Murder at 1600 (1997)

Director:

Dwight H. Little

Writers (WGA):

Wayne Beach (written by) &
David Hodgin (written by)

Release Date:

18 April 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

He's a D.C. cop on the outside. She's a Secret Service agent on the inside. Tracking a White House homicide to the First Family's front door.

Plot:

At a time of international incident, the body of a young female staffer is found in a White House wash room...

Plot Keywords:

Cover Up | Helicopter | Investigation | Political | Scandal

Cast

Wesley Snipes	...	Det. Harlan Regis
Diane Lane	...	Agent Nina Chance
Daniel Benzali	...	Agent Nick Spikings
Dennis Miller	...	Det. Steve Stengel
Alan Alda	...	National Security Advisor Alvin Jordan
Ronny Cox	...	President Jack Neil
Diane Baker	...	Kitty Neil, First Lady
Tate Donovan	...	Kyle Neil, First Son
Harris Yulin	...	General Clark Tully
Tom Wright	...	Agent Hal Cooper
Nicholas Pryor	...	Paul Moran
Charles Rocket	...	Jeffrey Arthur Groves
Nigel Bennett	...	Agent Burton Cash
Tamara Gorski	...	Ex-Girlfriend in Bar
Douglas O'Keeffe	...	John Kerry, the Assassin

Also Known As:

Murder at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

107 min | Argentina:108 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Philippines:PG-13 | France:Unrated | Iceland:16 (video rating) | Iceland:14 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Canada:13+ (Québec) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Finland:K-16 | Germany:16 | Netherlands:16 | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:M18 | South Korea:18 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 (cut) | USA:R

Filming Locations:

36-42 Maitland Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Wesley Snipes got the role of Regis after 'Bruce Willis (I)' dropped out.

Goofs:

Continuity: When first arriving at the crime scene, Det. Regis is directed to go down the short hall and turn left. Yet the room he enters is down the hall and to his right. The spoken directions would have been essentially correct if they had been issued one hall earlier.

Quotes:

Detective Harlan Regis: This is Carla's tape from her answering machine
Nina Chance: Yeah.
Detective Harlan Regis: Well, how'd you get it?
Nina Chance: I stole it.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Pootie Tang (2001)

Wow, Does This Deteriorate After A Good First Half

The first hour of this movie was very entertaining, even if it did offer up the normal clichés of the day. It featured good suspense and a likable hero played by Wesley Snipes. I was really enjoying this, but - yes, but - the film goes right down the tubes in the last 40 minutes. The last 20 minutes will really have you cringing.

Not only does the story get convoluted, it loses all credibility. A murder at the White House and no FBI? That's just one of many loopholes. We wind up getting the same tired military-and U.S. government-are-the-bad guys bias that we've seen upteen times in the past 40 years. Hey, the film is entertaining but if you have a brain, you might have problems with this story.

By the way, any film that includes post-MASH Alan Alda or pre-9/11 Dennis Miller is usually pretty bad. We get both in this film.

The ending is so ludicrous, such an insult to anyone's intelligence, that is has to offend anyone, regardless of their political persuasion. This is one of the few films that ends so poorly that both Liberals and Conservatives would agree.

In fact, most people agreed that this film was great for the first half, horrible in the second and was filled with too many clichés that ruined a movie which good have been a good one. Another clue to what you have here is that this was directed by the same guy who did "Halloween 4" and "Free Willy 2."