Unsurprisingly for somebody that has a new movie to promote, Sylvester Stallone has been all over the news recently. The actor has been doing the press rounds for upcoming action sequel Rambo: Last Blood, and has been fielding questions about everything from his involvement in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to his continued role in the Rocky franchise.
Last Blood marks the fifth outing for bandana-wearing Vietnam vet John Rambo, and Stallone is certainly no stranger to a sequel, having played Rocky Balboa eight times, headlined three Expendables and Escape Plans apiece, as well as lending support in Spy Kids 3 and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. One of Sly’s fan-favorite movies that never got a sequel though was the 1989 buddy flick Tango & Cash, which has gone on to become a cult classic for fans of the genre.
However, it appears that the 73 year-old hasn’t given up on the hope of making a follow-up even after 30 years, admitting that the one hold-up on a potential Tango & Cash 2 is the reluctance of co-star Kurt Russell to reprise his role as cowboy boot-wearing Lieutenant Gabe Cash.
“I would do Tango & Cash in a second. I know, with Kurt, it’s not about a caper… it’s just us doing our thing.”
While the two aging stars have at least discussed the project, it seems that Russell isn’t too keen on the idea, with Stallone recalling one of the conversations they had about the sequel that made it sound as though he’s going to take a lot of convincing to sign up.
“‘I don’t know, Sly… There we were in our prime and now we’re in our un-prime. I dunno.’ So I said, ‘Kurt, I’m telling you, ya gotta go in on this’. So he said, ‘I’ll talk to you when I get back’.”
Kurt Russell seems to be making a smart decision here. While Stallone clearly has no issues about returning to play the same character even after a long absence, the idea of seeing two actors with a combined age of 141 headline an action movie isn’t likely to appeal to modern audiences. Tango & Cash wasn’t exactly a smash hit, either, suffering from a troubled production that saw director Andrei Konchalovsky fired, and the movie only just about made back its $55m budget at the box office.
Tango & Cash is better left alone as an enduring 80’s favorite when the buddy cop genre was at its peak, and a modern-day sequel would be very unlikely to recapture that charm. Maybe Stallone will just go the Cobra route though and reboot the entire thing as a TV show anyway?