Heaven's Prisoners (1996)

A hardened New Orleans cop, Dave Robicheaux, finally tosses in the badge and settles into life on the bayou with his wife. But a bizarre plane crash draws him back into the fray when his family is viciously threatened.

Director:

Phil Joanou

Writers:

James Lee Burke (book), Harley Peyton (screenplay)

Stars:

Alec Baldwin, Kelly Lynch, Mary Stuart Masterson

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Alec Baldwin	...	Dave Robicheaux
Kelly Lynch	...	Annie Robicheaux
Mary Stuart Masterson	...	Robin Gaddis
Eric Roberts	...	Bubba Rocque
Teri Hatcher	...	Claudette Rocque
Vondie Curtis-Hall	...	Minos P. Dautrieve (as Vondie Curtis Hall)
Badja Djola	...	Batist
Samantha Lagpacan	...	Alafair
Joe Viterelli	...	Didi Giancano
Tuck Milligan	...	Jerry Falgout
Hawthorne James	...	Victor Romero
Don Stark	...	Eddie Keats
Carl A. McGee	...	Toot
Paul Guilfoyle	...	Det. Magelli
Christopher Kriesa	...	Priest (as Chris Krisea)

Storyline

Ex-detective Dave Robicheaux has made a new life for himself and his wife Annie running a bait shop in the outskirts of New Orleans. When they save a little girl, the sole survivor of a plane crash, their lives become forever changed. They take the orphan child into their home and prepare to raise her. However, a visit from DEA agent Dautrieve brings out the detective instincts in Robicheaux and he begins to ask about the rest of the passengers. This brings trouble to Robicheaux and he turns to drug lord Bubba Rocque, a childhood friend. But the friendship becomes estranged when an assault on the Robicheaux home leaves one victim...Annie.

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Plot Keywords:

based on novel | villainess | female full frontal nudity | old flame | orphan | 

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Taglines:

For an ex-cop obsessed with an unsolved murder, trusting the wrong woman could be a deadly choice.

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence and language, and for some nudity

Details

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 May 1996 (USA)

Also Known As:

Mississippi Delta

Filming Locations:

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$2,308,797, 19 May 1996

Gross USA:

$5,009,305

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$5,009,305

Company Credits

Production Co:

PVM Entertainment, Savoy Pictures, The Rank Organisation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

132 min 135 min (Ontario)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to lead Alec Baldwin's co-star Eric Roberts, Baldwin took a huge risk during the shoot (related by Roberts) as follows: "Heaven's Prisoners (1996) was probably one of the best location shoots I've ever had because it was down in New Orleans, and we were down there for probably 10 or 12 weeks, and it was just a blast. Oh, and one little story that people might like: It was my first night there, I wasn't shooting but I was on the set to say hello to Phil Joanou, our director. Alec (Baldwin) had this scene where he had to jump into the water-pond, really-and swim across it. They're getting ready, they're all set up, Phil says, "Here we go! Alec, you ready?" "Yeah!" And suddenly alligator eyes appear on the water. Everybody freezes. "There's a gator! Oh, my God!" Alec says, "It's cool. I'm going in." The stuntman goes, "You're not going in!" Alec says, "Roll the camera!" They roll the camera, Alec jumps in, crosses the pond, gets out. "Okay, we got the shot?" And we moved on. I couldn't believe it. He's got the balls of a dinosaur, dude. It was wild. True story! He really did that. It was cool!"

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Goofs

The amount of sweat on Dave when he talks to Dautrieve for the first time.

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Quotes

Dave Robicheaux: [to Annie] You and me... that's the only thing I have in my whole life that means anything to me anymore.
[pause]
Dave Robicheaux: Please don't let me... mess that up.

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Connections

Featured in At the Movies: Heaven's Prisoners/Welcome to the Dollhouse/Flipper/Of Love and Shadows/The Horseman on the Roof (1996)

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Soundtracks

The Things (That) I Used To Do
Performed by Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble
Written by Eddie 'Guitar SLim' Jones
Courtesy of Epic Records
By Arrangement with Sony Music Licensing

User Reviews

Against most reviews of this film, for the genre it is it is one of the best.

I put this film up there with "Two Days in the Valley", as one of the most entertaining of its genre of cops-excops-drugs-mob type movies. I think the main criticism of it has to do with the ruthless violence along with the revenge theme of Baldwin's part. But violence is as violence does in film. Although it ends abruptly, Baldwin's acting was still superb, and so was everyone else's acting. All the female actors did superb job, not just Teri Hatcher. The writers could have put more meaningful time and script into the DEA agent's role as he also had added some positive "good guy" vibe to it, although "good-guy vibe" was not 100% present in his role. It was unclear as to why he kept showing up the way he did in the movie. Writing further revelation of that into the movie could have been done and helped round out the movie more. They had a good actor in the role of the DEA agent, as well. Good acting in the role of Baldwin's Bayou employee.