Blue Steel (1990)

A female rookie in the police force must engage in a cat-and-mouse game with a pistol-wielding psychopath who becomes obsessed with her.

Director:

Kathryn Bigelow

Writers:

Kathryn Bigelow, Eric Red

Stars:

Jamie Lee Curtis, Ron Silver, Clancy Brown

2 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jamie Lee Curtis	...	Megan Turner
Ron Silver	...	Eugene Hunt
Clancy Brown	...	Nick Mann
Elizabeth Peña	...	Tracy Perez (as Elizabeth Pena)
Louise Fletcher	...	Shirley Turner
Philip Bosco	...	Frank Turner
Kevin Dunn	...	Asst. Chief Stanley Hoyt
Richard Jenkins	...	Attorney Mel Dawson
Markus Flanagan	...	Husband (as Markus Flannagan)
Mary Mara	...	Wife
Skipp Lynch	...	Instructor
Mike Hodge	...	Police Commissioner
Mike Starr	...	Superintendant
Chris Walker	...	Officer Jeff Travers
Tom Sizemore	...	Wool Cap

Storyline

On her first day on the job, NYPD officer Megan Turner, the lone officer on the scene, shoots and kills the perpetrator of a supermarket hold-up. Since no gun was found on the perpetrator's person or at the scene and none of the witnesses could corroborate Megan's story definitively that the perpetrator was indeed wielding a gun, she is suspended from active duty. She is quickly albeit temporarily reinstated to the position of homicide detective because the spent shell casing from the bullet used in a subsequent murder had her name carved on it. This murder ends up being only the first in a series. Working on the case with fellow homicide detective Nick Mann, Megan initially has no idea who in her life could be the murderer. In short order, the murderer does show himself to her. He is commodities trader Eugene Hunt who she met immediately following her suspension and who she has since dated. He also implies to her that he was in the supermarket at the time of the hold-up and that he ...

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Plot Keywords:

new york city | neo noir | police | female cop | woman wearing only a man's shirt | 

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Taglines:

A Point Blank Thriller

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 March 1990 (USA)

Also Known As:

Blue Steel

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$2,895,744, 18 March 1990

Gross USA:

$8,217,997

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$8,217,997

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lightning Pictures, Precision Films, Mack-Taylor Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Stereo

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Was originally set to be released by Vestron Pictures and its offshoot label Lightning Pictures but ultimately acquired by MGM due to Vestron's financial problems and eventual bankruptcy at the time.

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Goofs

Megan fires more rounds than her revolver can hold without reloading.

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Quotes

Nick Mann: Y'know what I love about this city? You can throw a stick up in the air and it'll land on a taxi or an ambulance.

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Connections

Featured in WatchMojo: Top 10 Women Cops from Film (2013)

User Reviews

Where's the cops?

******SPOILERS****** "Blue Steel" is basically a film about a crazed Wall Street commodities broker Eugene Hunt, Ron Silver, who has a religious experience one night. At a neighborhood grocery store rookie policewomen Magen Turner, Jamie Lee Curtis, blasts away a robber, Tom Sizemore, who tried to shoot her as well as those in the store including Eugene.

Ehgene crabs the dead crooks .44 Magnum and takes off with it before the backup team came on the crime scene leaving Magen with no proof that the robber had a gun and leaving her open to disciplinary charges by the NYPD. Back home Eugene treating the .44 as if it were a religious item to be both worshiped and revered. Eugene feels that Magen is the missing part of his religious experience and plans to get to know her to make it all complete.

Eugene gets friendly with Magen by getting her a cab and then treating her to dinner at a swanky restaurant. Eugene even takes Magen on a helicopter ride over NYC at night. As Eugene wines and dines Magen he secretly goes out at night shooting people with her missing .44 using bullets with Magen's name scratched on the casings. This gets Magen into even more trouble with the baffled police department thinking that she's somehow responsible for those murders.

The crazed Eugene seem untouchable from both the police as well as the courts. No matter how much proof the police have on him his high priced lawyer always gets Eugene off on some technicality. Eugene even gets away with shooting Magen's best friend Tracy Perez, Elizabeth Pena, right in front of her eyes! That cold blooded murder on Eugene's part still wasn't enough to convict much less arrest him for the crime?

After offing what seemed like scores of people with the police and the NYC justice department totally helpless to stop him the movie finally ends with a shootout between Magen and the crazed broker in the Wall Street section of Manhattan. The shootout starts in the subway and ended in the streets. Eugene ends up not only getting blasted with a full magazine by Magen but also run over by her. It seems that Magen is the only policeman, or it this case policewomen, on duty in the entire city, was the New York Police Force on a coffee break?

This movie is nuts and ridicules just like Eugene but one thing that it isn't is boring. It's a small wonder that anyone involved with this movie ever survived to make another film.