The Flight of the Dove (1994)

Director:

Steve Railsback

Writer (WGA):

Lewis A. Green (written by)

Genre:

Thriller

Plot:

A beautiful spy trades sex for secrets. A reclusive explosives expert is haunted by a tragic past. When these two meet, the sparks fly...

Plot Keywords:

Spy | Dominatrix | Independent Film

Cast

Scott Glenn	...	William B. Rickman
Theresa Russell	...	Mary Ann Curran (aka Alex Canis)
Lane Smith	...	Stephen Hahn
Terence Knox	...	Jonathan 'J.B.' Brandels
Katherine Helmond	...	Dr. Pamela Schilling
Joe Pantoliano	...	Attorney Brezner
Alex Rocco	...	Bartender
Rudy Ramos	...	Ortiz
Gary Graham	...	Silver
Angelo Dimascio	...	Burns
Juan A. Riojas	...	Rodas (as Juan Riojas)
Bo Eason	...	Donner
Nicholas Mele	...	Mailman
Shashawnee Hall	...	Stocky Workman
Robert Dryer	...	Tall Workman

Also Known As:

The Spy Within

MPAA:

Rated R for strong sexuality, and for violence and language.

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:16 | UK:18 (video premiere) | USA:R

Company:

Hillwood Entertainment Film Group Inc.

Soundtrack:

Crossing Over the Line

mini-review

She's a NSA spy on the run. He's an innocent bystander with requisite guilt complex. They meet in a bar, spend a (very hot) night together and fall in love. Next day bad boys try to eliminate them, but they outsmart bad boys and begin - you've guessed it! - a happy new life. No problem imagining such a movie as low-budget camp comedy with Shannon Dougherty and Matthew Perry. Or as brainless summer actioner with Schwarzenegger and Neve Campbell\Jennifer Love Hewitt\etc. It's much harder imagining (let alone making) it with Theresa Russell and Scott Glenn - actors, whose personalities automatically suggest more twisted, complex and ambivalent story. A movie with such blatantly unprobable premise needs either Bruchheimer scope or Tarantino touch. Steve Railsback has neither. Former actor turned director, Railback obviously doesn't know how to act behind the camera and simply lets it go as it goes. Good actors caught in bad movie try to rise above the mediocrity but it's almost impossible. They still make some attempts when their heroes stop running, shooting or f***ing and begin talking. No, their lines are as banal as the action, but actors' faces sometimes display emotions unheard-of in the cartoon universe of the movie. When she's got a chance, Russell looks almost convincing in her character's transformations from vulgar broad to desperate woman, but she's still light years away from the image of tough agent. Glenn's situation is especially hard; in movie's clumsy erotic scenes he looks like he's dying of shame. But Glenn's inner charisma greatly helps him in his interactions with Russell when he isn't forced to do anything but exist onscreen. Helas, such moments are very rare and actors are wasted. Railsback, who once was an actor in classic "The Stunt Man", should know that a movie like "The Flight of the Dove" could work only if it was directed by someone like megalomaniac Eli Cross, his evil genius in that old masterpiece.