This article is about the 1995 film. For other films of the same title, see
Bad Company (film).
Bad Company is a 1995 motion picture directed by Damian Harris, (son of the late actor Richard Harris), written by Ross Thomas, and starring Ellen Barkin, Laurence Fishburne and Frank Langella. The action centers on a private company set up by, and employing, ex-intelligence staff selling their particular talents to large corporations, and on members of The CIA itself who want to take it over for their own use, using whatever means possible to do so.
Cast
Plot
Nelson Crowe, a C.I.A. operative who has been "let go" by the agency, successfully applies for a position at a company called The Toolshed, set up by Victor Grimes and his faithful number two, Margeret Wells, nick named `The Snowqueen.` Both Grimes and Wells are ex C.I.A. and employ people from the agency and other intelligence backgrounds with the intention of selling their particular talents to large companies, both home and abroad. With his background and his psychological profile as ample qualifications, Crowe has no problem fitting in.
Crowe is in fact still working for the C.I.A., undercover, albeit against his will. Crowe is in deep trouble after an Iraqi Colonel informed Crowe's boss, `Smitty` Smithfield, that Crowe had failed to deliver a payment in gold to him, inferring that Crowe had taken it for himself, something Crowe strongly denies. However, with no proof to back up his story, and Smitty threatening him with prison time, Crowe has no choice but to help Smitty infiltrate The Toolshed so the agency can take it over and run it for themselves, with Smitty in Grimes's position.
Soon after joining, Wells seduces Crowe and they become lovers, at the same time convincing him to help her dispose of Grimes, so they can take over The Toolshed themselves.
One of Grimes's clients is a corporation run by an eccentric recluse, Walter Curl. Curl's company is being sued in The Supreme Court accused of poisoning the water supply to a small town, resulting in the birth of disabled children. With the verdict between four of the five judges in the case split 50/50, Grimes gives Crowe one million dollars in cash to bribe the fifth judge, Justin Beach, into swinging the verdict in Curl's favor.
During a secret meeting with Smitty to inform him of his progress, Crowe is forced to sign a receipt for the cash. Crowe in turn records their conversation as insurance.
Compared to his childhood friend, suave gambler Les Goodwin, Beach is a hopeless gambler in debt to several bookies, and Goodwin himself. As well as bribing Beach with the million dollars, Crowe buys up Beach's I.O.U.`s from Goodwin, and a Chinese bookie, Bobby Birdsong, and destroys them, wiping out Beach's debt to add a further inducement. Beach accepts the money from Crowe who makes him, and Beach's mistress, Julie Ames, sign a receipt for Grimes's satisfaction.
After sending Julie ahead to the Caribbean with the money, telling her he intends to leave his wife and join her later, Beach instead commits suicide after signing to vote against Curl's company, a decision that, despite reassurance from Grimes and Wells, leaves Curl on the verge of a breakdown. Upon hearing of her lover's death, Julie Ames heads for Europe, sending Goodwin postcards telling him how she's enjoying spending the money. Goodwin passes this information over to Crowe as Ames has now become a loose end who needs to be dealt with.
Despite the setback caused by Beach's death and his decision, Wells and Crowe continue with their plan to dispose of Grimes. Wells spends a romantic weekend with Grimes at his fishing cabin, the plan being while she seduces Grimes, Crowe will kill him and leave her alive but badly beaten to make it look like a break in gone wrong. All goes to plan, and Crowe is efficient, except Wells is left stunned when before his death, Grimes tells her he loves her.
Soon after, Wells and Crowe take over the business, although after watching Crowe murder Grimes, a man whom she now realizes held great affection for her, Wells grows cold toward Crowe, at the same time telling him he needs to deal with Julie Ames. Then, Smitty confronts Wells, who like many at The Toolshed, dealt with Smitty back at the agency. Smitty reveals the agency is about to take over with her at the helm, and with Crowe no longer part of the deal.
A final confrontation occurs between Crowe, Wells and Ames at Crowe's apartment, with both women wanting revenge. In a chaotic shootout, while Ames blindly fires an automatic pistol, bought from Goodwin, at both of them, Crowe and Wells shoot each other dead, leaving Ames unharmed.
As she meticulously picks up her shell casings, Ames finds Crowe's briefcase containing much incriminating evidence, such as the tape of Crowe's conversations with Smitty, and the receipt she and Beach had to sign. After burning the receipt, she mails the case's contents to a major newspaper, hoping the incriminating evidence will help expose the corrupt dealings of both The Agency and The Toolshed to the public. She then leaves town for good, alone.
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