Guarding Tess (1994)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Hugh Wilson

Writers (WGA):

Hugh Wilson (written by) &
Peter Torokvei (written by)

Release Date:

11 March 1994 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

A comedy beyond the call of duty.

Plot:

A former First Lady of the US wants a particular Secret Service agent to head her bodyguard detail, even though he can't stand her.

Plot Keywords:

Secret Service | U.S. President | Bodyguard | Widow | First Lady

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe.

Cast

Nicolas Cage	...	Doug Chesnic
Shirley MacLaine	...	Tess Carlisle
Austin Pendleton	...	Earl Fowler
Edward Albert	...	Barry Carlisle
James Rebhorn	...	Howard Schaeffer
Richard Griffiths	...	Frederick
John Roselius	...	Tom Bahlor
David Graf	...	Lee Danielson
Don Yesso	...	Ralph Buoncristiani
James Lally	...	Joe Spector
Brant von Hoffman	...	Bob Hutcherson
Harry Lennix	...	Kenny Young
Susan Blommaert	...	Kimberly Cannon
Dale Dye	...	Charles Ivy
James Handy	...	Neal Carlo

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:L | Canada:PG | Canada:PG (Ontario) | South Korea:12 | Philippines:G | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Chile:14 | Finland:K-10/7 | Germany:6 | Netherlands:AL (video premiere) | Norway:10 | Peru:14 | Spain:T | Sweden:11 | UK:12 | USA:PG-13 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

9690 Deerco Road, Timonium, Maryland, USA

Company:

Channel Films

Trivia:

The voice of the president was provided by writer and director, Hugh Wilson.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Frederick sarcastically expresses surprise to Doug that he isn't standing outside The Russian Tea Room as part of Jacqueline Kennedy's Secret Service detail. Kennedy forfeited her Secret Service privileges when she remarried.

Quotes:

Store Manager: [to Doug] Does she want to be known today?
[Doug shakes his head]
Store Manager: [to customers and cashiers] Don't know her! Don't know her! Don't know her!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Kicking and Screaming (1995)

Soundtrack:

Overture

The scene in the bar...

Like the earlier poster, the key in it is the scene in the bar. Prior to it Tess's son came to see her on Christmas Day, only because his probably shady business partners wanted to use her name on their project (which is doubtless the only reason they brought him on board). She smells a rat and refuses. She is forcibly confronted with the fact that she cannot trust her own son and aside from his occasional need to use her for his own financial advantage, they have no relationship (I guess it is hard to avoid feeling like an underachiever if you are the son of a president. Especially when you go through life trading on your last name the way I suspect Tess's son has. I loved the disappointment welling up in Tess's face as her son continued his obviously planned pitch. He had only come because he wanted something. She knew some scam, some manipulation was coming.).

In the bar with Chesnic, Tess acknowledges that she hasn't been much of a mother and because of this she is all alone. She asks Doug about himself, gently bringing up a very brief marriage on his file.

He simply, sadly says, "Everybody but me could see what she was really like."

You conjure up a vista of someone who is a guardian, a protector, trying to be a knight in shining armor to someone who had no wish to be saved. These characters have such depth that in one line you see a whole other very plausible side to his character; a disastrous love life driven by his need to find basket cases to 'save'. Both Tess and Doug have failed, made mistakes at the fundamental relationships of their lives and their loneliness pulls them together.

It is pleasant to see Nicholas Cage understated.