''Ricochet'' is a 1991 American

action Action may refer to: * Action (philosophy), something which is done by a person * Action principles the heart of fundamental physics * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video gam ...

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...

thriller

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

, directed by

Russell Mulcahy Russell Mulcahy ( ; born 23 June 1953) is an Australian director of film, television, and music videos. He began his career directing music videos for artists like Elton John and Duran Duran, before making his feature directorial debut with the ...

, written by Steven E. de Souza, and starring

Denzel Washington Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. (born December 28, 1954) is an American actor, producer, and director. Known for his dramatic roles Denzel Washington on screen and stage, on stage and screen, Washington has received List of awards and nominations ...

John Lithgow John Arthur Lithgow ( ; born , 1945) is an American actor. He studied at Harvard University and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art before becoming known for his John Lithgow filmography, diverse work on stage and screen. He has rece ...

Ice-T Tracy Lauren Marrow (born February 16, 1958), known professionally as Ice-T (or Ice T), is an American rapper and actor. He is active in both hip hop music, hip hop and heavy metal music, heavy metal. Ice-T began his career as an underground r ...

Kevin Pollak Kevin Elliot Pollak (born October 30, 1957) is an American actor, comedian, impressionist and podcast host. He has appeared in over 90 films; his roles include Sam Weinberg in Rob Reiner's ''A Few Good Men'', Jacob Goldman in ''Grumpy Old Men ...

, and Lindsay Wagner, with Mary Ellen Trainor reprising her role as Gail Wallens from ''

Die Hard ''Die Hard'' is a 1988 American action film directed by John McTiernan and written by Jeb Stuart (writer), Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza, based on the 1979 novel ''Nothing Lasts Forever (Thorp novel), Nothing Lasts Forever'' by Roderick ...

''. The film details a struggle between a

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

district attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer represen ...

(Washington) and a vengeful criminal (Lithgow) whom he arrested when he was a cop.

Plot

In 1983, rookie

LAPD The City of Los Angeles Police Department, commonly referred to as Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), is the primary law enforcement agency of Los Angeles, California, United States. With 8,832 officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the th ...

officer and law student Nick Styles meets Alice and drifts away from childhood friend Odessa, who has become a drug dealer in

South Central Los Angeles South Los Angeles, also known as South Central Los Angeles or simply South Central, is a region in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, lying mostly within the city limits of Los Angeles, south of Downtown Los Angeles, downtown. It is de ...

. Styles and his partner Larry Doyle patrol a carnival, where they encounter

hitman Contract killing (also known as murder-for-hire) is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or people. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of compensation, moneta ...

Earl Talbot Blake and his accomplice, Kim. Styles is forced into an armed standoff when Blake takes a hostage after killing several drug dealers. After stripping off his equipment and uniform, Styles uses a gun hidden in his athletic supporter, shooting Blake in the knee and subduing him. The incident is caught on camera by an amateur

videographer Videography involves capturing moving images on electronic media (such as: videotape, direct to disk recording, or solid state storage), and can include streaming media. It encompasses both video production and post-production methods. Histori ...

and televised, making Styles a hero. He and Doyle are promoted to

Detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads the ...

, while Blake and Kim are sent to

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where Prisoner, people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state ...

. Eight years later, Styles has become an

Assistant District Attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer represe ...

and is married to Alice with two daughters. Behind bars, Blake allies himself with the

Aryan Brotherhood The Aryan Brotherhood (AB or The Brand) is a neo-Nazi prison gang and an organized crime syndicate that is based in the United States and has an estimated 15,000–20,000 members both inside and outside prisons. The Southern Poverty Law Center ...

to plot an escape and take revenge against Styles. Kim is

parole Parole, also known as provisional release, supervised release, or being on paper, is a form of early release of a prisoner, prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated ...

d and assists in Blake's escape. Blake and the Brotherhood members stage a violent and deadly

prison escape A prison escape (also referred to as a bust out, breakout, jailbreak, jail escape or prison break) is the act of an Prisoner, inmate leaving prison through unofficial or illegal ways. Normally, when this occurs, an effort is made on the part o ...

during a parole hearing, which only Blake and the Brotherhood leader survive. Afterwards, Blake murders the Brotherhood leader and burns his corpse; while in prison, he had swapped their dental records in order to fake his own death and ensure authorities would believe that Blake had died in the fire. Styles finds Odessa, now a major drug dealer, and pleads with him to cease dealing to children. Blake and Kim kill city councilman Farris, a colleague of Styles, dressing his body in drag, planting

child pornography Child pornography (also abbreviated as CP, also called child porn or kiddie porn, and child sexual abuse material, known by the acronym CSAM (underscoring that children can not be deemed willing participants under law)), is Eroticism, erotic ma ...

in his briefcase and staging his death to look like a

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

, framing Styles for embezzling city funds. Blake and Kim abduct Styles outside his home and hold him hostage in an empty swimming pool for several days. Blake engages Styles in arm wrestling and then repeatedly injects him with

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a morphinan opioid substance synthesized from the Opium, dried latex of the Papaver somniferum, opium poppy; it is mainly used as a recreational drug for its eupho ...

and

cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...

