Plot
An attorney is terrorized by the criminal he put away years ago when he was a cop.

Release Year: 1991

Rating: 5.9/10 (7,767 voted)

Director: Russell Mulcahy

Stars: Denzel Washington, John Lithgow, Ice-T

Storyline
In this action thriller, Denzel Washington plays Nick Styles, the assistant district attorney of L.A. The film opens in his early days as a cop on the L.A.P.D. During a carnival, master criminal Earl Talbot Blake creates a scene after a botched drug deal. Styles and Blake confront each other, during which Blake is wounded by Styles and later sent to prison. Seven years later, Blake escapes from prison during a parole board hearing to carry out his revenge against Styles, and what follows is a violent series of events that destroys Styles' career. This sets the stage for one last bloody duel between Styles and Blake.

Writers: Fred Dekker, Menno Meyjes

Cast:
Denzel Washington - Nick Styles
John Lithgow - Earl Talbot Blake
Ice-T - Odessa (as Ice T)
Kevin Pollak - Larry Doyle
Lindsay Wagner - DA Priscilla Brimleigh
Mary Ellen Trainor - Gail Wallens
Josh Evans - Kim
Victoria Dillard - Alice
John Amos - Reverend Styles
John Cothran Jr. - Councilman Farris
Linda Dona - Wanda (as Linda Doná)
Matt Landers - Chief Floyd
Lydell M. Cheshier - R.C.
Starletta DuPois - Mrs. Styles
Sherman Howard - Kiley

Taglines: He's a cop accused of murder. And the only man who knows he's innocent is the killer who framed him.

Release Date: 4 October 1991

Filming Locations: City Hall - 200 N. Spring Street, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Opening Weekend: $4,831,181 (USA) (6 October 1991) (1560 Screens)

Gross: $21,760,000 (USA)

Runtime: 102 min

Trivia:
Denzel Washington worked out for three hours a day, six days a week for four months so as not to look out of shape for his shirtless scenes.

Goofs:
Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When the lead characters arm wrestle their hands are not in the correct positions - fingers wrap around the lower thumb, not the opponents palm.

Quotes:
Parole Board Official: The parole board's ready, Blake. I hope you remembered to floss.
Parole Board Official: I did! With your wife's pubic hair!

Typical Washington Fare, Which Means Interesting

Rating: 8/10

This is a typical Denzel Washington film: well-acted, rough language, a racial theme and an involved story that holds your interest. A lot of his movies fit those categories.

Washington plays a preacher's kid and its nice to see he has such respect for him.So many times, Hollywood portrays fathers and especially clergymen in a bad light. John Lithgow is the villain and is such a crazy over-the-top loon he's fun to watch. There are no lulls in this story, yet the action scenes weren't overdone.

It gets predictable in the end but I like the analogy in the film to the classic movie, "White Heat."

I was sorry to see a few things: once again, white people are all the bigots; Lindsay Wagner, television's nice lady of the past, now using very profane language here and looking hard.

Overall, this sometimes looks like a "B" action film more than a classy one but it's still an interesting crime film that sports a few different angles. It may not be one of Washington's better-known efforts, ut it is still entertaining.

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