Boiling Point (1993/I)

Director:

James B. Harris

Writers (WGA):

Gerald Petievich (novel)
James B. Harris (screenplay)

Release Date:

16 April 1993 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Tagline:

He's a cop who reached the Boiling Point

Plot:

Red is an aging scam-artist who's just been released from prison together with Ronnie, a young and not-so-bright hoodlum who is easily manipulated...

Plot Keywords:

Street Life | Counterfeit | Interracial Relationship | Police | Based On Novel

Cast

Wesley Snipes	...	Jimmy Mercer
Dennis Hopper	...	Rudolph 'Red' Diamond
Lolita Davidovich	...	Vikki Dunbar
Viggo Mortensen	...	Ronnie
Seymour Cassel	...	Virgil Leach
Jonathan Banks	...	Max Waxman
Christine Elise	...	Carol
Tony Lo Bianco	...	Tony Dio
Valerie Perrine	...	Mona
James Tolkan	...	Levitt
Paul Gleason	...	Transaction Man
Lorraine Evanoff	...	Connie
Stephanie Williams	...	Sally Mercer (as Stephanie E. Williams)
Tobin Bell	...	Roth
Bobby Hosea	...	Steve

Also Known As:

L'extrême limite (France)
Money Men (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

USA | France | Japan

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Norway:15 | Spain:18 | UK:15 | USA:R | Australia:M | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Hexagon Productions

Trivia:

The finished film was primarily centered around Dennis Hopper's character, but due to Wesley Snipes's popularity at the time, Warner Bros. who bought the film in the US, decided to shorten most of his scenes, to strengthen Snipes's role. Other cuts were made to beef up the pacing. The cuts included the loss of several scenes between Mortensen and his girlfriend. In an interview director James B. Harris stated that he did not have final cut and that Warner Bros. removed ten minutes from the pic in attempt to make it more commercial. He noted that they also changed the title from Money Men, to Boiling Point, in a bid to sell it as an action picture, similar to Passenger 57. Dennis Hopper, who felt he delivered his best performance, did not like the version that was ultimately released.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: Jeff Goldblum/Aerosmith (#19.3)" (1993)

Soundtrack:

Dream

Out of Steam

Boiling Point was too pithy to be a successful thriller; too low profile to be a successful action movie. If the plot had thrown more twists, offered more insight on the characters psyche, or had a much more involving story, the movie could have sufficed even as a decent thriller. Had there been explosives, chase scenes, and other good action ploys, this movie could've made a decent action film. However, it is not much of either category, thus suffering from mediocrity.

Police detective, Jimmy Mercer (Wesley Snipes) and his partner, Brady (Dan Hedaya), are investigating the shooting death of an undercover U.S. Treasury agent who investigating a counterfeit ring. The two guys who he was dealing with, gunned him down and fled the scene, before Mercer and Brady could intervene and save their partner. Mercer and Brady don't know who the two men were, but spend the remainder of the movie looking for him.

Actually, they are fast-talking Red Diamond (Dennis Hopper), so named because of his red hair. He owes fifty grand to another gangster within seven days. He and his partner, Ronnie (Viggo Mortensen), an eerie kind of guy who is never sure if Red is just handing him a line of garbage with all the schemes he involves him in. Although, for Ronnie, he would have no problem shooting Red. Why Ronnie remains faithful to him at all given Red's consistent failures is beyond me. These two guys need a get rich quick counterfeit scheme.

Meanwhile Mercer and Brady are going from one informant to another, trying to get them to give up information about Red and Ronnie, a description, their location, anything. Sometimes they're successful and sometimes not. The movie goes on and on like as the two trail one person after another trying to get close on the trail of Red and Ronnie. It is wholly uninteresting, offering no real suspense and even less action to fill the time. The movie fails to deliver any real substance in between, which is sad when you consider the possibility of your characters, and especially, the potential of the actors.