. He then hires a

prostitute Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-pe ...

to have sex with Styles while he is impaired with the drugs. She ignores the weakened Styles' objections and

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...

s him as Blake records the incident on video. After Blake and Kim deposit an unconscious Styles on the steps of

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

, Alice overhears Styles' superiors telling him he has tested positive for

gonorrhea Gonorrhoea or gonorrhea, colloquially known as the clap, is a sexually transmitted infection (STI) caused by the bacterium ''Neisseria gonorrhoeae''. Infection may involve the genitals, mouth, or rectum. Gonorrhea is spread through sexual c ...

and believes he is cheating on her. Styles witnesses a video of Blake entering his daughters' room with a hatchet. He heads to the park where his family is watching a circus act, and holds a black-clad figure he believes to be Blake at gunpoint. The figure turns out to be a clown, making Styles seem unstable. Blake releases the recording of Styles' rape, making it appear as if Styles is soliciting prostitutes and causing District Attorney Priscilla Brimleigh to suspend him. With Styles determined to get his name cleared, he and Doyle beat information out of one of Blake's former allies in the Aryan Brotherhood. In an alley, Blake fatally shoots Doyle and plants Styles' fingerprints on the gun. Desperate, Styles contacts Odessa for help, bringing his family to the tenement building Odessa uses as a drug lab and placing them in Odessa's care. On the roof, Styles raves to the street below, apparently suicidal. This draws out Blake, who wants Styles to live a long, miserable life. Styles fakes his own death by blowing up Odessa's drug lab, secretly escaping the blast through a clothing chute as Blake watches in horror. Odessa's gang abducts Kim, and Odessa sends a message to Blake that Styles is alive and intends to find him, challenging him to come to the

Watts Towers The Watts Towers, Towers of Simon Rodia, or ''Nuestro Pueblo'' ("our town" in Spanish) are a collection of 17 interconnected sculptural towers, architectural structures, and individual sculptural features and mosaics within the site of the arti ...

. When Blake arrives, he finds Kim tied to the scaffolding and kills him in a fit of rage. Styles taunts Blake as the media descends on the scene, and captures the two men fighting atop the towers, thus exonerating Styles. Eventually, Odessa applies electricity to the metal tower, electrocuting Blake, before Styles throws Blake off the tower to his death. Styles reunites with his family and invites Odessa to play

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

with him again, an offer Odessa accepts before driving away. When a newscaster asks Styles for comment on the events, he switches the TV camera off.

Cast

as Assistant District Attorney Nick Styles *

as Earl Talbot Blake *

as Odessa *

as Lieutenant Larry Doyle * Lindsay Wagner as District Attorney Priscilla "The Hun" Brimleigh * Josh Evans as "Kim" Kimble, Blake's sidekick. * Mary Ellen Trainor as Gail Wallens, a newscaster. Trainor previously portrayed the character in ''

''. * Victoria Dillard as Alice Styles * John Amos as Reverend Styles * John Cothran, Jr. as Councilman U.B. Farris * Lydell M. Cheshier as R.C., Odessa's second In command. * Matt Landers as Chief Elliott Floyd *

Sherman Howard Sherman Howard (born June 11, 1949) is an American actor. He is best known for his performance as the zombie Bub in George A. Romero's ''Day of the Dead'' (1985) and Lex Luthor on ''Superboy'' (1990–92). He also voiced Derek Powers / Blight in ...

as Public Defender Kiley * Kimberly Natasha Ali as Lisa Styles * Aileaha Jones as Monica Styles *

Starletta DuPois Starletta DuPois (born July 18, 1941) is an American actress. She has appeared in more than 90 films and television shows during her career. She received a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her performance in ''The Mi ...

as Mrs. Styles *

Miguel Sandoval Miguel Sandoval (born November 16, 1951) is an American actor. He is known for his role on the NBC/ CBS drama series '' Medium'' (2005–2011), where he played D.A. Manuel Devalos. Biography Sandoval was born in Washington, D.C. He began wo ...

as Vargas, drug dealer. * Thomas Rosales Jr. as Gonzalo, drug dealer. * George Cheung as Huey, drug dealer. * Kenny Endoso as Liu, drug dealer. * Rick Cramer as Jesse Schultzman, head of The

. *

Jesse Ventura Jesse Ventura (born James George Janos; July 15, 1951) is an American politician, political commentator, actor, media personality, and retired professional wrestler. After achieving fame in the WWE, World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE), he ...

as Jake Chewalski, Blake's cellmate and Aryan Brotherhood member. * Tim DeZarn as Skinhead * Linda Dona as Wanda, prostitute hired By Blake to frame Nick.

