As Chris O’Dowd and Ray Romano prepare to roll cameras, juggling crime scenes with movie locations, in the second season of the gritty and very violent remake of the Barry Sonnenfeld’s much-loved comedy crime caper Get Shorty, what better time to double down and discover why it takes two to tango in Hollywood. Here are the double acts we cannot stop watching.
Jules Winnfield and Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction (1994)
Resurrecting John Travolta’s career and helping Samuel L. Jackson become the coolest cat in cinema history, Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction introduced the world to the suited and booted hitmen Vincent Vega and Jules Winnfield. At once terrifying and amusing, the pair’s relationship crackles with brilliant and often hilarious discussions about burgers, foot massages and who goes on “brain detail”.
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Thelma & Louise (1991)
When Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis put the pedal to the metal and sped out into the great unknown in Ridley Scott’s feminist road trip, they spearheaded a rip-roaring tale of female empowerment. It took in a scantily clad young Brad Pitt, an exploding semi-trailer and an epic cliffhanger of an ending that gave a generation their “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” moment.
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Jake & Elwood Blues – The Blues Brothers (1980)
Saturday Night Live alumni and all-around comedy legends John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd hit the road as “Joliet” Jake and Elwood Blues in John Landis’s crazy rock ‘n’ roll road trip. Based on characters the pair developed on SNL, the siblings are on a “mission from God” to earn money to save the orphanage they grew up in. They end up on the run from the police, irate rednecks rockers The Good Ol’ Boys, Illinois Nazis and a machine gun wielding Carrie Fisher as Elwood’s scorned girlfriend.
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Bonnie Parker & Clyde Barrow – Bonnie And Clyde (1967)
Based on the lives of real-life bank robbers Bonnie Elizabeth Parker and Clyde Chestnut Barrow, Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty took the lead in Arthur Penn’s brilliant, groundbreaking crime thriller. Smashing cinematic taboos, the film was brazen in its depiction of sex and violence, especially the bloody finale, and spearheaded the New Hollywood era of the late Sixties. The film had you rooting for the bad guys. Being bad has never looked this good.
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Batman & Robin – Batman (1966)
The crime-fighting duo of Gotham City, the Caped Crusader and the Boy Wonder, Batman and Robin! As played by Adam West and Burt Ward in the grooviest high-camp adaptation of the DC Comics superhero classic, Bruce Wayne and his young ward Dick Grayson and their alter-egos Batman and Robin. Holy best dynamic duo. EVER!”
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Agent Cooper & Sheriff Truman – Twin Peaks
As brilliant as the return of Twin Peaks was last year, for many there was one thing missing. David Lynch’s nightmarish descent into the creation of Bob and Laura Palmer was undoubtedly full of the usual head-scratching Lynchian weirdness, shocking violence and oddball characters we have come to expect, but it lacked Sheriff Harry Truman. Retired from acting Michael Ontkean declined to take part robbing us of the reunion of one of television’s most-loved bromances, the Sheriff and Kyle MacLachlan’s FBI Agent.
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Martin Riggs & Roger Murtaugh – Lethal Weapon (1987)
As played by Mel Gibson and Danny Glover, the bickering cops Riggs and Murtaugh in Richard Donner’s classic ‘80s comedy action fest are a delightfully odd couple to spend time with. One is a family man, the other a loner trying to exorcise his demons and together, they were, as described by Richard Schickel of Time, “Mad Max meets The Cosby Show.”
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Buzz Lightyear and Woody – Toy Story (1995)
An uptight cowboy and a delusional space ranger, Woody and Buzz Lightyear are the ultimate children’s entertainers. Gifted with the ability to make us laugh and cry, the top toys in Pixar’s Toy Story are loved by kids of all ages. Over the three films their friendship has become unbreakable and, in Toy Story 3, when it looked like the unthinkable might happen, it was devastating.
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Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar – Wayne’s World (1992)
Schwing! Party time! Excellent! Mike Myers and Dana Carvey’s much-loved community TV hosting metalheads started life on Saturday Night Live but soon became a cinematic sensation. Whether rocking new life into Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”, being denied Led Zepplin’s “Stairway To Heaven” or hosting the inaugural Wayne Stock, the guitar-crazy duo was a two-man quote machine.
Get Shorty Season Two streams on Stan from August 13