Warden Off A Hangover

Since it was very nice to ring in the new year with some dear friends, I'd like to look at another friend character in "Tango & Cash". It's Gabe Cash's former commanding officer Matt. As of the film's inception, he is an assistant warden at the horrific prison where Cash and Tango have been sent to ultimately be murdered. Although they have some pretty bad luck in this movie, it is fortunate that they go somewhere that a friend is in authority.

In any event, Matt gets involved once Tango and Cash are nearly killed. Presumably he knew they were arriving, or at least that they had arrived. Then again, it's known to us that the prison is heavily corrupt, and somehow Matt is the lone virtuous member of the whole operation. Everyone else is not just corrupt, but murderously so, and our friendly assistant warden cannot by himself offer any kind of protection or easily spirit them out of the prison.

Instead he offers a complicated escape plan that hinges on the two of them getting garbage detail, or some such thing. That's another of the things they are in prison long enough to do: receive jobs within the prison. In any event, the plan goes dramatically awry, though it is still successful in that the two cops manage to escape the prison. Warden Matt's part of the story comes to a conclusion there, regrettably.

Still, I think of him fondly enough. I would not trade him for Tango's lieutenant, but, Warden Matt is a serviceable authority figure during the prison sequence of the movie, where we don't have more traditional authority figures to serve as foils to our two beloved cops. Additionally, he provides a logical way for Tango and Cash to learn of a way to escape, and logic is in short supply for most of this film. It all works, so that's a minor complaint, but it's true. Anyway, love you Warden Matt!