Production

Originally, the screenplay to ''Ricochet'' by Fred Dekker was written as a ''

Dirty Harry ''Dirty Harry'' is a 1971 American action-thriller film produced and directed by Don Siegel, the first in the Dirty Harry (film series), ''Dirty Harry'' series. Clint Eastwood plays the title role, in his first appearance as San Francisco Polic ...

'' film, but

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western (genre), Western TV series ''Rawhide (TV series), Rawhide'', Eastwood rose to international fame with his role as the "Ma ...

deemed it too grim. When the script was attached to Joel Silver as producer in a different direction, Dekker met

Kurt Russell Kurt Vogel Russell (born March 17, 1951) is an American actor. He began his career as a child actor before transitioning to leading roles as an adult in various genres such as action adventures, science-fiction, westerns, romance films, co ...

about starring while Dekker was to be director, which it never was able to reach in its pre-production stage. Filming began on January 28, 1991. Reportedly, violent scenes in the film were heavily cut down following test screenings. Director Russell Mulcahy said that in one deleted scene, Blake physically abuses Styles until Styles vomits, and Blake gets a sponge to clean him up, explaining why Styles had vomit on him when he is found in the streets in a later scene.

Music

The score of the film was composed, produced, and conducted by ''

Alan Silvestri Alan Anthony Silvestri (born March 26, 1950) is an American composer, conductor, orchestrator and music producer of film scores. He has received two Grammy Awards and two Primetime Emmy Awards as well as nominations for two Academy Awards and two ...

'', who collaborated with Stephen Hopkins in ''

Predator 2 ''Predator 2'' is a 1990 American science fiction film, science fiction action film written by brothers Jim and John Thomas, directed by Stephen Hopkins (director), Stephen Hopkins, and starring Danny Glover, Gary Busey, Ruben Blades, Rubén Bla ...

''. The music was performed by the Skywalker Symphony Orchestra. The score album included an unheard alternate fanfare cue for the Silver Pictures logo, composed by Silvestri.

's song "Ricochet" was released by Warner Bros. as a separate single. The song was originally recorded for the album ''Home Invasion,'' but was removed following earlier controversies concerning his lyrics. After his departure from Warner Bros. for Priority Records, it was later included as part of a bonus CD packaged with copies of ''Home Invasion.''

Reception

On review aggregation website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film has a score of 75% based on 20 reviews, with an average rating of 5.9/10. On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 49 based on 17 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by

CinemaScore CinemaScore is an American market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts from the data. Background Ed Mintz, who ...

gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.

Gene Siskel Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune'' who co-hosted a movie review television series alongside colleague Roger Ebert. Siskel started writing for the '' ...

and

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

gave the film two thumbs down on their show '' At the Movies'', describing it as ridiculous, goofy, embarrassing, unsavory and distasteful but also stylish, ambitious and having some smart dialogue.

Box office

The movie had a modest box office. It premiered on October 4, 1991, making $4,831,181 in its opening weekend, 2nd behind ''

The Fisher King ''The Fisher King'' is a 1991 American fantasy comedy drama film written by Richard LaGravenese and directed by Terry Gilliam. Starring Robin Williams and Jeff Bridges, with Mercedes Ruehl, Amanda Plummer and Michael Jeter, the film tells th ...

'', ending up grossing over $21 million in its theatrical run.

References

External links

* * {{Die Hard 1991 films 1991 action thriller films 1991 crime thriller films 1991 psychological thriller films Films scored by Alan Silvestri Films about the Los Angeles Police Department American films about revenge Films directed by Russell Mulcahy Films produced by Joel Silver Films set in 1983 Films set in 1991 Films set in Los Angeles 1990s hood films American neo-noir films Silver Pictures films Warner Bros. films African-American films Films with screenplays by Steven E. de Souza 1990s English-language films 1990s American films Films with screenplays by Menno Meyjes Films with screenplays by Fred Dekker English-language crime thriller films English-language action thriller films