Marked for Death (1990)

User Rating:

5.2/10   

Director:

Dwight H. Little

Writers (WGA):

Michael Grais (written by) &
Mark Victor (written by)

Release Date:

5 October 1990 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

He's a good cop. In a bad mood.

Plot:

Chicago DEA agent John Hatcher has just returned from Colombia, where his partner was killed in the...

Plot Keywords:

Drugs | Jamaica | Jamaican | Crack Cocaine | Sword Fight

Cast

Steven Seagal	...	John Hatcher
Basil Wallace	...	Screwface
Keith David	...	Max
Tom Wright	...	Charles, Jamaican Cop
Joanna Pacula	...	Leslie
Elizabeth Gracen	...	Melissa
Bette Ford	...	Kate Hatcher
Danielle Harris	...	Tracey, John's Niece
Al Israel	...	Tito Barco, Columbian Drug Lord
Arlen Dean Snyder	...	Duvall
Victor Romero Evans	...	Nesta
Michael Ralph	...	Monkey
Jeffrey Anderson-Gunter	...	Nago
Tony DiBenedetto	...	Jimmy Fingers
Kevin Dunn	...	Lt. Sal Roselli

Also Known As:

Screwface (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Germany:18 (video premiere) (cut) | West Germany:18 (video premiere) (cut) | Iceland:16 | UK:18 (DVD version) (cut) | Finland:K-18 (DVD version) (cut) | Finland:K-16 (VHS version) (cut) | Netherlands:12 (TV rating) | Netherlands:16 | Finland:K-18 (cut) (1991) | UK:18 (re-rating) (uncut) (2001) | South Korea:18 | Malaysia:18PL | Canada:16+ (Quebec) | Australia:M (cut) | Australia:R | France:-12 | Germany:18 (JK/SPIO) | Norway:18 | Singapore:NC-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Carpinteria, California, USA

Company:

Victor & Grais

Trivia:

Steven Seagal wrote and performed the Song "John Crow" together with Jimmy Cliff ,this is the first singing appearance by Steven Seagal.

Goofs:

Miscellaneous: After the car crashes into the mall, the people across the street don’t move until they get their cue.

Quotes:

Screwface: Hey, where Nesta man?
Nago: [whispers in his ear] Nesta and Jimmy Fingers are dead at the hotel.
Screwface: Nesta dead. Who do it, the white boy, Hatcher.
[Nago nodes head]
Screwface: [Screwface throws table up and hits gang member with table leg]
Screwface: I want Hatcher dead. I want his family dead. If you can't kill him, I go kill him. Then I'm gonna kill you.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Wedlock (1991)

Soundtrack:

John Crow

One of Seagal's finest

I cannot believe this film got such bad ratings as it is one of my favourite action flicks of all time. Marked for Death has Steven Seagal playing John Hatcher a cop whose out for revenge against a gang of Jamaican drug dealers. The film has some terrific action sequences and set pieces, example being the shopping centre fight which really showcases Seagal's talents. This has excellent pacing as well as good location shoots. The score for Marked for Death is amazing, suiting the film so well, giving it the right sinister kind of atmosphere. The voodoo elements were cool, Screwface has to be one of the best villains and the twist at the end is unexpected. The violence in the uncut version is some of the most brutally realistic you can find in a mainstream action flick, with Seagal snapping bones as if they were twigs. Be warned though, like most of Seagal's films, in the U.K Marked for Death was cut badly by the censors so nearly all of the bone breaking violence is now gone, leaving just a standard badly edited action film. If you want to see the real power of Marked for Death then you would be advised get your hands on the uncut versions somehow. The only minor flaw with this film is that the beginning in Mexico is a little ropey, but apart from that the only Seagal flick that Warner bros didn't make but Fox did, deserves a place next to Under Seige 2 as being one of my favourite Steven Seagal films.