First saw this movie 30 years ago when I worked at a video store in Virginia. I remember that I sort of liked it but was left somewhat unimpressed. I decided to give it a go last night without reading any reviews or ratings.
I have to say I came away pleasantly surprised. Any period-piece movie which is well funded always piques my interest. This movie from the start presented itself as well-funded with excellent costume and set work. It 100% feels like it is the 1950’s.
The story is loosely based on some real-life characters which existed in history. Namely, the 4-man police hit-squad was a real thing for the LAPD which existed to keep mobsters out of Los Angeles. The rest of the story is fiction.
Anyway, the team discovers a dead girl in the middle of a dirt field, and everything changes when the main character played by Nick Nolte realizes it is a girl he knows intimately. The investigation into her death takes the team down a very dangerous rabbit hole.
Without giving away too much of the story I just want to say that this movie was entertaining from the start to finish. A surprise performance was turned in by Andrew McCarthy. He was only in the film for maybe the first quarter, but I thought he did an excellent job. Nick Nolte was his usual chain-smoking badass self.
The movie was directed by Lee Tamahori, a New Zealand director who had just accomplished film history with his excellent film Once Were Warriors. Surprisingly, Hollywood trusted this relative newcomer with a major project ($30M budget in 1996 – which is basically more than $60M in today’s money).
Unfortunately, the movie bombed at the box office only taking in $12M worldwide. If you know about the movie business, you understand that half of that $12M didn’t go back to the film production company. The theaters and distributors basically get half of that money. That budget of $30M also doesn’t factor in the $10M-$15M the studio spent on marketing. So, for $45M spent on the film they received $6M back. But they probably recouped another $10M on video sales. Let’s just say they spent $45M and got back $16M.
I give this movie 80 (out of 100) potatoes. I enjoyed the era, the plot, the acting and the overall flow of this movie.