Under Siege (1992)

An ex-Navy Seal turned cook is the only person who can stop a group of terrorists when they seize control of a U.S. battleship.

Director:

Andrew Davis

Writer:

J.F. Lawton

Stars:

Steven Seagal, Gary Busey, Tommy Lee Jones

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 3 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Steven Seagal	...	Casey Ryback
Damian Chapa	...	Tackman
Troy Evans	...	Granger
David McKnight	...	Flicker
Lee Hinton	...	Cue Ball
Patrick O'Neal	...	Captain Adams
Gary Busey	...	Commander Krill
Glenn Morshower	...	Ensign Taylor
Leo Alexander	...	Lt. Smart
John Rottger	...	Commander Green
Brad Rea	...	Marine Guard
Michael Welden	...	Lt. Ballard
Bernie Casey	...	Commander Harris
Rickey Pierre	...	Kitchen Helper
Raymond Cruz	...	Ramirez

Storyline

The battleship Missouri is about to be decomissioned. Casey Ryback is Captain Adam's personal cook. And Ryback is always butting heads with the ship's XO Commander Krill but the Captain always intercedes. One day, after the President visits the Missouri, which is also the Captain's birthday, the Captain learns that a helicopter has been cleared to land on the ship by Commander Krill, which he was not informed of. When questioned Krill tells the Captain that it's a surprise for his birthday, the Captain then allows it. Later after another one of their scuffles, Krill has Ryback locked in the freezer. During the party, the rock band reveals themselves to be mercenaries, led by William Stranix, a CIA operative, who is in league with Krill to unload all of the ship's nuclear warheads. They lock up all of the crew and make preparations to remove the warheads. And Krill remembers Ryback, Stranix sends two of his men to take care of Ryback, only thing is that Ryback took care of them. Upon ...

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Plot Keywords:

cook | battleship | terrorist plot | one against many | knife throwing | 

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Taglines:

It's not a job...It's an Adventure!

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Genres:

Action | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence, and for language and brief nudity

Details

Country:

France USA

Language:

English Italian

Release Date:

9 October 1992 (USA)

Also Known As:

Dreadnought

Filming Locations:

Fairhope, Alabama, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$35,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$15,760,003, 12 October 1992

Gross USA:

$83,563,139

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$156,563,139

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., Regency Enterprises, Canal+

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Stereo (4 channels)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of the biggest problems the production crew faced was how to give the illusion that the U.S.S. Alabama (U.S.S. Missouri in the movie) was in the middle of the Pacific Ocean when in fact it was docked in Mobile Bay in Mobile, Alabama. To do this, the production crew created a 100-feet long barge and a 60-feet high framework on the barge, and hung a giant black cloth on the framework. The "blackout" barge was moved around the Alabama as necessary to block out city buildings and lights.

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Goofs

At 1:38:47, when Ryback was saluting, you can see a Chief in the background with his dress blue jack wide open. This would have been a gross negligent action on the Chief's part and subject to an NJP.

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Quotes

Casey Ryback: Krill's a maniac! Go tell the captain he spit in my soup!
Pvt. Nash: Ryback, you've got a fire in here!
Casey Ryback: Get my pies out of the oven!

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Crazy Credits

At the close of the credits: USS Missouri BB63 was decommissioned March 31, 1992 and is now moored at Bremerton Naval Yard, awaiting her next call to service.

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Alternate Versions

The version for Finnish theatrical and video release was heavily censored. The actual impact of most bullets was not shown. All fights involving knives were either heavily edited or removed entirely. Most notably: the scene in which a man is cut across his leg, then stabbed under his arm, was removed, along with that of a man being shoved into a bandsaw; the scene where Ryback rips out a man's larynx was cut out; the fight at the end between Ryback and Strannix did not show the eye gouge sequence nor did it show the head stabbing. The scene involving nudity was also cut.

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Connections

References Marked for Death (1990)

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Soundtracks

Star Spangled Banner
Written by Francis Scott Key
Performed by Jimi Hendrix

User Reviews

This Seagal Flick Took The Cake

This was a fast-moving Rambo-style action flick (good guys never get hit despite 10,000 rounds of ammunition fired at them) that was very popular. It spawned a very weak sequel, par for the course. Several reviewers here wrote that it is Steven Seagal's "best movie," and I wouldn't argue with that..

"Under Siege" probably was more popular than the normal Segal action flick because of several aspects: 1 - the interesting story featuring the "lowly cook" (as Seagal described himself in this film) beating a bunch of terrorists taking over a U.S. Navy vessel; 2 - the over-the-top villains portrayed by fun-to-watch actors Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Busey, and 3 - the fabulous looks and body of Erika Eleniak, who pops out of a cake topless in a sight that every guy who saw this film remembers.

Jones was just about hitting his acting career peak as he demonstrated the following year with his Oscar-winning performance in "The Fugitive." Busey was the opposite, nearing the end of his run after a starring role as singer "Buddy Holly" made him famous.

This film might be Segal's most successful, or at least in the top three. His star has faded since the new century. Eleniak never made it far past the cake. She played "Elly May" in "The Beverly Hillbillies" the following year and nothing but 'B' films after that.

The first part of this movie is far better than the second. It gets out-of-control by the end, as most of these action films do with the violence overdone and with little credibility. But watching the three leads, and ogling Eleniak, always make this film fun to watch for a little while, at least.