Kill Me Again
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''Kill Me Again'' is a 1989 American
neo-noir Neo-noir is a film genre that adapts the visual style and themes of 1940s and 1950s American film noir for contemporary audiences, often with more graphic depictions of violence and sexuality. During the late 1970s and the early 1980s, the term ...
crime thriller film Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as drama or gangster film, but al ...
co-written and directed by
John Dahl John Dahl (born June 15, 1956) is an American film and television director and writer, best known for his work in the neo-noir genre. Early life John Dahl was born and raised in Billings, Montana, the second of four children (his brother is fi ...
. It stars
Val Kilmer Val Edward Kilmer (December 31, 1959 – April 1, 2025) was an American actor. Initially a stage actor, he later found fame as a Leading actor, leading man in films in a wide variety of genres, including Comedy film, comedies, dramas, action fi ...
as a young detective who becomes involved with a woman (
Joanne Whalley Joanne Whalley (born 25 August 1961) is an English film and television actress. She was credited as Joanne Whalley-Kilmer from 1988 to 1996 during her marriage to Val Kilmer. Whalley came to fame through television with appearances in drama se ...
) who is on the run from her psychopath boyfriend (
Michael Madsen Michael Madsen (born September 25, 1957) is an American actor. Alongside his frequent collaborations with Quentin Tarantino—''Reservoir Dogs'' (1992), ''Kill Bill: Volume 2'' (2004), ''The Hateful Eight'' (2015), and ''Once Upon a Time in Hol ...
). ''Kill Me Again'' was released in the United States by
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...
on October 27, 1989.


Plot

A criminal couple, Vince and Fay, steal $850,000 from Las Vegas mobsters, killing one in the process. During their getaway, Fay knocks out the controlling Vince and escapes with the money. Jack Andrews, a widowed Reno private investigator drowning in gambling debt, is approached by Fay. She poses as an abused wife and offers him $10,000 to fake her death. Though skeptical, Jack agrees to help. After staging Fay's death, Jack discovers she has fled to Las Vegas with half his payment. Police briefly arrest him for her "murder" but release him due to insufficient evidence. Meanwhile, Vince learns of Jack's involvement through newspaper reports. When loan sharks take the remainder of Jack's advance payment, he decides to follow Fay to Vegas. Before he can leave, Vince attacks him demanding Fay's whereabouts, but Jack escapes. The mob also targets Jack, believing he has their money. In Vegas, Jack locates Fay gambling with the stolen money. Before he can get answers, mobsters confront them in her hotel room. Fay shoots one dead while the other escapes. As they flee, Fay admits she stole the money from Vince after he stole it from the mob. The pair hide at a lakeside motel where they become intimate. Jack suggests starting a new life in Maine, and Fay agrees. When they learn police are seeking them for the mobster's murder, Fay suggests they fake their deaths to escape. Jack calls his partner Alan to say goodbye, accidentally revealing their location. He then explains his plan to Fay: they'll stage a boat explosion to fake their deaths, then retrieve the hidden money before fleeing to Maine. Meanwhile, Vince tortures and kills Alan to discover their whereabouts. Jack leaves Fay at the motel while he buries the money and supplies on an Indian reservation. Upon returning, he finds Vince holding Fay at gunpoint. Jack negotiates, offering half the money in exchange for their freedom. Vince restrains Jack in a closet, then assaults Fay, who manages to grab the gun and shoot him. The couple flees to retrieve the money, but Vince appears, revealing Fay's betrayal. Fay shoots Jack, who falls into the lake. Fay and Vince take the briefcase and escape in Jack's car, only to discover it's empty. Police chase them to the border where they die in a fiery crash. Jack, wounded but alive and in possession of the money, is rescued from the lake by two Native Americans who drive him to safety.


