That unpleasant sound we all just heard in the distance was a wail of protest from the admirers of Quentin Tarantino: This writer is a moron! He hasn’t mentioned Quentin! Fine: Reservoir Dogs came out in 1992, aka the Year of Black. Without question, Tarantino was huffing from the same cultural tailpipe as every other American nerd, and he had surely seen and internalized the wit and wisdom of Black’s Lethal Weapon as many times as anyone else. But the Tarantino Problem is parallel to and distinct from the Black Enigma. Tarantino is a battle for another day.

Odd fact: Shane Black plays one of Arnold’s commandos. He asked for a part from the movie’s producer, Joel Silver, after Silver produced Black’s Lethal Weapon. The story goes that Silver and McTiernan decided on set to kill off Black’s character first so that he could be made to do rewrites while they filmed. Though Black had a hand in the final product, the film is pristinely without evidence of his mischief.