Main Cast: Clint Eastwood, Jeff Daniels, Anjelica Huston, Wanda De Jesus, Tina Lifford
Release Year: 2002
Country: US
Run Time: 108 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
A retired detective must battle former colleagues and his own failing health in order to bring a murderer to justice in this action drama produced and directed by its star, Clint Eastwood. Terry McCaleb (Eastwood) was one of the best and most thorough detectives at the FBI's Southern California office, until a massive heart attack sidelined him from police work for good. Following a heart transplant which saved his life, McCaleb has resigned himself to living quietly on a houseboat for the rest of his days, observing a strict health regimen prescribed by his cardiologist, Dr. Bonnie Fox (Anjelica Huston). However, McCaleb is persuaded to take on one last case through the insistence of a woman named Graciela Rivers (Wanda De Jesus). Rivers's sister was murdered in cold blood by a mugger, and her heart was used for McCaleb's transplant; now, Rivers wants McCaleb to find her sister's killer. McCaleb agrees to take on the case, but he quickly discovers his weakened physical condition makes the rigors of handling an investigation far harder and more difficult than its ever been before; he also can no longer drive a car, and must persuade his oddball friend from the marina,Buddy Noone (Jeff Daniels), to ferry him around town. Before long, despite these drawbacks, McCaleb discovers evidence which suggests the murderer may be a serial who uses random street robberies as a cover, but he finds that Ronaldo Arrango (Paul Rodriguez) and John Waller (Dylan Walsh), the police detectives assigned to the case, are not especially interested in sharing the glory (or their legwork) with the former FBI point man. Blood Work was adapted from the novel by Michael Connelly; Brian Helgeland wrote the screenplay. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
When the deconstructive Western Unforgiven brought Clint Eastwood unprecedented respect, it was tempting to hope the newly minted auteur would reserve himself for superior projects and artistic themes close to his heart. What an appropriate metaphor for his career, then, that Eastwood's latest, Blood Work, is about a transplant of that essential organ. It's as though what makes Eastwood tick has been supplanted by a foreign presence his body can't reject, leaving him content to toe the (assembly) line and glumly perpetuate his Absolute Power-True Crime school of pedestrian thrillers. It's also tempting to suggest that this aging treasure of tough guy machismo has "still got it," but Blood Work returns quite the opposite verdict. Eastwood is finally starting to look fragile and elderly -- in fact, thank goodness his character is weak following major surgery, because it provides a narrative explanation why the actor's voice is more gasp than rasp. But Blood Work is depressing in so many ways that aren't traceable to Eastwood's frailties. Tops on the list is the utter conventionality of the script, which follows the familiar path of the umpteen thrillers in which serial killers taunt celebrity FBI agents for the purpose of aggrandizing and fetishizing their crimes. Brian Helgeland has fallen far from his days as writer of L. A. Confidential if this soap opera dialogue and ham-fisted foreshadowing is all he can muster. The tone is schizophrenic, caught between the misplaced gravity of Eastwood's recent films, the ludicrous renegade posturing of his Dirty Harry days, and a cops-and-donuts style of comedy (embodied by pesky irritant Paul Rodriguez) that was never fashionable. Long before the laughable finish, the test results of this Blood Work have already come back negative. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
Tina Lifford - Det. Jaye Winston; Paul Rodriguez - Ronaldo Arrango; Dylan Walsh - Detective John Waller; Mason Lucero - Raymond; Gerry Becker - Mr. Toliver; Rick Hoffman - James Lockridge; Alix Koromzay - Mrs. Cordell; Igor Jijikine - Bolotov; Amanda Carlin - Office Manager; James W. Gavin - Helicopter Pilot; Robert Harvey - Restaurant Manager; Brent Hinkley - Cab Driver; Glenn Morshower - Captain; Beverly Leech - Reporter #2; Chao-Li Chi - Mr. Kang; Mark Thomason - James Cordell; Ted Rooney - Forensics #1; Sam Jaeger - Deputy; P. J. Byrne - Forensics #2; Dina Eastwood - Reporter #1; Craig Hoskins - Helicopter Pilot; Matt Huffman - Young Detective; June Kyoko Lu - Mrs. Kang; Derric Nugent - L.A.P.D. Officer; Natalia Ongaro - Receptionist; Maria Quiban - Gloria Torres
Credit
Jack Gammon Taylor, Jr. - Art Director, Phyllis Huffman - Casting, Judie G. Hoyt - Co-producer, Deborah Hopper - Costume Designer, Robert Lorenz - First Assistant Director, Clint Eastwood - Director, Joel Cox - Editor, Robert Lorenz - Executive Producer, Lennie Niehaus - Composer (Music Score), Henry Bumstead - Production Designer, Tom Stern - Cinematographer, Clint Eastwood - Producer, Adrian H. Gorton - Set Designer, Jann K. Engel - Set Designer, Harry Cohen - Sound/Sound Designer, Walt Martin - Sound/Sound Designer, Brian Helgeland - Screenwriter, Michael Owens - Visual Effects Supervisor, Alan Robert Murray - Supervising Sound Editor, Camille Geier - Visual Effects Producer, Robert Cable - First Assistant Accountant, Michael Cipriano - First Assistant Editor, Gary D. Roach - First Assistant Editor, Donald A Kincade - Set Production Assistant, Christi Rickey - Set Production Assistant, Robert "T Skaggs - Set Production Assistant, Chuck Webb - Set Production Assistant, Richard C. Goddard - Set Decorator, Michael Connelly - Book Author, Juno J. Ellis - ADR Supervisor, Ross Levy - Cable Person, Shelly Kinney - Construction Foreman, Kenny Sanford - Construction Foreman, Mo Henry - Negative Cutter, Jenniphur Ryan - Production Secretary, Charles Nixon - Swing Gang, Luigi S. Mugavero - Swing Gang, Bradley Blasdale - Swing Gang, Sandra Armstrong-Renfroe - Swing Gang, William Barry - Swing Gang, Michael Rutgard - Swing Gang, Nancy Tracy - Second Assistant Sound Editor
Terry McCaleb is an ailing veteran FBI agent who's been given a second chance at life by receiving the heart of a murder victim. Terry is visited by the murder victim's sister, Graciella Rivers, who informs him that he is alive only because of receiving the deceased's heart and asks him to investigate who killed her.
McCaleb defies the advice of his physician, Dr. Bonnie Fox, and sets out to find the killer with the help of his neighbor Buddy Noone, who lives on a houseboat near his, and a local police detective, Jaye Winston.
Michael Connelly
Blood Work as a film franchise is referenced in Michael Connelly's The Narrows (2004), as it was in Angels Flight (1999) when officer Kiz Rider notes that Terry McCaleb "doesn't look like Clint Eastwood, if you ask me." Harry Bosch, the detective to whom she was speaking, agrees.
