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:

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 | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence, sexuality and language

Did You Know?

Trivia

Sylvester Stallone demanded for some of James Woods's scenes to be cut out of the movie and for some of his scenes to be re-shot in order for Stallone to have more screen time. The reason for that was because Stallone was worried that Woods would "steal" the movie away because he was a better actor then him. Stallone also cut out some Rutger Hauer's scenes from Nighthawks (1981) for same reasons.

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Goofs

Mayte Vilán is listed as "Ordinance Expert". An "ordinance" expert would be someone with detailed knowledge of laws while an "ordnance" expert would have knowledge of explosives.

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Quotes

Ned Trent: You broke your code. You killed an innocent bystander, Ray. And it's just eating you up inside, isn't it? But guess what? I'm comin', Ray. I'm comin' to take all the pain away.

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Connections

Featured in WatchMojo: Top 10 Unintentionally Awkward Movie Sex Scenes (2015)

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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

If not for James Woods, this movie about bombs would have BEEN a bomb!

Let's face it, Sly Stallone can never be a romantic actor, no matter how hard the poor guy tries. He attempted to be suave and sophisticated in this movie, THE SPECIALIST, but alas, thanks to his rough and

tumble, RAMBO image, Sly fails. Maybe it's just his performance here, or perhaps by the others, especially Sharon Stone, Eric Roberts, and Rod Steiger (Oh God, he was a riot in this movie!). The actors mentioned probably gave their murkiest, most career-ruining roles of their lives, and for what?? The only reason why I found this movie interesting are the action sequences, and my favorite actor of all time, James Woods. Why he decided to be in a cheap flick like THE SPECIALIST is beyond me, but Woods manages to shine as the sleazeball thug who wants Sly's character's head on a platter. Apparently, Woods was the only enthusiastic thespian that walked in this movie's set; about everyone else looked bored. The same goes mostly for the viewer.

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