Themes: Haunted By the Past, Amateur Sleuths, Dangerous Friends
Main Cast: Debra Winger, Mark Keyloun, Darrell Larson, Brooke Alderson, Paul Winfield
Release Year: 1984
Country: US
Run Time: 97 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
An ordinary woman is unwittingly led into California's criminal underbelly in this drama. Betty Parrish (Debra Winger) is a bank teller who is involved in a rather sporadic relationship with Mike (Mark Keyloun), a low-level tennis pro who supplements his income by dealing cocaine on the side. One night, Betty finds herself stood up by Mike and discovers that there's a good reason why he hasn't shown up -- he's been killed. It seems that Mike and his friend Pete (Darrell Larson) were acting as middlemen in a deal for one of the city's major drug suppliers. Mike and Pete made the mistake of siphoning off some of the cocaine for their own purposes (Mike wanted product to sell to his customers, while Pete needed to satisfy his growing addiction to coke), and the dealer's thugs had Mike eliminated rather than allowing him to steal from their boss. Betty and Pete want to find out the truth about how and why Mike was murdered, and their journey leads them into the darkest regions of the Los Angeles underworld. Mike's Murder went through extensive revisions between its first previews and its final release; pop singer and songwriter Joe Jackson, then at the height of his popularity, composed a score for the film, and a soundtrack album of his music appeared in stores several months before the film's belated release. However, by that time much of Jackson's music had been replaced with a new score by John Berry. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Robert Crosson - Sam; William Ostrander - Randy; Dawn Abraham - Beautiful Girl; Frank Cavestani - Charles; Mark High - Ben; Gregory Hormel - Kid Drug Buyer; Annie Jones - Party Goer; Robert Kincaid - Bodyguard; Freeman King - Killer; Kym Malin - Beautiful Girl; Ken Y. Namba - Sushi Chef; Victor Perez - Tough Guy; Dan Shor - Richard; Alphonse V. Walter - Killer; Randy White - Boss Man; Ruth Winger - Betty's Mother; Sarah Zinsser - Girl in Videotape; April Ferry - Boss Lady; Bruce Marder - Cafe Worker; John Michael Stewart - Tough Guy; Lorraine Butler - Beautiful Girl; James Carrington - Jim; Johnny B. Frank - Blonde Punker; Steven Solberg - Party Goer
Credit
Hub Braden - Art Director, Jack Larson - Associate Producer, April Ferry - Costume Designer, Albert M. Shapiro - First Assistant Director, James Bridges - Director, Dede Allen - Editor, Jeff Gourson - Editor, Kim Kurumada - Executive Producer, John Barry - Composer (Music Score), Joe Jackson - Composer (Music Score), Mark Reedall - Makeup, Charles Minsky - Camera Operator, Peter Jamison - Production Designer, Reynaldo Villalobos - Cinematographer, Jack Larson - Producer, James Bridges - Producer, R. Chris Westlund - Set Designer, Willie D. Burton - Sound/Sound Designer, James Bridges - Screenwriter, Norval D. Crutcher Jr. - Supervising Sound Editor
