Played

The story opens in Los Angeles with Dillon (Val Kilmer) who receives a phone call from Ray Burns (Mick Rossi) who has just been shot and desperately needs help. Dillon is a cleaner for a gangster named Eddie (Gabriel Byrne) and has been sent to assist Ray should he require it. After a colorful opening title sequence which follows Dillon's drive to the house, he finds Ray almost bleeding to death on a sofa. Removing all of the evidence, Dillon leaves carrying Ray to his car but not before he torches the house, destroying any evidence of Ray's presence. As Dillon and Ray drive away, Dillon struggles to keep Ray conscious and relates to him a story of a humorous encounter with a Mexican auto mechanic, which coins one of the catchphrases of the film: "I'm not gonna taco".