The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996)

Samantha Caine lives in a small town with her daughter. Eight years ago she emerged, two months pregnant, from a nearby river with no memory of her past or who she is. However, she's getting closer to finding out about her past.

Director:

Renny Harlin

Writer:

Shane Black

Stars:

Geena Davis, Samuel L. Jackson, Yvonne Zima

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Geena Davis	...	Samantha Caine (Charly)
Samuel L. Jackson	...	Mitch Henessey
Yvonne Zima	...	Caitlin
Craig Bierko	...	Timothy
Tom Amandes	...	Hal
Brian Cox	...	Nathan
Patrick Malahide	...	Perkins
David Morse	...	Luke / Daedalus
Joseph McKenna	...	One-Eyed Jack
Melina Kanakaredes	...	Trin
Dan Warry-Smith	...	Raymond
Kristen Bone	...	Girl #1
Jennifer Pisana	...	Girl #2
Rex Linn	...	Man in Bed
Alan North	...	Earl

Storyline

Samantha Caine, suburban homemaker, is the ideal mom to her 8 year old daughter Caitlin. She lives in Honesdale, PA, has a job teaching school and makes the best Rice Krispie treats in town. But when she receives a bump on her head, she begins to remember small parts of her previous life as a lethal, top-secret agent. Her old chums in the Chapter are now out to kill her so she enlists the help of a cheap detective named Mitch. As Samantha remembers more and more of her previous life, she becomes deadlier and more resourceful. Both Mitch and Charly proceed to do the killing thing, the bleeding thing and the shooting thing.

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Plot Keywords:

vomiting | shot in the head | corpse in water | chopping wood | kneed in the groin | 

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Taglines:

"...the most spectacular action scenes you've ever seen!"

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for a substantial amount of strong bloody violence, and for strong language

Did You Know?

Trivia

Geena Davis and then-husband director Renny Harlin checked how long she could hold her breath in their bathtub to prepare for the "water torture" scene.

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Goofs

When Charlie initially rescues Caitlyn from the cabin, Mitch's night vision point of view would be impossible from his far and high position as established earlier.

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Quotes

Caitlin, Caine: Mommy, I hit my head!

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Alternate Versions

French DVD contains some deleted scenes.

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Connections

Edited into Time Lapse (2001)

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Soundtracks

Jingle Bells
Music & lyrics by James Pierpont
Arranged and adapted by Mike Spalla
Performed by Jingle Dogs
Courtesy of Jingle Cats Music

User Reviews

The Anti-Formula Formula

There is a serious scene in this movie. A scene that lets you know that his film won't be pulling many cheap punches. It takes place in a crowded train station and the protagonists are ambushed by assassins with automatic weapons. They make a break for it and just manage to get out in a hail of gunfire. The main hall of the train station is now filled with corpses of innocent people that were caught in the crossfire. Some would call that too sad and/or grim to put into what is supposed to be an enjoyable action flick. I call it honesty. Most action movies tend to lean toward the "safe side" of showing violence and plot elements. This mostly means that in spite massive shootouts innocent people tend not to die or at least we don't see them die. The violence is all purely the good guys versus the bad guys with mainly the bad guys dying. A bit of common sense clearly shows this to be absurd.

Renny Harlin showed a hint of this in his first (and sadly only) hit, Die Hard 2. The villains intentionally crash a plane full of people to get their point across. The scene was also filmed with a backup scene of a cargo plane with only a few people on-board going down, but the grimmer and probably more realistic scenario ended up being used. However, to fit the spirit of the first film, Die Hard 2 was mostly a "fun action movie." Here, that grimmer and more convincing edge is pervasive. The violence is bloody. The one liners are hilarious, but with a certain style that more echoes natural human sarcasm than clichéd film wisecracks at key moments of action. The plot is also packed with more malicious intent than most action films. The villain is not just some rogue out for revenge or a mad grab at power. It is less ridiculous, but also more frightening than that. From recent films, the "Bourne" trilogy almost gets there with its less cheesy than usual action film style, but this film is from 1996 and 7 years before "The Bourne Identity" with Matt Damon made it to the big screen.

Another interesting aspect is that the main hero is actually a heroine. And this is well before the movie version of "Tomb Raider" became a hit. What's more is that this heroine genuinely looks like she could take down John McClane and then take his still lit cigarette. This movie marks Geena Davis's second action-heroine role and she still didn't manage to score a hit. While Angelina Jolie stars in "Tomb Raider" years later and scores a hit. The reasons are beyond me. Completely.

Lastly, this movie isn't all dark edged. There are many outrageous and spectacular set pieces that one can only see in an action film. The climatic explosion of a chemical bomb is an absolutely spectacular display of movie pyrotechnics, with more than one law of physics taking a convenient break. Thus, there is formula here, but it is the Anti-Formula for the everyday Hollywood Action Movie Formula. --- 9/10

BsCDb Classification: 13+ --- violence, profanity

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 October 1996 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Long Kiss Goodnight

Filming Locations:

Canary Restaurant, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$65,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$9,065,363, 13 October 1996

Gross USA:

$33,447,612

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$89,456,761

Company Credits

Production Co:

New Line Cinema, Forge, The Steve Tisch Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

121 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1