision skills of CIA covert operations and a member of a crack Special Forces unit during the war, Riggs is registered as a "lethal weapon" with the Los Angeles Police Department.

In the field, however, Riggs is an unregistered risk-taker -- taking the kind of risks that scare the hell out of other cops! Recently, he lost his wife of 11 years and the squadroom scuttle has it that he no longer cares about much of anything -- a volatile combination for someone with a subzero flash point and equally chilling credentials. His superiors know it too. Bounced from narcotics to homicide, the word is that he's either bucking for a "psycho pension" -- or that he's a man with a death wish. The only question is for whom.

Roger Murtaugh (DANNY GLOVER), at the opposite extreme, is a homicide detective with a solid reputation and an unblemished departmental record. A devoted family man, Murtaugh is facing his 50th birthday with more than a little trepidation. In his eyes, being assigned to a new partner -- any partner -- was something he didn't need now. Being assigned to Riggs was a particularly nasty surprise that Murtaugh never would have anticipated. If he could have pulled from a hat a chance to either triple his pension or to work with Riggs -- Murtaugh would have abstained from the drawing.

But cops don't choose their partners; the department does. And Riggs and Murtaugh are forced to form an uneasy alliance as they begin to unravel the mystery of an apparent suicide that turns out to be murder -- and much more.

What the pair can't possibly know is that the war they fought in Southeast Asia is about to catch up with them in Los Angeles. Or that the partnership they must share may be the only way to survive.

Warner Bros. presents Mel Gibson and Danny Glover in "Lethal Weapon," a Silver Pictures Production of a Richard Donner Film. A dramatic thriller laced with humor and suspense, the film also stars Gary Busey. Directed by Richard Donner, it is produced by Donner ands Joel Silver from a screenplay written by Shane Black. Stephen Goldblatt was the director of photography; J. Michael Riva was the production designer. Eric Clapton and Michael Kamen composed the music for the Warner Bros. release.

As the puzzle pieces begin to fall into place, it is Riggs who first suspects that he and Murtaugh are dealing with trained hirelings -- and criminal activities far more complex than suicide or murder. Riggs' instincts are reinforced by this first clash with Joshua (GARY BUSEY), an urban mercenary, who, having turned wartime training into peacetime drug smuggling, runs a potent narcotics network of international proportions.

When Murtaugh's beautiful teenage daughter Rianne becomes a pawn in an Armageddon-like warfare, the detective becomes wholly aware that his "psycho" partner Riggs is his only hope, the only cop around who's an equal match for the insanity.

"Are you just crazy, or are you really as good as they say you are?" Murtaugh asks Riggs between bursts of gunfire.

"You're going to have to trust me," Riggs says flatly...