Heaven's Prisoners (1996)

Ex-detective Dave Robicheaux has made a new life for himself and his wife Annie running a bait shop in the outskirts of New Orleans. When they save a little girl, the sole survivor of a ... See full summary »

Director:

Phil Joanou

Writers:

James Lee Burke (book), Harley Peyton (screenplay),

Stars:

Alec Baldwin, Kelly Lynch, Mary Stuart Masterson

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Alec Baldwin	...	Dave Robicheaux
Kelly Lynch	...	Annie Robicheaux
Mary Stuart Masterson	...	Robin Gaddis
Eric Roberts	...	Bubba Rocque
Teri Hatcher	...	Claudette Rocque
Vondie Curtis-Hall	...	Minos P. Dautrieve (as Vondie Curtis Hall)
Badja Djola	...	Batist
Samantha Lagpacan	...	Alafair
Joe Viterelli	...	Didi Giancano
Tuck Milligan	...	Jerry Falgout
Hawthorne James	...	Victor Romero
Don Stark	...	Eddie Keats
Carl A. McGee	...	Toot
Paul Guilfoyle	...	Det. Magelli
Christopher Kriesa	...	Priest (as Chris Krisea)

Storyline

Ex-detective Dave Robicheaux has made a new life for himself and his wife Annie running a bait shop in the outskirts of New Orleans. When they save a little girl, the sole survivor of a plane crash, their lives become forever changed. They take the orphan child into their home and prepare to raise her. However, a visit from DEA agent Dautrieve brings out the detective instincts in Robicheaux and he begins to ask about the rest of the passengers. This brings trouble to Robicheaux and he turns to drug lord Bubba Rocque, a childhood friend. But the friendship becomes estranged when an assault on the Robicheaux home leaves one victim...Annie.

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Plot Keywords:

bayou | sole survivor | airplane crash | stripper | drinking | 

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Taglines:

For an ex-cop obsessed with an unsolved murder, trusting the wrong woman could be a deadly choice.

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence and language, and for some nudity

Details

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 May 1996 (USA)

Also Known As:

Mississippi Delta

Filming Locations:

Louisiana, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

AUD 170,610 (Australia) (1 November 1996)

Company Credits

Production Co:

PVM Entertainment, Rank Organisation, The, Ruddy Morgan Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

132 min 135 min (Ontario)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The name of the character Alafair in the movie and book is the real name of the author's (James Lee Burke) own daughter, who is now also a writer.

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Goofs

When Robin Gaddis sits at the bar answering Robicheaux's questions she has a drink with spear of fruit. In some of the shots, the spear has an orange slice and two cherries, in other shots, an orange slice and one cherry (and no, she doesn't eat one of the cherries).

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Quotes

Dave Robicheaux: If I were you, I'd find another ZIP code.

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Connections

Followed by In the Electric Mist (2009)

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Soundtracks

"Good Moanin' Blues"
Performed by Walter 'Shakey' Horton
Written by Willie Dixon
Courtesy of MCA Records, Inc.

User Reviews

Robicheaux is a character well known to award winning writer James Burke

while this movie does not really capture the flavor of Burkes "prose" it's nice to see recognition of one of fictions better characters. Noticeably missing is the character "Clete Purcell" who was Dave R's former NOPD homicide partner. I see that Tommy Lee Jones will tackle A TV version of another Robicheaux mystery of which 16 Robicheaux novels have been written. Moe action by Baldwin and an interplay between he and the missing Clete Purcell might have brought this movie along further into another feature. New Orleans is always the great mixture of characters and places for mystery, murder and mayhem.

Alex Baldwin does a great job given some of the missing flavor of James Lee Burkes writing. Baldwin made a great looking "Shadow" as well with an unfortunate script.