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This Lethal Weapon trivia quiz has 60 free questions with answers and runs through the whole franchise, from the 1987 original that Shane Black wrote as a fresh UCLA graduate to Lethal Weapon 4 in 1998 and the Fox television reboot. The early questions are the ones any fan will get: who directs, which holiday the first film is set during, what Riggs gives Murtaugh for Christmas, whose immunity gets revoked. From there it moves into casting stories (the star who found the script too violent, the Terminator actor Donner wanted), the rejected Play Dirty draft that killed Riggs off, the real City Hall blown up for the third film's opening, and the NHL game the crew filmed around. There are questions on the music too, including the guitarist behind Riggs's theme and the two singers who wrote singles with Eric Clapton for the third film, plus box office, awards and the fifth film that never got made. Every answer has been checked against the films' Wikipedia pages, and each explanation adds one detail worth remembering.
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Q 01Who directed all four Lethal Weapon films?
Richard Donner
Donner had just made Ladyhawke and had long wanted to work with Mel Gibson; the two ended up making six films together.
Q 02Who wrote the original Lethal Weapon screenplay?
Shane Black
Black was a recent UCLA graduate who wrote it in mid-1985 as what he called an 'urban Western' inspired by Dirty Harry.
Q 03In which year was the first Lethal Weapon released?
1987
It opened on 6 March and spent its first three weekends at number one, ahead of A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 and Platoon.
Q 04What is the first name of Mel Gibson's character, Riggs?
Martin
Riggs is a former Special Forces soldier turned LAPD narcotics sergeant who is suicidal after the death of his wife.
Q 05What is Roger Murtaugh's rank in the LAPD in the first film?
Sergeant
Both partners hold the rank of sergeant, Riggs in narcotics and Murtaugh in homicide, and Murtaugh is turning 50 as the film opens.
Q 06During which holiday season is the first Lethal Weapon set?
Christmas
Writer Shane Black has used Christmas as a backdrop again and again, from The Long Kiss Goodnight to Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Iron Man 3.
Q 07Which song plays over the opening credits of the first Lethal Weapon?
Jingle Bell Rock
The Bobby Helms recording opens a film that ends with Riggs eating Christmas dinner at the Murtaugh house.
Q 08Who plays the villainous Mr. Joshua in the first film?
Gary Busey
Busey asked to read for the part after years without auditioning and later credited the role with reviving his career.
Q 09What is the name of the drug-smuggling operation of ex-CIA mercenaries in the first Lethal Weapon?
Shadow Company
It began as a CIA paramilitary unit in Vietnam and was reformed after the war as a heroin ring under General McAllister.
Q 10What gift does Riggs give Murtaugh at the end of the first film?
A hollow-point bullet
It is the round he had been saving to kill himself, and handing it over signals he no longer needs it.
Q 11Which actor turned down the role of Riggs because he found the script 'too violent'?
Bruce Willis
The refusal is spoofed in Loaded Weapon 1, where Willis turns up as John McClane after the villains attack the wrong beach house.
Q 12Which Star Trek actor was considered to direct the first Lethal Weapon but was busy with Three Men and a Baby?
Leonard Nimoy
Nimoy also did not feel comfortable making an action film, and the job went to Richard Donner.
Q 13Who composed the score for the Lethal Weapon films?
Michael Kamen
Kamen had just finished Highlander and got the job because the editor had temp-tracked the film with his Edge of Darkness music.
Q 21Which character debuts in Lethal Weapon 2 as a federal witness under Riggs and Murtaugh's care?
Leo Getz
The neurotic money launderer had one scene in Shane Black's rejected draft but became a regular for the rest of the series.
Q 22The villains of Lethal Weapon 2 are diplomats from which country?
South Africa
Their smuggled gold comes in the form of Krugerrands, and Riggs even romances the consul-general's secretary.
Q 23What legal shield do the villains of Lethal Weapon 2 hide behind?
Diplomatic immunity
Murtaugh's final line to Rudd is that it has 'just been revoked'.
Q 14Which guitarist performs Riggs's theme in the Lethal Weapon scores?
Eric Clapton
Murtaugh, by contrast, is represented by David Sanborn's saxophone, and Chris Rock's Lee Butters later gets a harmonica.
Q 15Roughly how much did the first Lethal Weapon gross worldwide?
$120 million
Made for about $15 million, it finished as the eighth-highest-grossing film of 1987 in North America.
Q 16The first Lethal Weapon earned its only Academy Award nomination in which category?
Best Sound
It lost to The Last Emperor, which swept nine awards that night.
Q 17Which martial art did Rorion Gracie teach Mel Gibson and the actor playing Mr. Joshua for the first film?
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
The film mixed three styles: capoeira, jailhouse rock and BJJ, so that Riggs's fighting would look like nothing seen on screen before.
Q 18Who plays Murtaugh's wife Trish in the films?
Darlene Love
The singer of 'Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)' plays Trish in all four films.
Q 19Which actor did Donner want for Riggs after seeing The Terminator, only to find him committed to Aliens?
Michael Biehn
Christopher Lambert and Christopher Reeve were also approached and neither was interested.
Q 20How much did Warner Bros. pay for the original Lethal Weapon spec script in 1985?
$250,000
Black wrote it in about six weeks; seven years later he set a record by getting $4 million for The Long Kiss Goodnight.
Q 24Who plays Leo Getz in the Lethal Weapon films?
Joe Pesci
For the fourth film he was paid $1 million for three weeks of work, which forced yet another round of rewrites.
Q 25What was the title of the rejected first draft of the second film, co-written with novelist Warren Murphy?
Play Dirty
It was rejected as too dark, partly because Riggs died at the end; Black later reused the title for a 2025 film he directed.
Q 26Where does the climax of Lethal Weapon 2 take place?
A freighter at the Port of Los Angeles
The ship is the Alba Varden; the stilt house is destroyed earlier, the one scene kept from Shane Black's draft.
Q 27Which weapon does Murtaugh use to kill two assassins in his home in Lethal Weapon 2?
A nail gun
He is renovating the house at the time, and Leo Getz is abducted in the same attack.
Q 28Who plays Rika van den Haas, Riggs's love interest in Lethal Weapon 2?
Patsy Kensit
Kensit also sings on the soundtrack with her band Eighth Wonder; Rika was originally written to survive to a Thanksgiving dinner scene.
Q 29In Lethal Weapon 2, what does the villain Vorstedt confess after capturing Riggs?
He caused his wife's death
Her death was a botched attempt on Riggs himself, which turns the case into a personal vendetta.
Q 30Which ex-Beatle contributed the song 'Cheer Down' to the Lethal Weapon 2 soundtrack?
George Harrison
The album also has The Beach Boys' 'Still Cruisin'' and a version of 'Knockin' on Heaven's Door' by Randy Crawford, Clapton and Sanborn.