The Rookie (1990)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

Clint Eastwood

Writers (WGA):

Boaz Yakin (written by) &
Scott Spiegel (written by)

Release Date:

7 December 1990 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Thriller

Plot:

Clint Eastwood plays a veteran cop who gets stuck with a rookie cop (Charlie Sheen) to chase down a German criminal (Raul Julia.)

Plot Keywords:

Auto Theft | Police | Chase | Undercover | Sexism

Cast

Clint Eastwood	...	Nick Pulovski
Charlie Sheen	...	David Ackerman
Raul Julia	...	Strom
Sonia Braga	...	Liesl
Tom Skerritt	...	Eugene Ackerman
Lara Flynn Boyle	...	Sarah
Pepe Serna	...	Lt. Ray Garcia
Marco Rodríguez	...	Loco
Pete Randall	...	Cruz
Donna Mitchell	...	Laura Ackerman
Xander Berkeley	...	Blackwell
Tony Plana	...	Morales
David Sherrill	...	Max
Hal Williams	...	Powell
Lloyd Nelson	...	Freeway Motorist

Runtime:

120 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Spain:18 | Iceland:16 | Singapore:PG (cut) | Canada:PG | West Germany:16 (re-rated) (video) | Singapore:NC-16 (edited version) | Australia:M | Finland:K-18 | Germany:18 | Norway:18 | South Korea:15 (DVD) (2003) | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

East Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Kazanjian/Siebert Productions

Trivia:

David Ackerman's line "Candygram for Mr. Mongo" is a reference to Blazing Saddles (1974).

Goofs:

Continuity: During a chase, the same highway exit sign can be seen multiple times.

Quotes:

Morales: [to David Ackerman] I saw you die.
Nick Pulovski: Well, welcome to Hell!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Law & Order: Criminal Intent: The Unblinking Eye (#4.21)" (2005)

Soundtrack:

Red Zone

Completely Pointless

It's no surprise to see a formulaic, by-the-numbers action exploitation flick like this; the surprise is that even with Clint Eastwood in the directing chair, it ends up being completely pointless. As well as directing, he also stars in the film, in a role that pretty much screams 'Dirty Harry', and is hurt by how damn old and worn out he looks. Charlie Sheen co-stars with him, in the typical 'partner' role. For the first half, Sheen's pretty much a wimp; for the second half, he's a bad-ass guy who kicks almost as much ass as Eastwood does. Both give pretty good performances, but that's nowhere near enough to save such a cliché-ridden, stereotypical and predictable movie. Raul Julia does a great villain, as always, but like Sheen and Eastwood, he's not good enough to save the film. The plot is dull and uninteresting. The pacing is awful... the film could easily have been half an hour shorter without removing anything important or even remotely interesting. The action isn't particularly exciting or well-choreographed. The film brings absolutely nothing new to the genre, and does very little of interest to the viewer with what's already there. Only fans of one of the three lead actors or fans of exploitation action flicks could possibly find this interesting. From reading the trivia section of this site, you'll know that the film features more than twice as many stunt-men as it does actors... that describes the movie better than anything I could possibly write here. I recommend it to only to very big fans of one or more of the three lead actors, Eastwood, Sheen and Julia, and fans of exploitation action films.