Desperate Measures (1998)

Frank Conner is an honest police officer who desperately needs to save his son's life. However, after losing all hope, he finds out that a criminal Peter McCabe in jail is his only savior.

Director:

Barbet Schroeder

Writer:

David Klass

Stars:

Michael Keaton, Andy Garcia, Brian Cox

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michael Keaton	...	Peter McCabe
Andy Garcia	...	Frank Conner
Brian Cox	...	Captain Jeremiah Cassidy
Marcia Gay Harden	...	Dr. Samantha Hawkins
Erik King	...	Nate Oliver
Efrain Figueroa	...	Vargas
Joseph Cross	...	Matthew Conner
Janel Moloney	...	Sarah Davis
Richard Riehle	...	Ed Fayne
Tracey Walter	...	Medical Inmate
Peter Weireter	...	SWAT Team Commander
Keith Diamond	...	Derrick Wilson
Steve Park	...	Dr. Gosha
Steven Schub	...	SWAT in Airduct
Neal Matarazzo	...	Cell Guard

Storyline

San Francisco police officer Frank Connor is in a frantic search for a compatible bone marrow donor for his gravely ill son. There's only one catch: the potential donor is convicted multiple murderer Peter McCabe who sees a trip to the hospital as the perfect opportunity to get what he wants most: freedom. With McCabe's escape, the entire hospital becomes a battleground and Connor must pursue and, ironically, protect the deadly fugitive who is his son's only hope for survival.

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Plot Keywords:

hospital | police officer killed | psychopath | psycho thriller | terminal illness | 

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Taglines:

Time is running out

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence and language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 January 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

Medidas Desesperadas

Filming Locations:

Québec, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$50,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$5,833,412, 1 February 1998, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$13,806,137, 19 April 1998

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mandalay Entertainment, Eaglepoint

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film is set in San Francisco, but was filmed in Pittsburgh. They used Grant Street in downtown Pittsburgh, because it is a brick road like many of the roads in San Francisco. Also, the front of the hospital is One Mellon Bank Center located on Grant Street, the same building in the helicopter scene of Sudden Death (1995).

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Goofs

Near the end of the movie when McCabe steals the truck we hear over the radio that the truck he stole was a 89 blue Dodge pick-up. Minutes later we can clearly see a "Ford" logo on the front of the truck.

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Quotes

Peter McCabe: Do you like school, Matt? I fucking hated every minute of it.

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Connections

Featured in At the Movies: Zero Effect/Deep Rising/Great Expectations/Desperate Measures/Deceiver (1998)

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Soundtracks

PROUD MARY
Written by John Fogerty (as John C. Fogerty)
Performed by Creedence Clearwater Revival

User Reviews

With The Potential To Be So Bad, It Turned Out All Right.

Andy Garcia and Michael Keaton star in the classic policeman vs bad guy story, but with a twist. Garcia is Frank Conner, a cop with a son named Matt who desperately needs a bone marrow transplant. Keaton is Pete McCabe, a hardened prisoner who seems to be the only person in the world who matches little Matt's bone marrow type. So eventually, Pete is talked into giving the marrow transplant, but in reality has a plan for escape, leaving Matt and his father, Frank, with nobody, Frank has no other choice but to find Pete and bring him back alive. This is where the cat and mouse plot begins, after nearly an hour of setting it up.

Desperate Measures had the potential to be so bad. I never would have imagined myself enjoying it this much. Thanks to a rainy day and a few hours to kill, I decided to watch this movie and it exceeded my expectations (which were not very high).

I still would not say this is a great movie. In fact, it is pretty average but Michael Keaton gives an enjoyable performance as a hardened prisoner. Normally, I would expect Garcia to be the bad guy and Keaton to be the cop, but Keaton honestly works out better as the bad guy.

The worst part of the movie has to be the kid, Matt, played by Joseph Cross. Nothing he says or does is what a young child his age would actually be thinking or saying. I am not even really disappointed so much with that, but his delivery was terrible. I know he is just a kid, but there are much better child actors who could have portrayed this much better. All in all, worth about a 7/10.