''Tough Guys'' is a 1986 American action comedy film directed by Jeff Kanew and starring

Burt Lancaster Burton Stephen Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American actor and producer. Initially known for playing tough guys with a tender heart, he went on to achieve success with more complex and challenging roles over a 45-yea ...

Kirk Douglas Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch; December 9, 1916 – February 5, 2020) was an American actor and filmmaker. After an impoverished childhood, he made his film debut in '' The Strange Love of Martha Ivers'' (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. D ...

, Eli Wallach, Charles Durning, Dana Carvey and Darlanne Fluegel. It is the eighth film of

Touchstone Pictures Touchstone Pictures, Inc. was an American film production label of Walt Disney Studios, founded and owned by The Walt Disney Company. Feature films released under the Touchstone label were produced and financed by Walt Disney Studios, and featu ...

, and the final film to be released from Douglas' Bryna Productions. Lancaster and Douglas had already made several films together, including '' I Walk Alone'' (1948), '' Gunfight at the O.K. Corral'' (1957), '' The Devil's Disciple'' (1959), and '' Seven Days in May'' (1964), becoming something of a team in the public's eye. Douglas was always second-billed under Lancaster but, with the exception of ''I Walk Alone'', in which Douglas played a villain, their roles were more or less of equal importance. ''Tough Guys'' was their final collaboration.

Adolph Caesar Adolph Caesar (December 5, 1933 – March 6, 1986) was an American actor, theatre director, playwright, dancer, and choreographer. Known for his signature deep voice, Caesar was a staple of Off-Broadway as a member of the Negro Ensemble Company ...

, who was originally going to star as Leon B. Little, died of complications from a heart attack on the set of the film and was replaced by Eli Wallach. This was the first film released under the Touchstone Pictures name following its rebranding by Walt Disney Studios, after the release of Ruthless People.

Plot

Harry Doyle (

) and Archie Long (

) are gangsters who have served a 30-year prison sentence for

hijacking Hijacking may refer to: Common usage Computing and technology * Bluejacking, the unsolicited transmission of data via Bluetooth * Brandjacking, the unauthorized use of a company's brand * Browser hijacking * Clickjacking (including ''like ...

a Southern Pacific train called the ''Gold Coast Flyer'' in 1956. When they are released from prison in 1986, their parole officer, Richie Evans ( Dana Carvey), meets Harry and Archie at the gates and offers them a ride to collect their

Social Security Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...

. Meanwhile, Leon B. Little ( Eli Wallach), an elderly hitman with bad eyesight who still has an outstanding contract on them, immediately tries to kill them but Harry and Archie manage to get away. Later at the bank, the duo stop a bank robbery by taking down the two young armed gunmen, one of whom faints when un-armed Harry and Archie turn the tables on them. Then, outnumbered 3-to-one each, the duo trash six young street punks trying to rob them. At Richie's office, they are informed of the conditions of their parole. Harry, at age 72, is committed to a retirement community; despite his desire to work, he is informed he is past the mandatory retirement age of 70. Archie, still allowed to work at age 67, takes a job first at an ice cream parlor and later a restaurant. They are told not to have further contact with each other for at least three years, and are closely monitored by Richie and Deke Yablonski ( Charles Durning), the police officer who first arrested the duo. Both Harry and Archie are in for a shock at how much the world has changed from 1956 to 1986: clothing, sexual lifestyles (their old bar is now an openly gay men's club, women are more assertive), the advance of technology, and lack of respect from the younger generation. Archie's young female restaurant manager treats him badly, while Harry is denied proper food by a nasty retirement home orderly and receives worse treatment from the home's even nastier female manager. Harry reconnects with an old flame named Belle (

Alexis Smith Margaret Alexis Fitzsimmons-Smith (June 8, 1921 – June 9, 1993) was a Canadian-born American actress and singer. She appeared in several major Hollywood films in the 1940s and had a notable career on Broadway in the 1970s, winning a Tony Awar ...

