Themes: Crime Gone Awry, Estrangement, Dishonor Among Thieves
Main Cast: Jack Nicholson, Stephen Dorff, Jennifer Lopez, Judy Davis, Michael Caine
Release Year: 1996
Country: US/UK
Run Time: 98 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Jack Nicholson reunited with director Bob Rafelson, director of Five Easy Pieces and The King Of Marvin Gardens, for this violent, downbeat crime drama. Alex (Jack Nicholson) is a wine dealer whose business is going belly-up, along with his life. His step-son Jason (Stephen Dorff) hates him, his wife Suzanne (Judy Davis) has a drinking problem and is the constant target of Alex's abuse, and Alex is having an affair with Gabriella (Jennifer Lopez), a domestic worker from Cuba. One of the people that Gabriella cleans for has a diamond necklace worth several million dollars locked in a safe in a bedroom. Desperate for a quick score to get himself out of debt, Alex sees a opportunity for a lot of fast money and hooks up with Victor (Michael Caine), a career criminal who knows how to open safes but is desperately ill with tuberculosis. Nicholson and Rafelson first worked together on the film Head, starring The Monkees (Nicholson only had a bit part, but he also wrote the screenplay and was credited with producing the soundtrack album). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
Bob Rafelson returns to the style of filmmaking he helped popularize in the '70s with Five Easy Pieces (1970) and The King of Marvin Gardens (1972) with an extraordinarily well-acted, if conventional, noir thriller. The director referred to those earlier films in describing this as the concluding piece of a trilogy, but unlike the young, unsettled characters Jack Nicholson played in those films, the bitter, misanthropic wine merchant he essays here is long past redemption. Much the same could be said for his partner in a planned jewel theft, Michael Caine, a veteran yegg whose volatility is always threatening to destroy their ad hoc union. Throw in the businessman's justifiably venomous wife (Judy Davis), her mysteriously sullen stepson (Michael Dorff), and the sexy mistress (Jennifer Lopez), who has an eye for Dorff, and one begins to understand his stress. Nicholson sheds his pet mannerisms and digs into a very dark corner of himself for this memorably ugly character, and Caine matches him every step of the way. The two seem to thrive on carving each other up, and their energy adds texture and weight to an otherwise predictably noirish tale of self-immolation. Davis is again superb in the somewhat limiting part of a wronged wife, and the two younger actors are saddled with even more tangential characters. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide
Harold Perrineau, Jr. - Henry; Thom Christopher - 1st Jeweller; Marc Macaulay - guard; Robyn Peterson - Dina; Mario Ernesto Sanchez - Artie (fishing ace); Mike Starr - Mike; John Seitz - Frank; Antoni Corone - Caribean Club Bartender; Dan Daily - Todd; Marta Velasco - Gabriella's Cousin; John Hackett - gas station attendant; Hector Montano - Gabriella's Grandfather; Vanessa L. Hernandez - cuban little girl; Carmen Lopez - head nurse; Jim Torres Towers - father of Gabriella's cousin; Glice Montano - Gabriella's Grandmother
Credit
William Kemper Wright - Art Director, Terry Miller - Associate Producer, Kathleen Courtney - Associate Producer, Dianne Crittenden - Casting, Lori S. Wyman - Casting, Barbara Collins - Casting, Tadeusz Karolak - Conductor, Noah Golden - Co-producer, Hercules Bellville - Co-producer, Lindy Hemming - Costume Designer, Terry Miller - First Assistant Director, Melanie Grefe - First Assistant Director, Michael Viglietta - First Assistant Director, Kevin A. Williams - First Assistant Director, Bob Rafelson - Director, George (Bud) Davis - Second Unit Director, Steven Cohen - Editor, Chris Auty - Executive Producer, Bernie Williams - Executive Producer, Donna Battersby-Greene - Hair Styles, Valerie Schields - Location Manager, Michal Lorenc - Composer (Music Score), Peter Afterman - Musical Direction/Supervision, Linda Melazzo - Makeup, Jay Kannistraci - Makeup, Michael McGowan - Camera Operator, Gordon Miller - Camera Operator, Richard Sylbert - Production Designer, Newton Thomas Sigel - Cinematographer, Michael McGowan - Cinematographer, Bernie Williams - Production Manager, Jeremy Thomas - Producer, Peter Devlin - Sound Mixer, Leslie Shatz - Sound/Sound Designer, Bud Davis - Stunts Coordinator, Tom Bahr - Stunts Coordinator, Rick Jones - Special Effects Supervisor, Bob Rafelson - Screen Story, Nick Villiers - Screen Story, Alison Cross - Screenwriter, Nick Villiers - Screenwriter, Chuck Michael - Sound Effects Editor, Alexandra Stone - Executive in Charge of Production, Jim Henson's Creature Shop - Animatronic Effects, Curt Sobel - Music Producer, Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra - Musical Performer, Eric Bergman - Post Production Supervisor, Michael J. Harker - Post Production Supervisor, Elayne Schneiderman - Production Coordinator, Leslie Shatz - Re-Recording Mixer, Rick Hart - Re-Recording Mixer, Ilene Pickus - Script Supervisor, Dug Rotstein - Script Supervisor, Greg Steele - ADR Mixer, Tami Treadwell - ADR Recordist, Douglas Murray - Dialogue Editor, Sukey Fontelieu - Dialogue Editor, Margie O'Malley - Foley Artist, Marnie Moore - Foley Artist, Malcolm Fife - Foley Editor, Joy Zapata - Key Hairstylist, Manilo Rocchetti - Key Make-up, Marc Baird - Storyboard Artist, Pacific Title - Visual Effects, William Kemper Wright - Set Decorator, Custom Looping - ADR Loop Group, Deborah Ross Film Design - Title Design
