Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
So much macho, it might make you sick.

Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man is a 1991 action film, starring Mickey Rourke and Don Johnson. The film was written by Don Michael Paul and directed by Simon Wincer.

Set in the then-future of 1996, Harley Davidson meets a life long friend, a cowboy who is nicknamed The Marlboro Man and they later plan a bank robbery to help save their friend's bar from being foreclosed and replaced with a skyscraper. However, after they rob a bank's armored car, they discover the cargo they stole is the designer drug Crystal Dream, not money. Chance Wilder, who is a bank president involved in drug dealing, demands the return of the drugs. A series of increasingly deadly encounters ensue as heavily-armed assassins hunt for Harley and Marlboro, and the film continues to details their attempts to escape with their lives.

Tropes used in Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man include:
  • Badass Biker: Both our heroes.
  • Badass Longcoat: The villains all wear long black coats that not only conceal the assault rifles they carry, but are also BULLETPROOF.
  • Chekhov's Gun: Marlboro's duct-taped cowboy boots. Harley calls him out on this, saying he should get a new pair. Later, one of the assassins holds to Marlboro's boots when they're both hanging from a ledge and... whoops.
  • Cop Boyfriend: Girlfriend, actually.
  • Fantastic Drug: The hallucinogenic neurotoxin "Crystal Dream", which is taken through the eyes.
  • Gunship Rescue
  • Hand Cannon: Both of the main characters are armed with biiiig guns; Harley Davidson has a custom Ruger Super Blackhawk in .454 Casull, and Marlboro packs a .44 Magnum Desert Eagle.
  • Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Harley is apparently a graduate. According to Marlboro, it's because he first learned how to shoot with an overly-powerful gun, and thus never mastered the finer points of marksmanship.
  • Instant Marksman, Just Squeeze Trigger: The Marlboro Man says "Squeeze the trigger, Harley. Don't yank it, it's not your dick. Squeeze it." In this case, however, there's no training taking place; the Marlboro Man is making a snarky comment on Harley's piss-poor shooting skills.
  • It's Like I Always Say...: "My old man used to tell me, before he left this shitty world..."
  • Name and Name: Nickname and nickname, to be exact.
  • Only a Flesh Wound (with a side of Major Injury Underreaction): The Marlboro Man is shot in the arm twice: once in the forearm with a 5.56 assault rifle round and once in the shoulder with a massive .454 Casull round. In real life, that arm would probably have been damaged to the point of requiring amputation. At the very least, it would have been severely and permanently crippled. Marlboro's reaction to his injuries can best be described as "mild, bemused annoyance", and he is later seen competing in a rodeo, where he uses that arm as if nothing ever happened.
  • Put Down Your Gun and Step Away: Alexander tries this when he captures Marlboro. Subverted when Harley attempts to take out the baddie with a well-placed shot, but is such a poor marksman he just ends up shooting Marlboro in the shoulder.
  • Robbing the Mob Bank
  • Smoking Is Cool
  • Soft Water
  • Throw-Away Guns
  • Twenty Minutes Into the Future: It's set in 1996, so technically it's five years into the future.