A former U.S. First Lady wants a particular Secret Service agent to head her bodyguard detail, even though he can't stand her.
Director:
Hugh Wilson
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Title: Guarding Tess (1994)
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Cast
| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Shirley MacLaine | ... | Tess Carlisle | |
| Nicolas Cage | ... | Doug Chesnic | |
| Austin Pendleton | ... | Earl Fowler | |
| Edward Albert | ... | Barry Carlisle | |
| James Rebhorn | ... | Howard Schaeffer | |
| Richard Griffiths | ... | Frederick | |
| John Roselius | ... | Tom Bahlor | |
| David Graf | ... | Lee Danielson | |
| Don Yesso | ... | Ralph Buoncristiani | |
 |
James Lally | ... | Joe Spector |
| Brant von Hoffman | ... | Bob Hutcherson (as Brant Von Hoffman) | |
| Harry Lennix | ... | Kenny Young (as Harry J. Lennix) | |
| Susan Blommaert | ... | Kimberly Cannon | |
| Dale Dye | ... | Charles Ivy | |
| James Handy | ... | Neal Carlo | |
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Plot Summary
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Storyline
Doug is a Secret Service Agent who has just completed his stint in charge protecting Tess Carlisle, widow of a former U.S. President, and close personal friend of the President. He finds that she has requested that he not be rotated but instead return to be her permanent detail. Doug is crushed. He wants off her detail. She is very difficult to guard and makes her detail crazy with her whims and demands. Doug returns with no idea of how to continue dealing with her. Written by John Vogel <jlvogel@comcast.net>
Plot Keywords:
secret service | bodyguard | u.s. president | widow | reference to spiro agnew |Taglines:
She's a former First Lady. He's a top agent in the Secret Service, stuck in the worst assignment of all. See more »Parents Guide:
View content advisory »
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Details
Country:
USALanguage:
EnglishRelease Date:
11 March 1994 (USA) See more »Also Known As:
Guarding Tess See more »Edit
Box Office
Budget:
$20,000,000 (estimated)Opening Weekend USA:
$7,065,213, 13 March 1994Gross USA:
$27,058,304Cumulative Worldwide Gross:
$27,058,304Company Credits
Show more on
IMDbPro »
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Color:
Color (Technicolor)Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1
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Doug Chesnic: [while taking his sunglasses] And Tess... Get in the god damn chair.
Tess Carlisle: [while sitting in the wheel chair, with Fredrick pushing from behind, taps hand with her right hand] Hmm. Very good, Douglas. You're going to be all right.
See more »
Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performed by Wiener Symphoniker, Bruno Weil
Courtesy of Sony Classical
By Arrangement with Sony Music Licensing
See more »
Did You Know?
Trivia
The events take place in 1992. The Fax Tess Carlisle gets from the President is dated "March 19th 1992". See more »Goofs
When reporting the last know location of Mrs. Carlisle's Lincoln, Agent Chesnic reports her vehicle heading East at the Chester Exit off Interstate 71. However, Chester, Ohio is located in Rural Southeastern Ohio; nowhere near an interstate. See more »Quotes
Doug Chesnic: [Calming the hospital employee who insisted it's hospital policy that patients leave by wheelchair] The regulations aren't really that sacred, are they?Doug Chesnic: [while taking his sunglasses] And Tess... Get in the god damn chair.
Tess Carlisle: [while sitting in the wheel chair, with Fredrick pushing from behind, taps hand with her right hand] Hmm. Very good, Douglas. You're going to be all right.
See more »
Soundtracks
OvertureComposed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performed by Wiener Symphoniker, Bruno Weil
Courtesy of Sony Classical
By Arrangement with Sony Music Licensing
See more »
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GUARDING TESS takes a crochety, ailing, widowed former First Lady (MacClaine) and one very reluctant Secret Service agent (Cage) and pairs them on a path that spells almost certain doom for one of them. She can't get along with anyone, including her grown son who ignores her. And Cage just can't get along with her. Naturally, over time, they form a strong bond. Then the unexpected happens. Their world is turned upside down when she is kidnapped. The movie shifts into high melodrama at this point and never lets up until the end. The music begins to thunder down on us, Cage badly overacts, mostly yelling and bellowing, and the film almost goes off the rails. Austin Pendleton hams it up as the First Lady's neurotic driver, and frankly he's not very good in this one. A mostly entertaining little movie that soon enough gets too big for its britches. See it and decide for yourself.