European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 14, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Hollywood a buddy fantasy could be lethal by Christopher Ames Cox news service a Ere partners we re partners. A a 1 what happens to you Hap pens to  so affirms Mel y y Gibson to Danny Glover in an emotional moment in lethal weapon 3, this Summers first blockbuster film. Moments later Glover reaffirms the Bond speaking to Gibson a like you said your problems Are my  the sentiment in this Exchange Between White and Black characters reminds us of the interdependency of the races in americans destiny. It faintly echoes James baldwins analysis a we the Black and White deeply need each other if we Are really to become a nation a if we Are really that is to achieve our identity our  and it resonates with the closing words of Ralph Ellison a invisible Man a who knows but that on the lower frequencies i speak for you a surely the immense popularity of inter ethnic male bonding films a 48 hours die hard the last boy scout the lethal weapon films even the latest version of Robin Hood a testifies to a powerful longing for racial Harmony. The fantasy comradeship of these buddy films a Black and White men United by their opposition to crime and their respect for each others skills and integrity a is a wish fulfilment dream. Like so much popular entertainment these films dramatize a condition we Long for but done to possess precisely because our world is More complicated than that of the Silver screen. Lethal weapon 3, however possesses added ironies in the Light of the Rodney King verdict and its aftermath. After All Riggs Gibson and Murtaugh Glover Are officers in the . Police department. And granted the License of Ilmic fantasy they commit dozens of acts of what would be a in the real world a police brutality. Riggs slugs a criminal after he has been subdued. He comically reads the rights to a villain he has knocked cold a you have the right to remain unconscious. Both cops use violent Force in warrant less interrogations even holding illegal automatic weapons to the Heads of the people they question. In a comic moment Riggs pulls a gun on a Jaywalker. Were it not for Rodney King wed hardly think twice about the exercise of Force typical of the cop film genre. After All the victims Are so clearly and unequivocally evil drug dealers and merchants of machine guns stocking the . Youth with the stuff that will kill them. But that a just the Point. In the off screen world we can to always Tell the bad Guys from the Good Guys a and some folks might fall in Between. The mean streets of lethal weapon 3 offer no ambiguities about Good and evil the Only Challenge is organizing the firepower to eliminate the criminals. In the real streets of . And across America crime May be rampant but its solution is not simple. Rodney King May have violated the Law but it was brutal and senseless to beat him on the ground. The officers acquittal was outrageous but the subsequent rage was visited on Many an innocent victim. More disturbingly there is no recognition in the . Of lethal weapon 3 that Blacks might receive Wott Bros Mel Gibson and Danny Glover play . Cops who get away with male bonding Force in lethal weapon 3. The Day the system collapse los Angeles j King guilty up causing theft lace he beat him senseless to wre the streets exploded. Looting was widespread a a it Kew Tetli 26�?o color to As a protes t against. Eft. Whatever our leaders a a sounded like robot Irett Viola a mum p4 con it my co. Mtg  n. F i a i i the Vira once must pm crop Omni it rut yicusmi1 i Fly turn p. My Vlf to my 1 must it u Mitt m in .1 v�?7 y there were and leapers in the Slack neighbourhoods the los an6eles police department dip not move 1 into the troubled area soon. It was a race War violence and fear spread to other cities. All the Way to wa5hin6t0n.dc. Where they saw the result of 12 years of pen Ion neglect toward racial injustice Mode tank Irwin. Of away and where they were flan in no we fall came list win. We it m in i a Hartil n Amagai if a a a to be continue up until we staph a  i or met i 7, >v�?Toirr.�?Ta7.v in n different treatment at the hands of the police. Race is strangely eclipsed in these films despite their racial premise. They dream a world in which race As obstacle to human relationships has disappeared. Such fantasies Are not necessarily harmful a if we understand them for the escapist myths that they Are. The near mythic masculine Bond Between White and Black reaches Back through american literature to Jim and Huck in Luckl churn mias the pm  critic Leslie fielder has noted. The continued vitality of that myth Sui rounds us at movie houses a and this summer As the raging tires roil behind the credits it get l Ethal he.><�?T. 3, it reminds us of How Large the Gap is Between the sock a we wish for and the one in Winch we live. Priv , f an i  at la i it -5 in a i let Jun