Ricochet (1991)

A District Attorney is terrorized by the criminal he put away years ago when he was a cop.

Director:

Russell Mulcahy

Writers:

Fred Dekker (story), Menno Meyjes (story)

Stars:

Denzel Washington, John Lithgow, Ice-T

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Denzel Washington	...	Nick Styles
John Lithgow	...	Earl Talbot Blake
Ice-T	...	Odessa (as Ice T)
Kevin Pollak	...	Larry Doyle
Lindsay Wagner	...	DA Priscilla Brimleigh
Mary Ellen Trainor	...	Gail Wallens
Josh Evans	...	Kim
Victoria Dillard	...	Alice
John Amos	...	Reverend Styles
John Cothran	...	Councilman Farris (as John Cothran Jr.)
Linda Dona	...	Wanda (as Linda Doná)
Matt Landers	...	Chief Floyd
Lydell M. Cheshier	...	R.C.
Starletta DuPois	...	Mrs. Styles
Sherman Howard	...	Kiley

Storyline

In this action thriller, Denzel Washington plays Nick Styles, the assistant district attorney of L.A. The film opens in his early days as a cop on the L.A.P.D. During a carnival, master criminal Earl Talbot Blake creates a scene after a botched drug deal. Styles and Blake confront each other, during which Blake is wounded by Styles and later sent to prison. Seven years later, Blake escapes from prison during a parole board hearing to carry out his revenge against Styles, and what follows is a violent series of events that destroys Styles' career. This sets the stage for one last bloody duel between Styles and Blake.

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Plot Keywords:

district attorney | escape from prison | tower | african american | empty swimming pool | 

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Taglines:

This is one case that's going to be settled out of court.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence and sensuality, and for language and drug content

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 October 1991 (USA)

Also Known As:

Рикошет

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles City Hall - 200 North Spring Street, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$4,831,181, 6 October 1991

Gross USA:

$21,760,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Home Box Office (HBO), Cinema Plus, Indigo Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The date on the camcorder time index (when Styles arrested Blake) reveals the year to be 1983. Which means by the end of the film (1991) - the incarceration, escape, and Styles' children growing older; 7 and a half years roughly passed.

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Goofs

When Styles is playing basketball against Odessa near the beginning of the movie, you can clearly see the face of a stunt double with much darker skin, who is driving and slam-dunking the basketball rather than Denzel Washington.

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Quotes

Nick Styles: I guess a Beretta in the butt beats a butterfly in a boot, huh?

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Alternate Versions

All UK releases were cut by 5 secs by the BBFC to edit a scene featuring a butterfly knife and to remove a brief shot of the cover of a child porn magazine in line with UK rules on child protection.

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Connections

References Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde (1976)

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Soundtracks

Oh Freedom
Performed by The Saint John's Methodist Church Gospel Choir

User Reviews

Denzel, must you?

This is just one of those average Die Hard spin offs that in most cases I try to avoid. John Lithgow is pretty convincing as a stark raving mad inmate, but to many aspects of this movie fall flat on its face. Some of this stuff is just to far fetched for me to buy into. Do men in prison really dress themselves up in ghetto armor and masquerade around the lunch hall with swords and battle to the death? Do juries really buy into bashing the defense attorney personally, and do they allow DAs to jump around the courtroom waving his hands in the air like a madman and screaming like a girl? Is it possible to goto a parole hearing, tell a man on the parole board you are going to have sex with his wife and his daughter AND HIS DOG, and then have 3 prisoners just magically bust up in there with power drills and electric saws (with no plug-in around) and kill everybody, then make an escape on a van filled with books for sale? I mean cmon when do you want me to stop? I am able to suspend disbelief for a film in many cases, but then there is this fine line between entertaining and just plain ridiculous. The only reason this movie gets a 4 is because the acting was exceptional. Btw, drug me up on heroin and cocaine and I bet you still can't convince me to have sex with someone I don't want to, even if she is a white hooker with CLAP. 4/10