Blue Steel (1989)

User Rating:

5.3/10   

Director:

Kathryn Bigelow

Writers (WGA):

Kathryn Bigelow (written by) &
Eric Red (written by)

Release Date:

16 March 1990 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Thriller | Crime | Drama

Tagline:

For a rookie cop, there's one thing more dangerous than uncovering a killer's fantasy. Becoming it.

Plot:

A female rookie in the police force engages in a cat and mouse game with a pistol wielding psychopath who becomes obsessed with her. |

Plot Keywords:

Police | Psychopath | Exercise | Helicopter | Bullet

Awards:

2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Jamie Lee Curtis	...	Megan Turner
Ron Silver	...	Eugene Hunt
Clancy Brown	...	Nick Mann
Elizabeth Peña	...	Tracy Perez (as Elizabeth Pena)
Louise Fletcher	...	Shirley Turner
Philip Bosco	...	Frank Turner
Kevin Dunn	...	Asst. Chief Stanley Hoyt
Richard Jenkins	...	Attorney Mel Dawson
Markus Flannagan	...	Husband
Mary Mara	...	Wife
Skipp Lynch	...	Instructor
Mike Hodge	...	Police Commissioner
Mike Starr	...	Superintendant
Chris Walker	...	Officer Jeff Travers
Tom Sizemore	...	Wool Cap

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Australia:M | South Korea:18 | Philippines:R-18 | Argentina:18 | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16 | Norway:18 (video premiere) | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:16 | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Lightning Pictures

Trivia:

Tom Sizemore's film debut.

Goofs:

Continuity: Megan fires more rounds than her revolver can hold without reloading.

Quotes:

Nick Mann: Y'know what I love about this city? You can throw a stick up in the air and it'll land on a taxi or an ambulance.

Movie Connections:

References Magnum Force (1973)

Where's the cops?

******SPOILERS****** "Blue Steel" is basically a film about a crazed Wall Street commodities broker Eugene Hunt, Ron Silver, who has a religious experience one night. At a neighborhood grocery store rookie policewomen Magen Turner, Jamie Lee Curtis, blasts away a robber, Tom Sizemore, who tried to shoot her as well as those in the store including Eugene.

Ehgene crabs the dead crooks .44 Magnum and takes off with it before the backup team came on the crime scene leaving Magen with no proof that the robber had a gun and leaving her open to disciplinary charges by the NYPD. Back home Eugene treating the .44 as if it were a religious item to be both worshiped and revered. Eugene feels that Magen is the missing part of his religious experience and plans to get to know her to make it all complete.

Eugene gets friendly with Magen by getting her a cab and then treating her to dinner at a swanky restaurant. Eugene even takes Magen on a helicopter ride over NYC at night. As Eugene wines and dines Magen he secretly goes out at night shooting people with her missing .44 using bullets with Magen's name scratched on the casings. This gets Magen into even more trouble with the baffled police department thinking that she's somehow responsible for those murders.

The crazed Eugene seem untouchable from both the police as well as the courts. No matter how much proof the police have on him his high priced lawyer always gets Eugene off on some technicality. Eugene even gets away with shooting Magen's best friend Tracy Perez, Elizabeth Pena, right in front of her eyes! That cold blooded murder on Eugene's part still wasn't enough to convict much less arrest him for the crime?

After offing what seemed like scores of people with the police and the NYC justice department totally helpless to stop him the movie finally ends with a shootout between Magen and the crazed broker in the Wall Street section of Manhattan. The shootout starts in the subway and ended in the streets. Eugene ends up not only getting blasted with a full magazine by Magen but also run over by her. It seems that Magen is the only policeman, or it this case policewomen, on duty in the entire city, was the New York Police Force on a coffee break?

This movie is nuts and ridicules just like Eugene but one thing that it isn't is boring. It's a small wonder that anyone involved with this movie ever survived to make another film.