Revenge (film)

Infobox Film
name = Revenge


caption = DVD cover
director = Tony Scott
producer = Stanley Rubin
Hunt Lowry
writer = Jim Harrison (novel)
Jeffrey Alan Fiskin
starring = Kevin Costner
Anthony Quinn
Madeleine Stowe
Miguel Ferrer
John Leguizamo
music = Jack Nitzsche
cinematography = Jeffrey L. Kimball
editing = Chris Lebenzon
Michael Tronick
distributor = Columbia Pictures
New World Pictures
released = February 16, 1990
runtime = Theatrical cut
124 min.
Director's Cut
104 min.
country = United States
language = English
budget = $10 million
gross = $15.65 million
imdb_id = 0100485

"Revenge" is a 1990 crime-drama-thriller starring Kevin Costner, Anthony Quinn, Madeleine Stowe, Miguel Ferrer and Sally Kirkland. It was directed by Emmy Award-winning director Tony Scott.

Some scenes were filmed in Mexico. The movie is a production of New World Pictures and Rastar Films and released by Columbia Pictures. "Revenge" also features one of Emmy Award-winning actor John Leguizamo's earliest movie roles.

The movie itself made 15 million dollars in the box office by the time of its opening in 1990, and was considered as a failure critically and commercially.

Plot

Michael J. "Jay" Cochran (Kevin Costner) is a retiring fighter pilot who, after 12 years in the service, wants to relax and live one day at a time. He goes to Mexico, accepting a matched pair of Beretta shotguns and an invitation from his friend Tibby (Tiburón) Mendez (Anthony Quinn) to spend time at his estate. Once Cochran's there, we learn that Tibby is a powerful mob boss, who lives in a very exclusive part of the city, surrounded by bodyguards and employees in his big hacienda.

While trying to find Tibby's house, Cochran meets Tibby's wife, a beautiful young woman named Miryea (Madeleine Stowe). Miryea is very unhappy because her much-older husband does not want children—pregnancy would spoil her looks—and she feels like a trophy wife, certain as well that Tibby has a darker side, which Jay sees after he presents his friend with a Navy G-1 leather flight jacket.

While attending a dinner of Tibby's business associates, Miryea becomes more and more attracted to Jay, giving him a book of poetry and sharing a walk on the beach. During a party, and after sharing a very intense and sensual moment while making lemonade in Jay's house, they secretly make love in the cloak room.

Tension grows between Jay and Miryea, worried that Tibby will become aware of the situation, while repeating their secret encounters anytime they can. Miryea persuades Jay to not go back to the U.S., saying that she's starting to have feelings for him; he hesitantly accepts, in order to spend more time with her.

To arrange a secret rendezvous, Miryea makes a call to a friend in Miami, saying that if Tibby calls, her friend should confirm that she is there. This conversation is intercepted by Cesar, one of Tibby's employees. Tibby visits Jay and invites him to travel to Rome, to customize the shotguns he had earlier given to him, but Jay refuses the offer; understanding that the affair is happening and feeling disappointed, Tibby leaves, saying only goodbye. In the morning, Tibby drops Miryea at the airport, giving her one last, and very emotional, "death kiss" on her forehead, after that, she gets out of the car and walks into the airport; after a while Jay appears, taking her and her baggage to his cabin.

Jay and Miryea slip away to Jay's remote cabin in the countryland. Right before dinner, they are surprised by Tibby and his henchmen, who kill Jay's dog. Tibby calls Mireya a "faithless whore", slapping her in the face and slicing her cheek to make a conspicuous scar. Tibby's henchmen start to beat Jay. As Miryea lies on the floor, she takes one of Jay's dogtags and holds on to it. After setting fire to the cabin, Mendez's thugs dump Jay in the desert and leave him to die. Miryea is placed in a whorehouse, where she is drugged and abused. She constantly holds on to the dogtag. She discovers that the young man who drugs her has AIDS, and persuades him to share a needle with her, thus infecting her.

Jay's unconscious body is discovered by a local man, who takes him to a medicine woman; and she nurses his injuries. After recovering, Jay returns to his burnt cabin and collects some money he had stashed away. He also finds one dogtag, knowing Miryea must have the other one. The man takes Jay to a local town and gives him a knife to "cut the balls off his enemy." There Jay runs into a Texan (James Gabbon) who offers to take Jay along for a ride. Inside a cantina, Jay notices one of the henchmen who had beat him. He ambushes him in the bathroom, cutting him throat and leaving him dead.

After a day on the road, the Texan trades his horse to one of the local town bosses, who recognizes Jay from a tennis match at Tibby's. Jay tries to disguise himself, but the man sees him and later notifies Tibby. Jay's Texan friend dies in the car of natural causes, and Jay buries him. While resting in a hotel, Jay comes across Amador, the cousin of the man who had saved his life. Amador and his friend, Ignacio (John Leguizamo), help Jay find another one of the henchmen staying at the hotel. He tells them that Miryea is at a brothel close to town. When Jay barges in to rescue her, they find that she has been moved, and no one knows where she is. No one, but Tibby.

Early the next morning, Jay, Amador, and Ignacio ambush Tibby and his bodyguard on a trail. Tibby and Jay stare at each other, ready to kill. Wearing the Navy jacket Jay gave him, Tibby asks that Jay ask for his forgiveness, for stealing his wife. Jay apologizes. Tibby tells him that Miryea is in a convent. Both men leave each other, but when Jay arrives it is too late. Miryea is hanging on to life, as well as Jay's dogtag. He carries her outside where she dies in his arms.

Cast

*Kevin Costner as Michael J. "Jay" Cochran
*Anthony Quinn as Tiburon "Tibby" Mendez
*Madeleine Stowe as Miryea Mendez
*Miguel Ferrer as Amador
*John Leguizamo as Ignacio, Amador's cousin
*Tomas Milian as Cesar
*James Gammon as Texan
*Jesse Corti as Medero
*Sally Kirkland as Rock Star

Trivia

Was originally going to be directed by John Huston, who did not want Kevin Costner as a lead. After Costner became a success with "The Untouchables" and "Bull Durham", he was powerful enough to produce it himself.

R.Kelly uses most of the movie plot in his videoDown Low (Nobody Has To Know) featuring Ronald Isley (1995)

Alternate versions

The version included on the 2007 DVD and Blu-ray releases is Tony Scott's shorter director's cut, running 104 minutes. The original 124-minute version is due to Kevin Costner and Ray Stark.

The director's cut includes several re-edits, and in general, deletes many scenes in the original cut:

*During the beating of Jay, the main hechmen stomps in one of his hands, crushing several fingers, in the new cut, that scene is missing, replaced by that same thug kicking Jay a few times while he is on the floor.
*The jeep ride sequence, is shown in a more explicit way, also we see Mireya and Jay stoping in a lake near by to drink some beers and have sex. The original soundtrack sequence has been changed.
*The role of Sally K. is shortened.
*In the opening flying sequence, while the jet of Jay is in the sky, a beaten man can be seen crawling in the desert, as it was some kind of premonition for what's to come.
*After the revenge of Tibbey we can see him selecting a new young wife, but as it was something more protocol-related thing.
*All the scenes that showed the doubts and hesitations of Jay relating the affair are gone in the new cut.

External links

*imdb title|id=0100485|title=Revenge