Stormy Monday (1988)

A crooked American businessman tries to push the shady influential owner of a nightclub in Newcastle, England to sell him the club. The club's new employee and the American's ex lover fall in love and inadvertently stir the pot.

Director:

Mike Figgis

Writer:

Mike Figgis

Stars:

Melanie Griffith, Tommy Lee Jones, Sting

1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Melanie Griffith	...	Kate
Tommy Lee Jones	...	Cosmo
Sting	...	Finney
Sean Bean	...	Brendan
James Cosmo	...	Tony
Mark Long	...	Patrick
Brian Lewis	...	Jim
Ying Tong John	...	1st Heavy
Mick Hamer	...	Pianist
Ian Hinchcliffe	...	Man at Record Shop
Andrzej Borkowski	...	Andrej
Caroline Hutchison	...	Finney's Secretary Jean
Les Wilde	...	Customs Officer
Desmond Gill	...	Man in Airport Lounge
Benny Graham	...	Passport Officer

Storyline

Brendan takes a job as janitor for Finney, who runs a jazz nightclub in the Northern English city of Newcastle. But Finney is being pressured to sell his club, and Brendan soon provides non-janitorial services to Finney. Soon his rival's American boss Cosmo comes to town, while Brendan begins to fall in love with Kate, an escort working for Cosmo.

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Plot Keywords:

criminal | club | nightclub | newcastle | england | 

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Taglines:

The Most Dangerous Choices Are Made With The Heart

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Music | Romance

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English Polish

Release Date:

May 1988 (USA)

Also Known As:

Stormy Monday

Filming Locations:

Queen Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, England, UK

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$44,734, 24 April 1988

Gross USA:

$1,791,328

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$1,791,328

Company Credits

Production Co:

Atlantic Entertainment Group, British Screen Productions, Film Four International

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Rankcolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Cosmos: Tommy Lee Jones plays a character in this film, named "Cosmo". Joe Pantoliano would later play a character named "Cosmo" in The Fugitive (1993), and its sequel U.S. Marshals (1998). Jones portrayed Cosmo's superior officer, Deputy U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard, in both of those films. Keeping up with the "Cosmo" theme here, James Cosmo appeared in the film, but he did not play Cosmo.

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Quotes

Brendan: Did you mean what you said?
Kate: What did I say?

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Connections

Featured in At the Movies: Cape Fear/Strictly Business/All I Want for Christmas/Liebestraum/The People Under the Stairs (1991)

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Soundtracks

I've Been Loving You Too Long
Performed by Otis Redding
Words and Music by Otis Redding and Jerry Butler
Used by permission of Greenwich Music Limited
Courtesy of Atlantic Recording Corp.
by arrangement with Warner Special Products

User Reviews

New British Cinema at its best!

Like Mike Hodges' in his crime classic "Get Carter" (1971) starring Michael Caine, British director Mike Figgis takes another disturbing view on the dark city of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in this modern British jazz and crime drama. In "Stormy Monday", pop singer Sting plays a jazz club owner who is threatened by American business man Tommy Lee Jones who wants to take his club with violent oppression. Unfortunately Sting's close friend Sean Bean falls in love with Jones' girlfriend Melanie Griffith...

Even if you know this kind of plot from many other crime thrillers and serie noire dramas, this movie is well-balanced, thrilling, fascinating and fast-pacing. The actors are great, the pictures of the city of Newcastle, though photographed in rather neon-like 1980's glamour style, nearly as dark and menacing as in "Get Carter", and the superb jazz sound track (mainly composed by Figgis himself) adds much atmosphere to the story - and even Sting plays a great double bass solo on stage! Watch this great modern crime movie, as it's a good example of the rise of modern British cinema in the 1980's. I wish they would make such movies here in Germany...