Wedlock (1991)

A male prison escapee heads for his hidden loot electronically attached to a female prisoner.

Director:

Lewis Teague

Writer:

Broderick Miller

Stars:

Rutger Hauer, Mimi Rogers, Joan Chen

Nominated for 1 Primetime Emmy.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Rutger Hauer	...	Frank Warren
Mimi Rogers	...	Tracy Riggs
Joan Chen	...	Noelle
James Remar	...	Sam
Stephen Tobolowsky	...	Warden Holliday
Basil Wallace	...	Emerald
Grand L. Bush	...	Jasper
Denis Forest	...	Puce
Glenn Plummer	...	Teal
Belle Avery	...	Deborah
Ismael 'East' Carlo	...	Chief Officer
Ed Crick	...	Sergeant #1
Zaid Farid	...	Policeman #1
Richard Gilbert-Hill	...	Security Guard #2
Colin Hamilton	...	Minister

Storyline

Frank (Rutger Hauer has been convicted of stealing millions of dollars of diamonds which have not been recovered. In his uni-sex prison, each inmate has an unknown partner; when the two are separated by more than 100 yards, an explosive collar kills both inmates. Frank and his female partner escape and head for the money, but they are hotly pursued by his double-crossing colleagues.

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Plot Keywords:

diamond | prison | escape | on the run | money | 

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Taglines:

Break-Ups Are Hard ... But Divorce is Deadly!

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some strong violence, and for language

Details

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 September 1991 (Germany)

Also Known As:

Aliança Mortal

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles River, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$6,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Home Box Office (HBO), Incorporated Television Company (ITC), Spectacor Films

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the beginning of this movie, you see a movie theater billboard that is playing Marked for Death (1990). Basil Wallace, who plays Emerald in this film, played Screwface in that one.

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Goofs

Obvious stunt doubles for Frank and Tracy when falling in the river from the hill during their jail escape.

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Quotes

[Frank is using Sam as a shield as Noelle aims a gun at him]
Frank: Did you do it for Noelle, or for the money?
Sam: She is cute, isn't she?
[Noelle shoots Sam]
Sam: Ahh! You hit me, you bitch!
Noelle: Sorry honey, but I did it for the money.
Frank: Looks like she fucked us both.
Sam: Yeah. Hey, you want her back?

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Crazy Credits

The closing credits end with the sounds of the wedlock collar's warning alarm and an explosion.

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Connections

Referenced in Reservoir Dogs (1992)

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Soundtracks

All the Good Times Are Past and Gone
(uncredited)
Traditional
Performed by Bill Monroe

User Reviews

A treat

Wedlock is one of those shamelessly trashy B-movie romps that the 80's proudly churned out in droves for our viewing pleasure. Some are shitty and enjoyable, some are just shitty, and some are solid gems, provided you've been schooled a bit in this particular, acquired taste of an arena. I spent a lot of my teenage years being a scholar in this sort of lovable junk, so I have plenty of ancient data in my mental hard drive to dust off for the old blog- ski. Rutger made quite a few ventures into this field (come to think of it most of my favourite actors have. Wonder what that says about my taste lol). He's got genre written all over his acting style, and loves to play broad characters in stylized fare. Here he plays Frank Warren, an amiable jewel thief who is betrayed in an opening sequence heist by his dodgy partner Sam (James Remar), and rowdy girlfriend Noelle (Josie Packard- I mean Joan Chen). He's sent to an amusingly 'futuristic' penitentiary where they implement prisoners with a unique system: each prisoner is fitted with a collar, each collar has a twin collar, and if the two get several miles apart, both detonate rigged explosives and messily decapitate the pair of unlucky inmates. They are not aware who has their twin collar, making escape a risky notion indeed. It's exactly the type of high concept buffoonery that trademarks these type of outings, and it's played for both suspense and laughs very nicely. Frank escapes, dragging along the woman who wears the twin collar (Mimi Rogers), pursued hotly by Sam and Noelle who want to find the diamonds that he hid shortly before his arrest. It's a prison flick, it's a chase flick, with its own kooky, offbeat sense of style. Hauer is usually so intense he looks like he's gonna implode in on himself, but here he gives a very laid back, slight and funny performance, which gives the film it's refreshingly upbeat feel. Remar and Chen are bouncing balls of energy as the dastardly couple out to ice Frank, riffing off each other and cheerfully chewing scenery. Watch out for an early career appearance from Danny Trejo, as well as work from Glenn Plummer and Stepehn Tobolowsky as a hard ass warden who gets the best line of the film: "You non-conformists are all the same". That alone encapsulates the irreverent, tongue in cheek tone that's a nice switch from the usually dank, oppressive atmosphere that second tier action flicks often get saddled with. Oh, and I want the number of Hauer's wardrobe outfitter; those fluffy, technicolor wool sweaters are a sideshow unto themselves.