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 (as Ramon Gonzalez-Cuevas)
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:

bare breasts | bomb | sex scene | sex in shower | femme fatale | 

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Taglines:

Killing is his profession. Revenge is her goal. Together they take on the battle against the underworld of Miami.

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence, sexuality and language

Did You Know?

Trivia

James Woods and Eric Roberts share a birthday, 18th April.

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Goofs

When Ray calls Ned at the police station, he times the call so that he wouldn't be 'traced' and clears it after precisely 58 seconds. The call would have been via digital exchange and the number would have been displayed instantly as it is a feature provided for billing purposes. Previous electro mechanical (strowger) exchanges required time for the call to be manually traced through selector banks and distribution frames, often through several different buildings miles apart and always referring to wiring records. The time taken varied enormously and depended upon the skill and knowledge of the engineers. Strowger exchanges are now obsolete and would have been highly unlikely to be operating in the area of Florida where the movie is set. Hollywood even today has not moved on from this antiquated and outdated plot device.

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Quotes

May Munro: You know, the next time you order a hit you might want to consider taking out your decorator.
Tomas Leon: You like to live dangerously, don't you?
May Munro: A little danger never killed anyone. Right, baby?
Tomas Leon: Sometimes.

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Connections

Referenced in To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar (1995)

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Soundtracks

Turn the Beat Around
Written by Peter Jackson and Gerald Jackson
Produced by Emilio Estefan Jr. and Lawrence Dermer (as Lawrence P. Dermer)
Performed by Gloria Estefan
Courtesy of Epic Records

User Reviews

Push a button .... blow it up

This movie makes very little sense, with it's brainless script. The revenge plot has been seen a thousand times and then some. The big difference is instead of guns to bring down the bad guys, here we have cartoon like explosions. If it weren't for James Woods, Eric Roberts, and Rod Steiger, "The Specialist" would be complete refuse. Woods especially, carries the film, as the smarmy evil enemy of Stallone. Speaking of Stallone, both he and Sharon Stone have a believability factor deficiency of monumental proportions. In fact the entire movie has a believability factor of less than zero. I've seen cartoons that made me think more than this does. Push button, blow it up, push button, blow it up. That's all there is to this "bomb". - MERK

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 October 1994 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Specialist

Filming Locations:

Rock Island, Tennessee, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$45,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$14,317,765, 9 October 1994

Gross USA:

$57,362,582

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$170,362,582

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., Jerry Weintraub Productions, Iguana Producciones

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1