), and they sweetly reminisce about old times. Archie embraces the much changed contemporary scene and at a unisex high-tech gym, the young manager, Skye ( Darlanne Fluegel), sets her sights on Archie as the only "real man" there. She gets Archie to adopt faddish clothes and invites him to a trendy disco nightclub where they gyrate to

new wave music New wave is a loosely defined music genre that encompasses pop-oriented styles from the late 1970s and the 1980s. It was originally used as a catch-all for the various styles of music that emerged after punk rock, including punk itself. Lat ...

, and they start a steamy affair which aging Archie cannot sustain. Tired of trying to adjust to 1980s society under the eyes of the law, Harry and Archie go back to their old ways. First they try to reassemble their old gang for a bank robbery, but all surviving members are now either crippled or invalids. Then they hijack an armored truck, only to find it empty except for a roll of quarters, and are mocked by the media for their blunder. To add insult to injury, the two are mistaken for younger men in disguises. Meanwhile, Leon tracks Richie down at his office and retrieves the information on Harry's retirement home. He proceeds to hold Richie and Belle hostage at the retirement home until he sees Harry and Archie arrive and opens fire. Richie punches Leon to the ground and quickly escapes with the duo; before blaming himself for getting them into trouble. Archie decides to hijack the ''Gold Coast Flyer'' again as it makes its final southbound run after 50 years and asks Harry and Richie for their help. When both refuse to take part for moral reasons, Archie decides to do it by himself. Archie stops the ''Flyer'' just as it is leaving the railroad yard and is soon joined by Harry, having had a change of heart. The media and dignitaries aboard are surprised, although Harry and Archie gladly answer their questions and pose for pictures as they identify themselves and their ages. To their surprise, Leon arrives and explains that he had been paid $25,000 to kill them by an old enemy of theirs and he has waited 30 years for them to get out of prison. Deke soon arrives with a full SWAT team to capture Harry and Archie, who persuade Leon to call a temporary truce with them as they have never killed anyone in their crimes. As Leon escorts the passengers out of the train, Richie, disguised as a SWAT officer, sneaks aboard and gets it moving again to help Harry and Archie escape before Deke can arrest them. Harry, Archie, Richie, and Leon decide to take the train to

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

, but find that the tracks end only a few feet from the border. Harry pushes Leon off the train, to which he vows revenge. Archie then takes Richie back to the coaches and uncouples the train, advising Richie to downplay his role in the heist to not destroy his career. Harry and Archie drive the locomotive at full throttle through a fusillade of bullets from U.S. border police. They crash through, burying the engine partially in the soil of Mexico a few feet across the border, where a Mexican border patrol arrives to arrest them. True to their tough guy credo, Harry and Archie raise their hands but talk back to the patrol's commanding officer, leaving him puzzled enough that it gives an opening for Archie to kick him in the groin.

Cast

as Harold 'Harry' Doyle *

as Archibald 'Archie' Long * Charles Durning as Sergeant Deke Yablonski *

as Belle * Dana Carvey as Richard 'Richie' Evans * Darlanne Fluegel as Skye * Eli Wallach as Leon B. Little * Monty Ash as Vince *

Billy Barty Billy Barty (born William John Bertanzetti, October 25, 1924 – December 23, 2000) was an American actor and activist. In adult life, he stood tall, due to cartilage–hair hypoplasia dwarfism. Because of his short stature, he was often cast ...

as Philly * Simmy Bow as Schultz * Darlene Conley as Gladys Ripps * Nathan Davis as Jimmy Ellis *

Grant Aleksander Grant Aleksander Kunkowski (born August 6, 1960), better known as Grant Aleksander, is an American actor. Early life Aleksander was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and was the youngest of three brothers. He was well known at McDonogh School as both ...

as Bartender At Mickey's Bar * Red Hot Chili Peppers as Themselves *

Hilary Shepard Hilary Shepard (born Hilary Shapiro on December 10, 1959), alternately billed as Hilary Shepard-Turner, is an American actress and singer. She began her career in the mid 1980s, as co-lead singer and percussionist in the girl group American Girls ...

as Sandy

Soundtrack

Kenny Rogers Kenneth Ray Rogers (August 21, 1938 – March 20, 2020) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particularly popular with country audiences but also charted mo ...

sings the opening theme song " They Don't Make Them Like They Used To".

