Bad Company (1995/I)

User Rating:

5.1/10   

Director:

Damian Harris

Writer (WGA):

Ross Thomas (written by)

Release Date:

20 January 1995 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Bribery. Blackmail. Murder. Specialities of the house.

Plot:

Nelson Crowe is a CIA operative under the thumb of the Company for a disputed delivery of $50,000 in gold...

Plot Keywords:

Blackmail | CIA | Judge | Female Nudity | Murder

Cast

Ellen Barkin	...	Margaret Wells
Laurence Fishburne	...	Nelson Crowe / Narrator
Frank Langella	...	Vic Grimes
Michael Beach	...	Tod Stapp
Gia Carides	...	Julie Ames
David Ogden Stiers	...	Judge Justin Beach
Daniel Hugh Kelly	...	Les Goodwin
Spalding Gray	...	Walter Curl
James Hong	...	Bobby Birdsong
Tegan West	...	Al
Fred Henderson	...	John Cartwain
Michelle Beaudoin	...	Wanda
Sherry Bie	...	Mrs. Beach
Alan Robertson	...	Phil
L. Harvey Gold	...	Doctor

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Norway:15 | Spain:18 | UK:15 (video premiere) | USA:R | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada

Company:

Touchstone Pictures

Quotes:

Margaret Wells: And here we are, just the three of us, about to suborn a supreme court justice into voting against crippled kids.
Vic Grimes: Does that give you pause, Mr. Crowe?
Nelson Crowe: Sure.
Vic Grimes: But?
Nelson Crowe: No "buts." The two of you wanted to know if it gives me pause; I said yes. It's a felony. If I get caught, I go to jail. That gives me pause, alright? If it didn't, you wouldn't have me working for you.
Vic Grimes: What about the deformed tots?
Nelson Crowe: I suppose I think of them as often as they think of me.

An OK drama/thriller that really needed to feel tighter and have better dialogue

Thrown out of the CIA for be suspected of stealing gold that he denies stealing, Nelson Crowe finds himself a former spook looking for work in the private sector. This brings him to the attention of an organisation run by Vic Grimes, one that excels in blackmail and corruption for a fee. Recruited by Margaret Wells, Crowe soon finds himself in deep and almost immediately winning the trust of Wells. She repays this trust by offering him joint control of the Toolshed – in return for murdering Grimes. Meanwhile Crowe reports back to the CIA that the first stage of his infiltration has been successful but the CIA have other ideas of how his mission will end; meanwhile the word 'trust' loses any meaning it may have once had as the various sides jostle to come out on top.

The concept of a thriller involving CIA operatives and shady goings on combined with the question 'who can you trust?' will be nothing new to anybody and, for this reason, this film doesn't really do anything wrong but doesn't do anything special either. The plot is full of twists and turns but none of them are really surprisingly or even that interesting; meanwhile the 'thriller' aspect of the film never really gets up to speed and a big problem with it is the delivery. The story is a rather plodding drama at times and it could have done with being a lot slicker – dark but slick. Without many thrills the plot sags easily and the audience may feel almost bored at times; considering the stakes are murder, corruption and betrayal it is a surprising that it is so flat. The dialogue also suffers from being a bit flat; contrast it with the sparkling dialogue of David Mamet (in Spartan for example) and this just feels clunky and lacking in effort.

Of course having a great cast helps to counteract that but there is only so much that they can do at times but they still manage to have a good presence and add to the material. Barkin is sexy, manipulative, needy and cold all by turns – it is a role she can do very well and she rises above the material here. The rest of the leads rely on presence more than performance but they mostly succeed. Fishburne is always interesting and he excels at tough and cool, making a good lead. Langella is cool professionalism and suits his character well. Beach is good; Stiers is a well-known face and fits his minor role well while Spalding Gray is a rather sad reminder of his suicide but he is very good in his character. Of course it is Barkin and Fishburne that dominate the film and both are pretty strong, actually making up for wider delivery problems and making the material feel better than it is.

Overall this is nothing special but it does enough to be worth watching once. The cast provide strong performances with good screen presences all round but the delivery is roundly flat and never gets as tight or thrilling as other films in the genre effortlessly manage. The plot is old news and the dialogue feels flat and lacking in imagination and effort, rather taking the life out of the film and making it feel a lot more workmanlike than the names in the cast list would suggest it could be.