It seems a bit odd that someone who is as experienced with guns as he is doesn't wear a holster, but instead just sticks his pistol and extra magazine behind his waistband haha.
shareLong hair, wore a letter man's jacket, jeans, and cowboy boots - Seemed more like a rebel thing to me.
shareIt was an '80s thing. Gibson's following in the footsteps of Eddie Murphy and Sly Stallone. But it does seem like the wildman thing to do.
But while we're on the subject, there's a promotional image of Riggs with what strongly appears to be a holster on his right hip. The picture's on the back of the Director's Cut DVD. And if it really is a holster, then maybe the character started out with one, but Gibson decided the lack of one would contribute to Riggs' reckless image. The guy walks around with his shirt untucked, somewhat sloppily dressed; the lack of holster makes sense.
Here it is:
http://www.coverdude.com/covers/lethal-weapon-1987-dutch-r2-front-cover-202957.jpg
It's the picture of Riggs in a gray shirt at the bottom of the cover. You can see the tan holster on his belt just underneath his arm pit.
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Can you believe it? My Harvard tie. Like oh, sure, he went to Harvard.
It does fit in with Riggs' rebel/doesn't give a sh*t attitude, but I always assumed part of it came from working undercover, which is what Riggs did before being teamed up with Roger. Seems like that would ID you as a detective right away...? Do criminals usually go around using holsters?
shareIt was pure Hollywood, there were several things about Riggs' character that were unrealistic, and done purely for the sake of making him a "rebel."
His lack of a holster makes him look reckless/disorganized/a rule breaker, etc.
Jumping off the roof. In the real world, there's no way he wouldn't have been suspended or wound up on a desk, confined to admin duty while his conduct was being investigated.
His dress. His clothes are correct for a narcotics detective. But guess what? The LAPD detective division has a dress code, and it's business attire. The instant he transferred from narcotics to homicide, he would have had to cut his hair and put on a jacket & tie.
The fact that he's a sergeant -- he and Murtaugh both, in fact. Sergeants are administrators who manage investigators. They don't really work cases themselves.
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