Janet Jackson Janet Damita Jo Jackson (born May 16, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and dancer. She is noted for her innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows. Her sound and choreog ...

sings the song, " Nasty," during Harry and Archie's lesson in Street Fighting with a local street gang. The Red Hot Chili Peppers briefly appear in the film where they performed a song never heard outside this film: "Set It Straight". No soundtrack album was released, and frontman

Anthony Kiedis Anthony Kiedis ( ; born November 1, 1962) is an American singer and songwriter. He is a founding member and lead vocalist of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers. Kiedis and his fellow band members were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of F ...

was quoted as saying they recorded it solely for the movie and had no intention of releasing it themselves. The 1977

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...

recording of Duke Ellington's "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" is featured. The Fabulous Thunderbirds song " Tuff Enuff" plays during the ending credits.

Production

The film began filming with Adolph Cesar in the role of Leon B. Little, but the actor suffered a stroke only a few weeks in and the scenes had to be re-shot with his replacement Eli Wallach. The locomotive

Southern Pacific 4449 Southern Pacific 4449, also known as the Daylight, is the only surviving example of Southern Pacific Railroad's "GS-4" class of 4-8-4 "Northern" type steam locomotives and one of only two GS-class locomotives surviving, the other being " GS-6" ...

played the Gold Coast Flyer. It was also used to pull the

American Freedom Train Two national Freedom Trains have toured the United States: the 1947–49 special exhibit Freedom Train and the 1975–76 American Freedom Train which celebrated the United States Bicentennial. Each train had its own special red, white and blue p ...

exhibit during the

Bicentennial __NOTOC__ A bicentennial or bicentenary is the two-hundredth anniversary of a part, or the celebrations thereof. It may refer to: Europe * French Revolution bicentennial, commemorating the 200th anniversary of 14 July 1789 uprising, celebrated ...

, now based in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous ...

. The locomotive engineer is played by Doyle L. McCormack, the man most responsible for the actual restoration of SP 4449. A portion of the

Eagle Mountain Railroad The Eagle Mountain Railroad (EMRR) was a private railroad in California, owned by the Kaiser Steel Corporation, and is owned today by Kaiser Steel's successor, Kaiser Ventures, Inc. of Ontario, California. The EMRR is long and is located in Ri ...

was used in the filming of the movie. During the filming of the exterior shots of SP 4449, the train was stored nightly at the Eagle Mountain rail yards. The local school children from Eagle Mountain School took a field trip in early 1986 to see and tour the train on location along the

south of

Interstate 10 Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost cross-country highway in the American Interstate Highway System. I-10 is the fourth-longest Interstate in the United States at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. This freeway is part of the originally p ...

. As of November 2, 2019, the full size replica prop, which was used at the end of the film, was sold at an Auction to a student at Desert Center, California.

Reception

Box office

The film was released in theaters on October 3, 1986 in the United States, it opened up on its first weekend making US$4.5 million and would eventually make $21,458,229 in total worldwide.

Critical response

''Tough Guys'' received mixed reviews from critics. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

it has an approval rating of 53% based on 15 reviews. On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 54 out of 100, based on eleven critics, indicating "Mixed or average reviews". Walter Goodman of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' gave the film a positive review, saying, “We know that when the he-men of “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral” are picked on by a bunch of callow toughs, the toughs are going to regret they started up. But it's fun anyhow waiting for what it is.”

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

gave the film a two out of four stars, stating, "Watching ''Tough Guys'', you begin to meditate. You look at Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster, and you remember years and years of moviegoing, ''Tough Guys'' might have been better if Douglas and Lancaster had played characters who were a little more fallible, humble and realistic".

References

External links

* * * * *
Movie stills
{{Bryna Productions 1986 films 1980s action comedy films American crime comedy films Films about old age Films directed by Jeff Kanew Films scored by James Newton Howard Films set in Los Angeles Films shot in Los Angeles Rail transport films Touchstone Pictures films Bryna Productions films Films set in 1986 1986 comedy films 1980s English-language films 1980s American films