A Prime Villain

In "Tango & Cash", the villain is Yves Perret, as portrayed by Jack Palance. He is a very successful drug dealer, overseeing two lieutenants. He seems to control the whole city underworld, but the two titular cops remain thorns in his side. The film's plot revolves around Perret's plan to deal with them. While one could certainly second-guess his strategy, tactics and execution, Perret is a very satisfying villain thanks to Palance's disregard for subtlety as an actor.

In the opening scene, we see Stallone's Ray Tango successfully intercept a tanker truck full of cocaine. It's full of loose cocaine. At the conclusion of the scene, the driver and his counterpart are arrested and the cocaine is seized by police. Driving by in a limo to survey the scene are Perret and his lieutenants. They discuss their quandary, taking care to reference the yet-to-appear Gabe Cash. It's a curious scene, I think.

A lot of bosses are not really good at all the aspects of leadership. One area where they can fall short is knowing when and how much to trust their subordinates. Perret seems like a micro-manager. He always has his lieutenants with him, so I don't know when they are actually handling their respective territories. He also, in the above-described scene, is needlessly hovering over his low-level henchmen. Why would he run the risk of being present at the scene of a routine drug run?

There is also his major plan to deal with Tango and Cash. It's not a simple operation. Fearing that they will become martyrs (which I don't see as a big problem, considering they are already famous heroes), he is reluctant to just kill them. Instead, he concocts an elaborate plan to have them framed for a murder and subsequently killed in prison. He then personally appears in the prison to taunt them along with his lead henchman.

Bear in mind that at the time they go into prison, Tango and Cash still have no idea who's done this to them. Tango thinks he's just been up against the Latino lieutenant. Cash thinks he's been up against the Asian one. It's basically meaningless that Perret shows up to gloat except that the two cops now have leads to follow upon escaping prison. It's yet another case of Perret's micro-management tripping him up.

There's so much more to say about Perret alone that you may rest assured of more Tango & Cash posts for the foreseeable future. They will not come in any logical order, so tomorrow may see more on Perret, or on the two leads, or on something else. Whatever it is, it is bound to involve more spoilers and it is bound to be fun. I hope you'll stick with it, but if you don't, I will not at all be surprised. Until then, goodbye!