The Take (1990) (TV)

User Rating:

4.9/10   

Director:

Leon Ichaso

Writers (WGA):

Eugene Izzi (novel)
Edward Anhalt (teleplay) ...

Release Date:

28 March 1990 (USA)

Genre:

Crime

Plot:

An ex-Miami cop just back from prison for corruption gets caught up in the Florida drug trade.

Plot Keywords:

Based On Novel

Cast

Ray Sharkey	...	Dennis
R. Lee Ermey	...	Weller
Larry Manetti	...	Barry Shaw
Joe Lala
Lisa Hartman	...	Delaney
Roberto Escobar	...	Coco Cardona
Orestes Matacena	...	Victor Menocal
Nelson Oramas	...	Detective Diaz
Ruben Rabasa	...	Luis Menocal
Tony Bolano	...	Flaco
Alonna Shaw	...	Elena (as Lonnie Shaw)
Christopher Pianno	...	Vallone
Bobby J. Foxworth	...	Big John
Alfredo Álvarez Calderón	...	Indio
Marc Macaulay	...	Shel

Runtime:

Germany:87 min | USA:100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Germany:16 | USA:R

Company:

Cine-Nevada Productions

Formulaic plot concerns decided as per viewer expectations.

With a setting in Miami and its environs, and with Cuban Leon Ichaso directing in his normal kinetic fashion, TAKE presents a storyline concerning Dennis Delaney (Ray Sharkey), an ex-policeman who is released after four years in prison following a conviction for an aborted drug-dealer rip-off, and who attempts to reclaim a portion of his reputation while strengthening his marriage to his loyal indeed wife Sally (Lisa Hartman). Delaney, working as a security guard at a jai-alai gambling club, becomes friendly with a former Miami radio personality, Barry Shaw (Larry Manetti, who also produces here), and when Shaw is entangled in a grab at profit involving murder, heroin, and local Cuban narcotics kingpin Victor Menocal (Orestes Matacena), the former policeman finds that he is drawn into a dangerous morass. There are some clever components within the dialogue and some interesting casting, particularly that of Nelson Oramas as Delaney's former supervisor who remains faithful to their comradeship, (Oramas an actual lieutenant with Metro-Dade Police at the time of filming), with Matacena having conquered over the largely Cuban group of actors to garner the film's acting laurels, with his portrayal of a drug lord being nicely tatted with ambiguity. However, the writing is slipshod and the direction and editing often leave the players hanging, Ichaso favouring local colour and scenes of Latin dance to the detriment of what should be a tighter scenario, while Sharkey amiably saunters through the film, seemingly not terribly much involved with his admittedly hackneyed role responsibilities.