V.I. Warshawski (1991)

A female PI babysitting for a boyfriend gets stuck with his daughter and the case of her murdered father.

Director:

Jeff Kanew

Writers:

Sara Paretsky ('V.I. Warshawski' novels), Edward Taylor (screen story)

Stars:

Kathleen Turner, Jay O. Sanders, Charles Durning

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kathleen Turner	...	Vic
Jay O. Sanders	...	Murray
Charles Durning	...	Lt. Mallory
Angela Goethals	...	Kat
Nancy Paul	...	Paige
Frederick Coffin	...	Horton
Charles McCaughan	...	Trumble
Stephen Meadows	...	Boom-Boom
Wayne Knight	...	Smeissen
Lynnie Godfrey	...	Sal
Anne Pitoniak	...	Lotty
Stephen Root	...	Mickey
Robert Clotworthy	...	Philip Pugh
Tom Allard	...	Big Eddie
Mike Hagerty	...	Babe (as Michael G. Hagerty)

Storyline

Victoria "V.I" Warshawski is a Chicago based private detective who agrees to babysit for her new boyfriend; then he is murdered. Being the detective type, she makes the murder her next case. In doing so she befriends the victim's daughter, Kat, and together they set out to crack the case.

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Plot Keywords:

female stockinged feet | pantyhose | camera shot of feet | foot closeup | chicago illinois | 

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Taglines:

V.I. Warshawski: A private detective with a name as tough as she is.

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Crime | Mystery

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and moments of violence

Did You Know?

Trivia

This was originally meant to spawn a franchise for Kathleen Turner, but the film's dismal US box office performance soon put an end to that.

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Goofs

Late in the film, Victoria "V.I." Warshawski (Kathleen Turner) returns to Smeissen's (Wayne Knight) hideout to get some information out of him. She goes upstairs to his office and, as a warning, fires her gun at a bowl of walnuts sitting on his desk. The film cuts to a reaction shot of Smeissen, then back to the wide shot. Several items on the desk have moved on their own. Most notably, the red file folder has gone from sitting under the bowl of walnuts to sitting next to it. The phone straightened itself out, and the walnuts that flew out of the bowl have drastically changed positions.

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Quotes

[last lines]
Murray Ryerson: Vic, about that blonde.
Victoria "V.I." Warshawski: Murray, have you ever seen what I can do with a nutcracker?

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Connections

Referenced in Saturday Night Live: Drew Barrymore/Kelis (2004)

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Soundtracks

Waltz G Flat Major, Or 70, No. 1
Written by Frédéric Chopin
Performed by Eugene Ormandy and The Philadelphia Orchestra
Courtesy of Sony Classical

User Reviews

Such a missed opportunity

I'm coming at this as a fan of Kathleen Turner, the V.I. Warshawski series and of my home city of Chicago. This movie simply blew it.

The casting, at least, was perfect. Turner is perfectly cast as V.I. The voice, the look, the attitude, everything. She perfectly captures the character. Even the rest of the casting is good. Jay O. Sanders perfectly fits Murray (A red-headed Elliot Gould according the books) and Dennehy is Bobby Mallory.

The problem is script and direction. They took bits and pieces from at least four different books and threw them together, badly. They watered down V.I. (tho Turner did a hell of a job of working through it). The movie loses its way at the end. It's just a mess. The directing was half-hearted. And they never got much of the character of Chicago, which is a major part of V.I. herself.

This could have been a great movie. V.I. is one of the great unsung female characters in mystery fiction. Chicago is one of the great cities of the world. And the stories in the series are full and complex. And this movie wasn't any of it.

It's good for the hardcore Kathleen Turner fans. She is the best part of this movie and manages to get the character to show through the bad dialog. But this movie could have been so much more. Hopefully a good adaption could be done at some point.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 July 1991 (USA)

Also Known As:

V.I. Warshawski, Detective in High Heels

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$3,603,338, 28 July 1991

Gross USA:

$11,128,309

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$11,128,309

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hollywood Pictures, Silver Screen Partners IV, Chestnut Hill Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1