How the film "Tango and Cash" was filmed: footage from filming and 17 interesting facts about the film (17 photos)

The film was conceived as an ordinary action film and its budget should not exceed $35 million. As a result, the film absorbed $55 million, which allowed the film to enter the list of the ten most expensive films in history at the time of its release (not taking into account inflation).





1. Initially, the film "Tango and Cash" was supposed to be an ordinary cheerful action film, without introducing comedic elements. But in the end, after many edits, the comedy component of the film even began to prevail over the action component.

The film was entrusted to director Andrei Konchalovsky, who moved to the United States. The reason was the success of his film "Runaway Train", released in 1985.



Andrei Konchalovsky in his youth

Konchalovsky was allocated a rather considerable amount for filming, namely $35 million. But in the end, this money was not enough, and the budget had to be increased to $55 million, thanks to which the film ended up in the top 10 most expensive films (at the time of filming). For example, Back to the Future 3, released the following year, cost only $40 million.

And in principle, the entire filming process was accompanied by constant quarrels and disputes between the producer and director. It's amazing that the film was released at all.





The fact is that it was producer Jon Peters who insisted that the film be not just another dull action movie, but also funny, and sometimes stupid. But Konchalovsky and Stallone, on the contrary, wanted to make the film a realistic and serious action film.

2. Initially, the main roles in the film "Tango and Cash" were to be played by Sylvester Stallone and Patrick Swayze. But in the end, Swayze, who had previously agreed to the role of Cash, abandoned filming in favor of another famous action movie, Road House. As a result, Kurt Russell was invited to play the role of Cash.



I don’t know how Patrick Swayze would have played the role of Cash (I always respected this actor), but Kurt Russell coped with this role just A+.

3. Despite the fact that Andrei Konchalovsky is listed as the sole director of the film “Tango and Cash,” he was fired towards the end of the film’s filming.



While they were looking for a new director, producer Peter Macdonald, who once directed the film "Rambo 3", was temporarily put in the director's chair. Well, while Macdonald filmed some scenes, Stallone himself directed several scenes to speed up the filming process.



Peter Macdonald

But due to the requirements of the Directors Guild, which prohibited the use of actors and producers as directors during the filming process, the creators still had to find a full-time director to film the remaining scenes.

As a result, the final scenes were shot by a third director - Albert Magnoli. Many critics, by the way, just noted the very awkward ending of the film.



According to the official version, Konchalovsky was fired for greatly exceeding the budget, but according to some members of the film crew, the budget was increased through no fault of Konchalovsky.

Konchalovsky himself believed that he was fired due to constant quarrels with the producer, and also because he wanted to make the film more realistic and not comedic, which I wrote about earlier.

Konchalovsky said that the filming schedule was several months behind, which is why the producer and director stopped talking to each other altogether.

Only Sylvester Stallone always supported the director, and Konchalovsky himself called Stallone almost the only sane person on the set. According to Andrei Sergeevich, if not for Stallone, he would have been fired much earlier.



Although, there were rumors that Stallone himself was involved in Konchalovsky’s dismissal. But this is not true. It’s just that Stallone has long had a reputation as a star actor who constantly quarreled with directors and fired everyone left and right.

4. The film script was constantly changed and corrected. Screenwriter Jeffrey Boam, who previously wrote the scripts for Lethal Weapon 2 and 3 and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, changed the script several times, which he personally considered long and stupid. Moreover, he didn’t even want his name to appear in the credits. Therefore, only Randy Feldman was listed as the screenwriter.

5. Andrei Konchalovsky was not the only native of the USSR who was involved in the film. At the beginning of the film, we could see the famous Soviet actor Savely Kramarov, who by that time had long since emigrated to the states.



Additionally, actor Jack Palance, who plays the main villain Perret, is of Ukrainian origin, and his name is actually Vladimir Ivanovich Palagnyuk.

6. Prison filming took place in a real (and active) prison, namely Mansfield Prison. The prison was closed in 1990, but nevertheless continued to be used for filming films such as Air Force One, Escape Plan 3, Castle Rock and, of course, The Shawshank Redemption.

By the way, Sylvester Stallone played the main role in the film Escape Plan 3, so he filmed in this prison twice. You can also, of course, remember the film “Prison”, where Sly again played a prisoner. True, the filming took place in another prison.



7. Actor Sylvester Stallone does not have very good eyesight (astigmatism and myopia in one eye), so in everyday life he wears glasses. While filming films, the actor uses contact lenses.

But since, according to the script of the film "Tango and Cash", his hero wears glasses, Stallone decided that he would wear his own glasses, which he himself wears.



8. Originally, the film's cinematographer was Barry Zonenfield. But for some unknown reason, Sylvester Stallone himself fired him.

It's funny that just a couple of years later, Barry Zonenfield would sit in the director's chair and make the film "The Addams Family", and a little later the hit film "Men in Black".

9. The final scene with the car battle in the quarry was filmed in a real quarry. Each frame of this scene was shot using 11 cameras to capture every detail, since the shooting of this scene could only be done in one take. The stuntmen simply had no room for error.

10. Actor Brion James, who played Rickin (Perret's assistant), was supposed to appear only in some shots and not really say anything. But when Stallone heard the actor speak with an English accent, he decided to expand the role, giving Rikin more screen time and lines.



11. Stallone invited Kurt Russell to star in his film "The Expendables", but he refused. The only film in which they appeared together again was Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy 2. True, the actors never appeared in the same frame.



Kurt Russell and Sylvester Stallone in Guardians of the Galaxy 2

According to the official version, Kurt Russell simply did not want to star in another action movie, although according to rumors he did not like working with Stallone, since he constantly tried to focus on his character, using his production capabilities.

12. With a budget of $55 million, the film grossed only $63.4 million worldwide. Moreover, $15 million was spent on Sylvester Stallone’s fee alone.



It was only thanks to sales on video media that the “Tango and Cash” film managed to turn a profit.

13. While filming a scene with an SUV, part of the car caught fire too much, which is why the actors miraculously escaped injury. True, due to the fact that Stallone was too close to the fire, he singed about half of the hair on his head.

14. Despite the fact that we know the film under the name “Tango and Cash”, in its homeland in the USA it also has a second name “The set up”, which in this case means “The Set-up”.



15. Terry Hatcher was cast as Catherine (Tango's sister) because she looks a little like Sylvester Stallone. Although personally, for the life of me, I don’t see any similarity between them.



16. When Cash asks Tango if he wants coffee and a Danish woman, Tango replies that he hates Danish women. This is a reference to his personal life, as shortly before filming this film he divorced his Danish wife Bridget Nielsen.

17. The scene when Stallone shoots at the truck, and the criminal flies out of it right through the windshield, is a reference to the film "Police Story", where there was approximately the same moment.



Still from the movie "Police Story"

And of course, we just couldn’t help but notice how Stallone tells the policeman that Rambo is just a brat compared to him. I think it’s not worth reminding who exactly played the role of Rambo in the film of the same name.