44 Minutes: The North Hollywood Shoot-Out (2003)

After a failed bank robbery, two heavily armed men hold the Los Angeles Police Department at bay for 44 minutes.

Director:

Yves Simoneau

Writer:

Tim Metcalfe

Stars:

Michael Madsen, Ron Livingston, Ray Baker

Nominated for 2 Primetime Emmys. Another 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michael Madsen	...	Frank McGregor
Ron Livingston	...	Donnie Anderson
Ray Baker	...	Harris
Douglas Spain	...	Bobby Martinez
Andrew Bryniarski	...	Larry Eugene Phillips Jr.
Oleg Taktarov	...	Emil Matasareanu
Clare Carey	...	Frank's Wife
Alex Meneses	...	Nicole
Dale Dye	...	SWAT Lieutenant
Katrina Law	...	Kate
J.E. Freeman	...	Police Commander
Mario Van Peebles	...	Henry Jones
Jullian Dulce Vida	...	Luis Rivera
Alex Madison	...	Maria (as Gail Monian)
JoNell Kennedy	...	Cathy (as Jo Nell Kennedy)

Storyline

On the 28th of February, 1997, two men armed with AK-47 machine guns try to pull a heist at the Bank of America in North Hollywood, but their plan fails and they are kept under siege by the LAPD. During the ensuing forty-four minutes, Los Angeles witnesses live on television one of the greatest shoot-outs in American history.

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Plot Keywords:

los angeles police department | swat team | bank robbery | street shootout | real time | 

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Taglines:

The most intense shoot-out in LAPD history

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama

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Certificate:

14A

Did You Know?

Trivia

Scenes on the residential streets where the robbers tried escaping from the bank were filmed on the actual locations behind the real bank.

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Goofs

In several frontal shots of the robbers firing their AK 47 assault rifles, the weapons are shown as having a circular muzzle flash. In reality, AK 47s without silencers or flash suppressors (not seen in the movie) have a bow-tie shaped muzzle flash.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Frank McGregor: Ninety percent of cops go through their whole career without ever firing their gun. That day, that was roughly 1500 rounds fired. We were armed with pistols. These guys were slinging automatic machine guns. An AK-47 machine gun is a weapon that was designed for war. A high-velocity round invented to penetrate armor and kill their target. You use them in a bank job, and you've done something no one in America had ever done before. Danger's all around us. In the streets. In the car. ...

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Connections

References Heat (1995)

User Reviews

44 Minutes: The North Hollywood Shoot-Out

It tells the story of the infamous 1997 North Hollywood shootout, where two bank robbers, wearing body armour and carrying AK-47s unleashed an unprecedented wave of gunfire at dozens of LAPD officers as they tried to make their getaway.

The incredible footage of this incident, broadcast live from TV news helicopters is unlike anything you've seen before. It's fascinated me for years, seeing such events, straight out of Michael Mann's Heat, played out for real.

So I was looking forward to this one but it was a disappointment and makes me wonder if the story could ever be done justice in a fictional movie. In the hands of director Yves Simoneau it's little more than a bloodier version of the countless Discovery and History channel reconstruction documentaries of the incident. Indeed the film's documentary-style approach, complete with talking heads, just reminds viewers of the fact that it's been done better previously. Instead of real people recounting the events we have mediocre actors. Instead of hard facts we have small inaccuracies and timelines altered for (understandable) dramatic purposes. Instead of the horrifying real footage we have poorly-edited action sequences.

I'd recommend watching one of those aforementioned TV documentaries, or the raw footage on YouTube, to get a better idea of what happened that day. That said, the drama inherent in the story means 44 Minutes can't help but be a moderately exciting film.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 June 2003 (USA)

Also Known As:

44 Minutes

Filming Locations:

La Habra, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

20th Century Fox Television, Cypress Point Productions, Fox Television Network

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min 120 min 85 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Stereo Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1