DIRECTED BY: Robert Towne

WRITTEN BY: Robert Towne

MEL GIBSON AS: Dale ‘Mac’ McKussic

GENRE: Action, Romance Thriller, Drama

TAGLINES:

- A business on the line. A friendship on the edge. A woman caught in the middle.

- A dangerous mix.

PLOT SUMMARY:

Mac Mckussic is an unlikely drug dealer who wants to go straight. His old and best friend Nick Frescia is now a cop who is assigned to investigate and bring him to justice. Mac is very attracted to Jo Ann, the owner of a stylish restaurant. Nick gets close to Jo Ann attempting to know more about Mac’s drug dealing plans and his connections with the Mexican dealer Carlos, who the police believe is coming to town to meet with him. Nick also falls for Jo Ann’s charms and his friendship with Mac is in danger. –IMDB

RELEASE DATES:

1988 December 2 (United States)
1989 January 26 (Argentina)
1989 March 3 (Sweden)
1989 March 17 (Finland)
1989 March 23 (West Germany)
1989 March 29 (France)
1989 March 31 (United Kingdom)
1989 May 25 (Netherlands)

BOX OFFICE GROSS:

United States: $39,703,427

FILMING LOCATIONS:

Los Angeles, California, USA.

TRIVIA:

- In one scene, Matt LeBlanc appears on the television in a commercial.

- When the film went into production, the coach of the Los Angeles Lakers at the time, Pat Riley, was offered the role of Nick. When he turned it down, it went to ‘Kurt Russell’ . Russell’s look for the role was influenced by Riley.

- When Robert Towne was reworking the script for the Roman Polanksi film Frantic, he had all but finished the script for this film in which Frantic star Harrison Ford immediately became interested and agreed to star in the film, but eventually dropped out at the very start of pre-production because of personal conflicts with the role. Robert Towne and Thom Mount then flew to Australia to meet with Mel Gibson to talk about the role and immediately agreed to star.

- Warner Bros. agreed to finance and produce this film after writer/director Robert Towne agreed to a settlement of 2.5 million dollars after they had pulled out of the post-production of his directorial debut film, Personal Best. The deal was contingent that the studio would let Towne not only write the film, but also direct it, according to producer Thom Mount.

- The film’s budget was originally $33 million, but since it was shot as an independent production after Warner Bros. had pulled out, the budget had gone down $10 million less, which was still expensive for an L.A. based film production.

- Kurt Russell was not the first choice to play Nick Frescia, it was producer Thom Mount’s idea that he’d be cast in the role.

- The interiors of the Valenari’s restaurant was actually a set designed and built by Richard Sylbert on a soundstage.

- Before shooting began according to producer Thom Mount, Warner Bros. pulled out of the film because of issues with the screenplay citing that the good guy was an ex-drug dealer and the cops and feds are the bad guys.

- According to producer Thom Mount, Alec Baldwin was the original choice to play Nick Frescia and had actually come back twice to audition for the role, but Towne and Mount decided to go in another direction.

- The hot tub in the film was not properly constructed as a working hot tub nor was it chlorinated. As a result, Michelle Pfeiffer, her double, and Mel Gibson were all plagued with skin rashes and splinters from the wood. Production was shut down for a few days while Pfeiffer recovered from her rash.

- When the film was first released, the initial teaser trailer for Batman (1989) was attached to prints of the film. When word got out about the teaser, fans were so excited about seeing the teaser that some people paid admission just to get a glimpse of the trailer.

PURCHASE
OFFICIAL SITE
VIEW GALLERY