Slop Cop

I like Gabe Cash, the messy slob to Ray Tango's fastidious money guy. An interesting point is that while Cash is a slob, he drives a sweet convertible. He also has the newspaper delivered, which I grant may be because he likes reading about himself. He likes to glance over his newspaper while taking bites of a messy burrito that he is holding with one hand. He's brash and quick with a one liner. Tango is too, but opposites can have some similarities.

It really seems like Kurt Russel should be Tango and Sylvester Stallone should be Cash. Maybe they thought that was too on the nose. It's true enough that Stallone is more obviously of Italian extraction, but then you don't need either of them to be Tango. If you don't want a too obvious name for Stallone, neither of them has to be Cash either, but then the movie works well with the names are they are, so why meddle with them? I can deal.

Also odd is the fact that when the two are tricking Requin into revealing key information, Tango becomes the bad cop. Cash, the Riggs-esque messy rogue is somehow in the position of trying to restrain a suddenly homicidal Tango, who is ordinarily extremely reserved and risk-averse (except when he's playing chicken with 18 wheelers. I guess neither of them is very consistent in their personalities, and people are allowed to behave differently at times.)

Of the two, Cash has the more complete character arc. Not only does he clear his name and help take down Perret, he also wins the heart of Kiki. Tango doesn't even go through the evolution of becoming OK with his sister falling for Cash. He is not ok with that to the very end. For that reason, if I were pressed to name my favorite, I would probably go with Cash, but don't make me choose. I love them both very much, and they need each other.