The Specialist (1994)

A woman entices a bomb expert she's involved with into destroying the mafia that killed her family.

Director:

Luis Llosa

Writers:

John Shirley (Specialist novels), Alexandra Seros

Stars:

Sylvester Stallone, Sharon Stone, James Woods

4 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sylvester Stallone	...	Ray Quick
Sharon Stone	...	May Munro
James Woods	...	Ned Trent
Rod Steiger	...	Joe Leon
Eric Roberts	...	Tomas Leon
Mario Ernesto Sánchez	...	Charlie
Sergio Doré Jr.	...	Strongarm
Chase Randolph	...	May's Dad
Jeana Bell	...	May's Mom
Brittany Paige Bouck	...	Young May
Emilio Estefan Jr.	...	Piano Player
LaGaylia Frazier	...	Singer #1
Ramón González Cuevas	...	Priest at Cemetery
Tony Munafo	...	Tony
Cheito Quinonez	...	Singer at Party

Storyline

Ray Quick is a bomb expert who worked for the CIA along with a guy named Ned Trent, who's extremely demented. When they have a falling out, Ray becomes a freelancer who lives off the grid. A woman named May Munro contacts and wants him to kill the three men who killed her family years ago, who work for the Leon crime family. Ray does it and after killing the first one, the Leons need to find the one who did it and it turns out Ned is now working for them and they task him with finding the bomber. The Leons get him to work with the police and he looks for the bomber. In the meantime Ray, while working on getting the others, can't help but follow May wherever she goes.

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Plot Keywords:

male objectification | bare chested male | barefoot male | bare butt | showering together | 

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Taglines:

The government taught him to kill. Now he's using his skills to help a woman seek revenge against the Miami underworld.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Romance | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence, sexuality and language

Details

Country:

USA Peru

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 October 1994 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Specialist

Filming Locations:

Cookeville, Tennessee, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$45,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$14,317,765, 9 October 1994, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$57,362,581

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$170,400,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., Jerry Weintraub Productions, Iguana Producciones

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The producers got Sylvester Stallone to do the movie by threatening to replace him with Warren Beatty if he didn't commit himself to the project within a fifteen-minute deadline.

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Goofs

Obvious stunt double at the bridge explosion.

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Quotes

Tomas Leon: Hey, you!
[Ray looks around]
Tomas Leon: Yeah, I'm talking to you. You think you know me? I asked you a question. You think you know me? 'Cause the way you're looking at me, we must be old friends. Where did we meet?
Ray Quick: Nowhere.
Tomas Leon: [grabs Ray] Nowhere. You like the bitch? Huh?
[Ray starts to walks away]
Tomas Leon: [grabs Ray again] Maybe you like me.
Ray Quick: No, I don't like you.
Tomas Leon: Then don't stare so hard. Somebody could...
[pulls out switchblade]
[...]

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Connections

Featured in Bad Movie Beatdown: The Specialist (2010)

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Soundtracks

El baile de la vela
Written by Juanito R. Marquez
Produced by Emilio Estefan Jr. and Juanito R. Marquez
Performed by Cheito Quinonez
Courtesy of Crescent Moon Records, Inc.

User Reviews

Over-The-Top-But Entertaining Revenge Flick

Hey, I enjoy a good revenge movie as well as the next guy, even though I know forgiveness is the better way. Revenge films satisfy base urges in all of us. But, holy smokes, this crosses the line a little bit with the glorification of such....at least with the ending (which I won't give away but involves Sharon Stone's character).

Along the way is a fun ride as the revenge-obsessed Stone hires Sylvester Stallon (The Specialist, a term for his bomb-making talents) to kill all the people responsible for her parents' murder years earlier.

The villains are over-the-top, to say the least. One almost has to laugh out loud at one of them: James Woods. Few people in his era (70s and 80s mainly) were better at playing despicable villains than Woods, and in this film he plays that role to the hilt. He also rattles off the best line in the movie when he tells some tourist to "get a new shirt, too."

The other villains are played by Eric Roberts and Rod Steiger. Roberts is nasty and arrogant all the way and Steiger - as he has so often since the 1970s - appears cartoonish in his over-acting.

The film moves quickly which means it's very entertaining and some of the bombing scenes are quite memorable, such as a chunk of a condo building falling into the ocean.

Even though the villains are really nasty, there are no "good guys" here, either. Everyone is seriously flawed, as is the message of the film. I guess this is one of those "guilty pleasure" movies they talk about, because I still enjoy watching it every five or so years.