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
From metacritic.com
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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 | |
Edit
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:
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Details
Country:
USALanguage:
EnglishRelease Date:
11 March 1994 (USA) See more »Also Known As:
Un ange gardien pour Tess See more »Edit
Box Office
Budget:
$20,000,000 (estimated)Gross USA:
$27,053,498Company Credits
Show more on
IMDbPro »
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Color:
Color (Technicolor)Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1
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[Doug shakes his head]
Store Manager: [to customers and cashiers] Don't know her! Don't know her! Don't know her!
See more »
from Don Giovanni
Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performed by Giuseppe Taddei
with The Philharmonia Orchestra
Conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini
Courtesy of EMI Classics
Under license from CEMA Special Markets
See more »
Did You Know?
Trivia
The scenes from the nominating convention for President Carlisle is snippets from the Republican Convention in 1984. You can briefly see a "Reagan-Bush" sign. See more »Goofs
In the hospital scene, where Doug is menacing the chauffeur for information, he draws his S&W double-action revolver. Even after firing it, however, he is shown to cock the hammer repeatedly, as though it were a single-action gun. See more »Quotes
Store Manager: [to Doug, as other secret secret service agents escort Tess around the supermarket ] Does she want to be known today?[Doug shakes his head]
Store Manager: [to customers and cashiers] Don't know her! Don't know her! Don't know her!
See more »
Soundtracks
Madamina Il Catologo e Questrofrom Don Giovanni
Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performed by Giuseppe Taddei
with The Philharmonia Orchestra
Conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini
Courtesy of EMI Classics
Under license from CEMA Special Markets
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.