Above the Law (1988)

Director:

Andrew Davis

Writers:

Andrew Davis (story) &
Steven Seagal (story) ...

Release Date:

8 April 1988 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

He was a covert agent trained in Vietnam. He has a master 6th degree black belt in Aikido... and family in the Mafia. He's a cop with an attitude.

Plot:

Nico Toscani is a martial arts expert who was recruited by the CIA when he was in Japan, he would be sent to Vietnam...

Plot Keywords:

CIA | Drugs | Martial Arts | Vietnam | Explosive

Cast

Steven Seagal	...	Nico Toscani
Pam Grier	...	Delores 'Jacks' Jackson
Henry Silva	...	Kurt Zagon
Ron Dean	...	Detective Lukich
Daniel Faraldo	...	Tony Salvano
Sharon Stone	...	Sara Toscani
Miguel Nino	...	Chi Chi Ramon
Nicholas Kusenko	...	FBI Agent Neeley
Joe Greco	...	Father Joseph Gennaro (as Joe V. Greco)
Chelcie Ross	...	Nelson Fox
Gregory Alan Williams	...	FBI Agent Halloran (as Gregory Alan-Williams)
Jack Wallace	...	Uncle Branca
Metta Davis	...	Rosa Toscani
Joseph F. Kosala	...	Lieutenant Strozah (as Joseph Kosala)
Ronnie Barron	...	CIA Bartender

Also Known As:

Nico (UK) (cable TV title)
Nico: Above the Law (Australia)
Nico (Austria) (West Germany) [de]
Hyung sa nico (South Korea) (video title) [ko]
Mai presus de lege (Romania) [ro]
Nico (Finland) [fi]
Nico (Poland) [pl]
Nico (Hungary) [hu]
Nico (France) [fr]
Nico (Italy) [it]
Nico (Denmark) [da]
Nico (Sweden) [sv]
Nico - À Margem da Lei (Portugal) [pt]
Nico - Acima da Lei (Brazil) [pt]
Nico: Ponad prawem (Poland) [pl]
Niko - Iznad zakona (Serbia) [sr]
O skliros tou Chicagou (Greece) [el]
Ponad prawem (Poland) [pl]
Por encima de la ley (Spain) [es]
Yperano tou nomou (Greece) (DVD title) [el]

Runtime:

99 min | Germany:93 min

Country:

USA | Hong Kong

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

West Germany:16 (cut) | Finland:K-16 (cut) | Finland:K-18 (cut) (1989) | Netherlands:16 | USA:R (Certificate #29113) | Argentina:18 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:R (original rating) | Canada:18A (re-rating) | Australia:R | Finland:K-18 | France:-12 | Norway:18 | Singapore:NC-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Buck Town, Lincoln Square, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Ron Dean and Joseph F. Kosala, whose play Detective Lukich and Lieutenant Strozah, were together in other film previously, Code of Silence (1985). They should meet again in The Fugitive (1993).

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When 5 armed thugs came out of van children saw them and started to run before they began to shoot. However, one girl among children didn't turn around and didn't see armed people but she started to run anyway.

Quotes:

Punk: I don't think you can take us all, fatass.
[Nico shoots the punk dead]
Nico Toscani: No,but I'll get an A for effort.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Step Brothers (2008)

Seagal Unfairly Criticized As Actor

This was Steven Seagal's first movie and pretty much summed up the way his films were going to go: marital arts-crime stories with overly despicable villains and our hero saving the women by out-fighting everyone. Jean Van Damme and others followed with the same recipe which, by and large, has been pretty successful.

Before I saw this, I had read national critics blasting Seagal's acting talents but that was unfair; he's not a bad actor. It was also a surprise to see Sharon Stone playing a nice role and without makeup! That certainly changed quickly with her Basic Instinct-type persona.

It was fun to see Henry Silva again. As a kid growing up in the '50s and '60s, I used to see Silva on television a lot. He always played a bad guy, and played the part well....as he still does.

Overall, a decent action flick but not one of Segal's more memorable films. He make a big upgrade with his next film, "Hard To Kill."