Romeo Is Bleeding (1993)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Peter Medak

Writer (WGA):

Hilary Henkin (written by)

Release Date:

4 February 1994 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

The story of a cop who wanted it bad and got it worse.

Plot:

A corrupt police sergeant who supplies tips on the locations of safeguarded witnesses to the Mob bites...

Plot Keywords:

Police | Italian American | Mobster | Sadist | Female Assassin

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Gary Oldman	...	Jack
Wallace Wood	...	Waiter
Juliette Lewis	...	Sheri
David Proval	...	Scully
Will Patton	...	Martie
Gene Canfield	...	John
Larry Joshua	...	Joey
Michael Wincott	...	Sal
Lena Olin	...	Mona
William Duff-Griffin	...	Paddy
James Cromwell	...	Cage
Paul Butler	...	Skouras
Annabella Sciorra	...	Natalie
Tony Sirico	...	Malacci
Victoria Bastel	...	Girl #1

Also Known As:

Romeo Is Bleeding (Austria) (Germany) [de]
Doble juego (Spain) [es]
Kri na soncu (Slovenia) [sl]
Mafian otteessa (Finland) [fi]
Romeó vérzik (Hungary) [hu]
Romeo Ben Zona (Israel: Hebrew title) [iw]
Romeo krvari (Serbia) [sr]
Romeo pris au piège (Canada: French title) [fr]
Sangre de Romeo, La (Mexico) [es]
Sangue de Romeo, O (Brazil) [pt]
Sangue de Romeu, O (Brazil) [pt]
Submundo (Portugal) [pt]
Triplo gioco (Italy) [it]

Runtime:

100 min | Argentina:106 min | Japan:110 min | Spain:104 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Argentina:16 | South Korea:18 | Iceland:16 | Singapore:M18 | Australia:MA | Canada:R (video rating) | Germany:18 | Norway:18 (video premiere) | Portugal:M/18 | UK:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

PolyGram Filmed Entertainment

Trivia:

According to Bon Jovi's "100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't be Wrong" Collection, Jon Bon Jovi mentioned in the confession book that he wrote the song, "Always" for this film. He didn't like the movie so he exercised his right to pull it from the film. Later, the song became Bon Jovi's biggest selling single at the time. The song never did appear in the soundtrack or the film.

Goofs:

Plot holes: When Jack shoots Lena in the large floor area, after discarding the weapon, the camera pans out and we see two cops atop the stairs just standing as if nothing took place.

Quotes:

Jack Grimaldi: I try to stop thinking. Try to get my head straight. If I could just get my head straight... then everything would be all right.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Due South: Juliet Is Bleeding (#2.7)" (1996)

Soundtrack:

IN THE GOOD OLD SUMMER TIME

Solid And Curiously Touching Modern Noir

ROMEO IS BLEEDING is a fascinating and unusual hybrid of highly personalized old fashioned 40s noir and ultra-violent stylized 90s crime drama. It's the kind of movie they never make anymore, with an unappealing protagonist, an entirely corrupt universe where justice and virtue won't triumph and a heartbreaking ending which basically guaranteed it would never be a commercial hit. Obviously some were put off by these things, accounting for the low rating this sleeper minor masterpiece has. Bur that's part of why I love it!

While there is significant "man's man" violence and the obvious titillation from Lena Olin, this movie is at its heart a pure noir cautionary tale with careful structuring designed to get us to the amazingly powerful payoff, which tops all. The writer (Hilary Henkin) is obviously knowledgeable about her 40s and 50s hard boiled repertoire and fills ROMEO with references and touches which students of the genre will enjoy.

But the center of this movie is Gary Oldman. His blisteringly desperate performance as a corrupt cop at the end of the long slide to oblivion defines the movie and is both hypnotic and disturbing. His voiceovers are a worthy throwback to the old Raymond Chandler raps voiced by Bogart or Dick Powell or Robert Montgomery. Lena Olin is at her menacing best; this is surely the role which landed her the gig as Sydney's subtly venomous mother in ALIAS, and she takes full advantage of the over-the-top femme fatale characterization with deadly verve. Oldman and Olin share a bizarre chemistry which is fortunate for the script, because Olin's repeated seductions of Oldman when he basically knows she is luring him to his doom would never have worked if the actors didn't bring it to life on the screen.

There aren't a lot of actresses who can out-menace Gary Oldman but Lena Olin absolutely pulls it off.

ROMEO IS BLEEDING is not perfect. Roy Scheider's mafioso character is strangely caricatured and sticks out in a world otherwise occupied by three dimensional players. Scheider tries hard, too, which is a shame because it's just not there in the role. Lena Olin's brazen escape from police custody defies plausibility in the extreme. Gary Oldman is seemingly not quite properly motivated at all times. Nevertheless, the searing denouement to this movie burns all of these concerns away because it is one of the most unexpectedly poignant and heartrending in the last quarter century of noir. If you have a pulse, you will well up at the end, and probably think about a longing that you left behind at some point in your life against your wishes. 9 / 10