Main Cast: Robert De Niro, Uma Thurman, Bill Murray, David Caruso, Mike Starr
Release Year: 1993
Country: US
Run Time: 97 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
John McNaughton directed this Richard Price-scripted comedy about a cop who learns to love an unwanted gift from a gangster. Robert De Niro plays Wayne Dobie, a shy and reclusive Chicago cop who has never fired a gun. Dobie is an evidence technician who takes photographs at crime scenes, earning the moniker of "Mad Dog" for his diffident attitude. One day Dobie walks in on a convenience store holdup and saves the life of Chicago mob boss Frank Milo (Bill Murray). Frank is impressed by the way Dobie handled the holdup and wants to pay him back for saving his life. In thrall to Frank is Glory (Uma Thurman), who is working off her brother's gambling debts by living with the mobster. One day, Glory turns up at Dobie's house, explaining that Frank is giving her to him for one week as a gift. Initially Dobie wants nothing to do with Glory, but as the week goes on, he realizes he is becoming intensely attracted to her. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
Review
One of the most underrated comedies of the early '90s, this clever caper takes two regularly typecast stars, Bill Murray and Robert De Niro, and reverses their roles. The stars clearly relish sinking their creative fangs into the types of parts normally off limits to them, Murray as a fiendishly arrogant crime boss who really wants to be a comic, De Niro as a nebbish police photographer afraid of his own shadow who is pining to become an artist. They're not the only ones who shine here, however, as the leads are backed up ably by reliable character actors Mike Starr and David Caruso, the latter of whom gives a literally star-making performance of raw masculine power. The cast is backed up by a stellar script from Richard Price, chock full of memorable one-liners ("Your friend is very sarcastic") and unexpected turns, save for a somewhat predictable ending that at least doesn't succeed in derailing all that's come before. Mad Dog and Glory is that rarest of combinations, a delightful farce with genuinely great acting. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
Kathy Baker - Lee; Tom Towles - Andrew; Derek Anunciation - Shooter; Richard Belzer - MC Comic; Anthony Cannata - Pavletz; Clem Caserta - Guy at Table; Lou Eppolito; Tony Fitzpatrick - Detective at Crime Scene; Bruce Jarchow - Detective at Crime Scene; J.J. Johnston - Shanlon; William King - Dealer in Park; Evan Lionel - Dealer in Car; Dominic Marcus; John Polce - Dispatcher; Bob Rice - Uniform Cop; Craig Sechler; Dick Sollenberger - Saul; Jack Wallace - Tommy; Richard Price - Detective in Restaurant; Kevin Hurley - Dealer in Park; Pamela Lewis; Todd Thaler; Seth Gilliam; Eddie "Bo" Smith - Big John; Fred Squillo - Frank's Gang; Chuck Parello - Frank's Gang; Eric Young - Detective at Crime Scene
Credit
Mark Haack - Art Director, Steven A. Jones - Co-producer, Rita Ryack - Costume Designer, Amy Sayres - First Assistant Director, David Hallinan - First Assistant Director, John McNaughton - Director, Elena Maganini - Editor, Craig McKay - Editor, Richard Price - Executive Producer, Elmer Bernstein - Composer (Music Score), Ilona Herman - Makeup, David Chapman - Production Designer, Robby Müller - Cinematographer, Barbara de Fina - Producer, Martin Scorsese - Producer, Leslie Pope - Set Designer, Edward Drohan - Special Effects, Deborah Lee - Unit Production Manager, Richard Price - Screenwriter
De Niro's Mad Dog is a meek and lonely man who, at the opening of the film, has spent years on the beat without ever having to draw his gun. He decorates his apartment with crime scene photos he has taken on the job that have the careful craftsmanship of a man who really wanted to be a fine art photographer but settled for a civil servant job because of the security and benefits it offered.
Early in the film, Mad Dog crosses paths with Frank Milo (Murray), a bystander at a hold-up in a convenience store who later turns out to be a mob boss. Mad Dog saves Milo's life, placing Milo in Mad Dog's debt, a debt that seems less motivated by Milo's code of honor than by the advice of Milo's therapist.
Mad Dog meets Glory at the club and the rest of the film focuses on the two of them and the complications that arise from each of their relationships with Milo.
Mad Dog (Robert De Niro) gets to know Glory (Uma Thurman) even more. When she spills coffee on his hand when he goes to the club she's ordered by Milo to go to his place and stay with him for one week to take care of him and his hand. They fall in love with each other and Mad Dog feels she embraces his solitude as she is a fun person that has been introduced into his life.
Mad Dog decides he wants her to move in with her, which aggravates Milo. Milo says that Mad Dog has to pay 40 grand to give her her freedom. Mad Dog does his best to get the money but falls short 13 grand. He decides later on to have a fist fight with Milo in order for him to keep her. He gets beaten bad but never gives up because he loves her. Milo is touched by that and lets her go free without any money or strings attached.
According to a profile of producer Steven A. Jones written by Luke Ford, the film was delayed by a year because of studio-required changes. Jones and director McNaughton were contractually required to deliver the film with absolutely no changes to the script written by Price. After doing so, Universal test-screened the film, then insisted on reshooting the film's final scene. As written, when Milo and Mad Dog fight, Milo dominates Mad Dog. Mad Dog's one connecting punch did no damage, but did serve to prompt Milo to realize that Glory wasn't worth fighting over.
It was reshot to respond to an audience typecasting of De Niro, who they saw as the Raging Bull he had played more than a decade earlier. Those who saw the test screenings couldn't accept the fact that De Niro's Mad Dog had done so poorly against Murray's Milo. Such a reaction was ironic because De Niro had actually been offered the Milo role, and had insisted on the Mad Dog role instead precisely because of its meekness.
Other reshoots for the film were done to make Glory seem less manipulative and Milo more of a puppetmaster behind Glory's actions.
