Marked for Death (1990)

A retired DEA agent is out to hunt down and take out a Jamaican drug posse that has targeted he and his family for murder.

Director:

Dwight H. Little

Writers:

Michael Grais, Mark Victor

Stars:

Steven Seagal, Joanna Pacula, Basil Wallace

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Steven Seagal	...	John Hatcher
Basil Wallace	...	Screwface
Keith David	...	Max
Tom Wright	...	Charles
Joanna Pacula	...	Leslie
Elizabeth Gracen	...	Melissa
Bette Ford	...	Kate Hatcher
Danielle Harris	...	Tracey
Al Israel	...	Tito Barco
Arlen Dean Snyder	...	Duvall
Victor Romero Evans	...	Nesta
Michael Ralph	...	Monkey
Jeffrey Anderson-Gunter	...	Nago
Tony DiBenedetto	...	Jimmy Fingers
Kevin Dunn	...	Lt. Sal Roselli

Storyline

Chicago DEA agent John Hatcher has just returned from Colombia, where his partner was killed in the line of duty by a drug dealer who has since been taken down. As a result of his partner's death, John has decided to retire, but his retirement may not be permanent. On the next day, after reuniting with his sister Melissa and Melissa's daughter Tracy, John gets into a shootout against a Jamaican drug kingpin known as Screwface, taking down some of Screwface's men. John brings himself out of retirement when Screwface retaliates by attempting to kill Melissa and Tracy. After the shooting, John is reunited with two old friends - a local high school football coach named Max, and a Jamaican Chicago cop named Charles. John and Max set out to hunt Screwface down, only to discover that Screwface has gone back to Jamaica. John and Max take Charles with them to Jamaica for an all out war against Screwface and his drug empire.

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Plot Keywords:

jamaican | drug lord | aikido | revolver | montage | 

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Taglines:

In Above the Law, he got tough; In Hard to Kill, he got even; Now the man with the short fuse is... Marked For Death

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 October 1990 (USA)

Also Known As:

Screwface

Filming Locations:

Pasadena, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$12,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$11,790,047, 7 October 1990

Gross USA:

$46,044,400

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$57,968,936

Company Credits

Production Co:

Victor & Grais,Steamroller Productions,Twentieth Century Fox

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Stereo (4 channels)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The theatrical trailer shows some deleted scenes and extra/alternate shots of some action scenes, shots of John hitting one of the Jamaicans during the mall fight scene and hitting him again with neck chop, a shot of John sneaking around Screwface's mansion, an alternate shot of John hitting one of the Jamaican's during the hand to hand fight in mansion, and a deleted conversation scene between John and Tito Barco is also shown in which Barco asks John "Are you some kind of cop?" and John says "Nah, I'm just a concerned citizen."

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Goofs

During the attack on Screwface's Jamaican residence at the beach, Charles uses a HK MP5 with a silencer. This silencer was built by John Hatcher (Seagal) who demonstrated previously, that the firing noise was tremendously reduced. However when Charles fires the MP5, the weapon is apparently not silenced at all (it's as loud as without a silencer).

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Quotes

Nesta: [to Hatcher] Screwface kill me a thousand deaths worse than you. Go find him your fucking self!
[dives through window]

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Crazy Credits

The posse phenomenon is estimated to be a fraction of one percent of the Jamaican population and should not detract from their country or the contributions Jamaicans have made to this country.

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Alternate Versions

Prior to 2013, all UK versions were cut for an 18 rating with edits to an eye gouging, a back break, a neck break and arm breaking scenes. The uncut version was passed with a 15 rating in 2013.

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Connections

Referenced in Workaholics: Miss BS (2014)

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Soundtracks

Rebel In Me
Performed and Written by Jimmy Cliff
Published by Lilbert Music
Courtesy of Cliff Sounds and Films

User Reviews

Plenty of action, car chases, explosion,corpses and usual violence for this genre

A war veteran and ex-drug agent named John Hatcher (Steven Seagal) retires himself from his dangerous employment. He returns to his family , his sister (Bette Ford) and nephew(Danielle Harris). But he confronts against a Jamaican dope delinquents led by Screwface (Basil Wallace who's a better villain than Seagal's previous films). And as the title says marked him and his family for death. Hatcher and his pals (Keith David and Tom Wright) are back in action to track down the Jamaican killer who is threatening his family. Then Hatcher and Screwface playing a cat-and-mouse game.

Elaborately produced action film with tough Seagal is just another action film full of struggles ,thrills, noise and lots of violence. Ever-wooden Seagal as almost always, playing a two-fisted and loner cop, he delivers the goods in his own style full of usual violence and fights with snapping wrists and worth it just to see Steve in Jamaica where appears singing Jimmy Cliff. Atmospheric musical score by James Newton Howard though composed by synthesizer and appropriate cinematography by Ric Waite. The picture was made in the Seagal's best period when he played high budget movies such as ¨Hard to kill¨(1990 by Bruce Malmuth), ¨Under siege¨ ( Seagal's best film to date, 92, Andrew Davis), ¨Dark territory¨ (95, Geoff Murphy), ¨Executive decision¨ (96 by Stuart Baird), ¨Glimmer man¨ ((96, John Gray), ¨Exit wounds¨(2001, Andre Bartkowiak), among others. Nowadays he does fairly low standards, lesser budget and direct to video movies, such as ¨Half past dead¨, ¨The foreigner¨ and its sequel and many others.

Director Dwight H. Little who gave credibility to Wesley Snipes in 'Murder at 1600' teams up with Aikido expert Seagal for this action-filled cop thriller. The result is a strong outing for action enthusiasts and Seagal is fun to watch.