Cast

*
Val Kilmer Val Edward Kilmer (December 31, 1959 – April 1, 2025) was an American actor. Initially a stage actor, he later found fame as a Leading actor, leading man in films in a wide variety of genres, including Comedy film, comedies, dramas, action fi ...
as Jack Andrews *
Joanne Whalley Joanne Whalley (born 25 August 1961) is an English film and television actress. She was credited as Joanne Whalley-Kilmer from 1988 to 1996 during her marriage to Val Kilmer. Whalley came to fame through television with appearances in drama se ...
as Fay Forrester *
Michael Madsen Michael Madsen (born September 25, 1957) is an American actor. Alongside his frequent collaborations with Quentin Tarantino—''Reservoir Dogs'' (1992), ''Kill Bill: Volume 2'' (2004), ''The Hateful Eight'' (2015), and ''Once Upon a Time in Hol ...
as Vince Miller * Jon Gries as Alan Swayzie * Pat Mulligan as Sammy * Michael Sharrett as Tim, Motel Clerk *
Michael Greene Michael Harris Greene (November 4, 1933 – January 10, 2020) was an American actor who was active from the 1960s through the 1990s. Career Greene was born in San Francisco, California, the son of Gladys () and Harry Greene. Early in his caree ...
as Lieutenant Hendrix


Production


Development

While working as a storyboarder on features like ''Robocop'' and ''Something Wild'', John Dahl was also writing spec scripts with his writing partner David W. Warfield. When Warfield posed the question of how to get someone to utter the phrase ‘Kill me again’, the pair decided to make their next project a neo-noir, inspired by pulp fiction titles such as ''D.O.A.''. Dahl and Warfield made a pact that they would accept offers to sell the script for $300,000 or above, otherwise they would make it themselves, with Warfield producing and Dahl directing. Having failed to garner offers above $250,000, the pair set about making the film themselves. Through Steve Golin and Sigurjón Sighvatsson’s production company they reached a deal with PolyGram to produce ''Kill Me Again'', with Dahl directing. MGM agreed to co-finance the production if they could get Val Kilmer to star. Kilmer’s name was prominent at the time, having just starred in ''Willow''. He ended up getting paid twice what he earned on that film for ''Kill Me Again''. Dahl said that Kilmer was difficult to work with, although he helped in getting Joanne Whalley for the female lead. Dahl and the producers were interested in casting Whalley, who unbeknownst to them was married to Kilmer. When they mentioned her name to Kilmer he said, ‘Oh that’s interesting because I’m actually married to her.’


Filming

''Kill Me Again'' was shot in Nevada in
Reno Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada–California border. It is the county seat and most populous city of Washoe County, Nevada, Washoe County. Sitting in the High Eastern Sierra foothills, ...
, Hazen, and
Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
, with additional photography occurring in Los Angeles, California.


Release

MGM and Kilmer were cool on the final product, and little money or effort was spent on promoting it. It received a limited theatrical release on October 27, 1989, showing in around 200 theaters in the United States. Some good reviews were enough to persuade MGM to show it in one theater in Los Angeles, earning the film a positive review in the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' and an extended run in Los Angeles. However, this was not enough to influence MGM into promoting the film further.


Reception


Box office

The film was a failure at the box office, grossing $283,694 but it later achieved some success on home video.


Critical response

The film drew a mixed reception. '' Variety'' gave it a mostly positive review, stating: "The tale of a down-and-out detective and a seamy femme fatale is a thoroughly professional little entertainment. ''Time Out'' gave it a mostly negative review, complaining: "Derived from assorted Hitchcocks and noir classics, the tortuous storyline of writer-director Dahl's determinedly sordid thriller has its moments," but was critical of the three lead actors and concludes: "Setting its study of betrayal and deceit in and around the gambling towns of the Nevada desert, the film sporadically achieves a truly seedy atmosphere, but there are too many symbols, too many loose ends, and too many vaguely sensationalist scenes.


See also

* List of American films of 1989


References


Sources

* *


External links

* * {{Authority control 1989 films 1989 directorial debut films 1989 thriller films American independent films American neo-noir films American thriller films Films directed by John Dahl Films produced by Steve Golin Films scored by William Olvis Films set in Nevada Films shot in California Films shot in Nevada Films with screenplays by John Dahl Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films PolyGram Filmed Entertainment films 1980s English-language films 1980s American films English-language thriller films