John Q (2002)

Director:

Nick Cassavetes

Writer (WGA):

James Kearns (written by)

Release Date:

15 February 2002 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Give a father no options and you leave him no choice.

Plot:

A down-on-his luck father, whose insurance won't cover his son's heart transplant, takes the hospital's emergency room hostage until the doctors agree to perform the operation.

Plot Keywords:

Emergency Room | Hospital | Hostage | Baseball | Heart Transplant

Awards:

2 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Gabriela Oltean	...	Beautiful BMW Driver
Denzel Washington	...	John Quincy Archibald
Kimberly Elise	...	Denise Archibald
Ron Annabelle	...	Tow Truck Driver
Daniel E. Smith	...	Michael 'Mike' Archibald
David Thornton	...	Jimmy Palumbo
Barry G. King	...	Employee Manager
Laura Harring	...	Gina Palumbo (as Laura Elena Harring)
Kevin Connolly	...	Steve Maguire
Larissa Laskin	...	Dr. Ellen Klein
Vanessa Branch	...	Registered Nurse
Stephanie Moore	...	Admitting Nurse
James Finnerty	...	Nurse Reggie
Anne Heche	...	Rebecca Payne
James Woods	...	Dr. Raymond Turner

Also Known As:

John Q. (USA) (poster title)
John Q. - Verzweifelte Wut (Austria) (Germany) [de]
John Q (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
John Q (Spain) [es]
John Q (Greece) [el]
John Q (Croatia) [hr]
John Q (France) [fr]
John Q. (Argentina) [es]
Situación extrema (Peru) [es]
Um Ato de Coragem (Brazil) [pt]
Végszükség (Hungary) [hu]

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for violence, language and intense thematic elements.

Runtime:

116 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Venezuela:PG-13 | USA:PG-13 (certificate #38323) | Iceland:L | Malaysia:U | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:14A (Manitoba) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Alberta/British Columbia) | France:U | Singapore:PG (cut) | Finland:K-15 | Singapore:NC-16 | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Brazil:12 | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIB | Netherlands:12 | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Philippines:PG-13 | Portugal:M/12 | South Korea:12 | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:12 (canton of the Grisons) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Ajax, Ontario, Canada

Company:

New Line Cinema

Trivia:

The scene where George W. Bush is speaking about health care while John and Denise are watching TV was also shot with footage of Al Gore because the election was between the time of shooting and release.

Goofs:

Factual errors: When John attempts to kill himself, he pulls the trigger and the hammer falls, but the gun does not go off because he says the safety is on. When a Beretta's safety is on, the hammer cannot be in the cocked position and the trigger mechanism is disabled, thus the hammer could not have fallen and pulling the trigger would have had no effect anyway.

Quotes:

Denise: They are releasing him, now you need to do something! DO YOU HEAR ME! DO SOMETHING!

Movie Connections:

References Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

Soundtrack:

Life on a Chain

Good Movie...

Despite what people have said, this movie is NOTHING like Dog Day Afternoon. The only similarities between the two is that both films have to do with holding a public place hostage (In Dog Day Afternoon it was a Bank in John Q, its a hospital). Sure, you see a sort of homage to Dog Day Afternoon in John Q, but thats it, the movie has its own plot. I enjoyed this film, Denzel Washington is really believeable as the down-on-his-luck father, and the rest of the supporting cast executed their characters very well. Most notably the great Robert Duvall as the hostage negotiator and Ray Liotta as the stuck-up police chief. I won't say more about this movie other than it is heart-breaking and you can almost feel the pain frustration John Q has to go through. 4 stars out of 5.