The Hard Way (1991 film)

The Hard Way is a 1991 action-comedy film starring Michael J. Fox and James Woods. It is directed by John Badham. The film also had notable performances by Stephen Lang, Annabella Sciorra, Luis Guzmán, LL Cool J, Delroy Lindo, Penny Marshall, and Bryant Gumbel as himself.

Quotes

 * Nick: Hey, look at this. They got my billboard across the street.
 * John: Good, you'll be sleeping close to the one you love.


 * John: Not if you tied my tongue to you tail-pipe and drove me 80 miles-an-hour naked across a field of broken glass. No, no, no!


 * John: Why don't you go tie your dick in a knot?


 * Nick: When are you gonna get me something with a little relevance, a little social conscience, something that doesn't have a goddamn Roman numeral in the title? You ever hear of "Hamlet III", Ang? "Midsummer's Night IV"?
 * Angie: They made "Henry V"! It won awards for that little Scottish fellow!


 * Nick: Ever killed anybody?
 * John: Counting today?
 * Nick: Come on, John. Look, my character kills this guy. It's probably an innocent by-stander. I just want to know what it's like.
 * John: You can't. Not by asking someone.
 * Nick: Will you open up? I just want to know what it feels like to be inside you skin.
 * John: I DON'T WANT YOU INSIDE MY SKIN, YOU UNDERSTAND? It's private! What's in there belongs to me! You're not going to learn what it means to be a cop by eating hot dogs and picking your teeth and asking stupid questions. We live this job. It's something we are, no something we do! Every time a cop walks up to a car and has to give a speeding ticket, he knows he may have to kill someone or to be killed himself. That's not something you step into by strapping on a rubber gun and riding around all day. You get to go back to your $1,000,000 beach house and your bimbos and your blow jobs and you get 17 takes to get it right. We get one take. It lasts our whole lives. We mess it up and we're dead.
 * Nick: [picking up a tape recorder] Fuck! Was that great, John? Look, can you just say that one more time for me, please? John.


 * Nick: [on the big screen] We're not like those assholes in the movies. They get 17 takes to get it right. We get one... and it lasts our whole life.


 * John: [in the audience] Hey! That's my line!

 [after being shot in the chest]
 * Nick: Oh, man. This is too real.


 * Pooley: Jesus, Moss. What are you gonna tell the captain? "I'm sorry about the 45 people I killed, I was horny?"


 * John: No one since my divorce even stuck around for a second date. They say they don't like me being a cop, or I don't know. Maybe it's something about my personality-

[car honks]
 * John: What do you think? HEY! UP YOURS, ASSHOLE! God damn it!

Cast

 * Michael J. Fox ... Nick Lang/Ray Casanov
 * James Woods ... Detective Lt. John Moss, NYPD
 * Stephen Lang ... Party Crasher
 * Annabella Sciorra ... Susan
 * John Capodice ... Detective Grainy, NYPD
 * Delroy Lindo ... Captain Brix, NYPD
 * Luis Guzmán ... Detective Benny Pooley, NYPD
 * LL Cool J ... Detective Billy, NYPD
 * Mary Mara ... Detective China, NYPD
 * Bruce Goldberg ... Taxi Cab Driver
 * Penny Marshall ... Angie, Nick's agent
 * Christina Ricci ... Bonnie, Susan's daughter
 * George Kee Cheung ... Drug Dealer
 * Lewis Black ... Obnoxious Banker that John faces off with in a bar
 * Rand Foerster (co-founder of The West Bank Café Downstairs Theatre Bar with Lewis Black) ... Obnoxious Banker
 * Kathy Najimy ... Nick's Girl Friday
 * Mos Def ... Dead Romeos Gang Member (as Dante Smith)
 * Bill Cobbs ... Raggedy Man who accosts Nick outside of the Dead Romeos' pad
 * Leif Riddell ... Head mugger
 * Johnny Sanchez ... Mugger
 * Karen Lynn Gorney ... Woman in Subway
 * Holly Kuespert (wife of director D.J. Caruso) ... Nick's co-star in "Smoking Gunn"
 * Michael Badalucco ... Pizza Man
 * Fracaswell Hyman (creator of The Famous Jett Jackson) ... Wino
 * Bryant Gumbel ... Himself
 * Jan Speck (model and wife of the film's director, John Badham) ... Frank, TV reporter
 * David Sosna ... Billy the Frog Dog Vendor