Point of No Return (1993)

Director:

John Badham

Writers (WGA):

Luc Besson (film La Femme Nikita)
Robert Getchell (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

19 March 1993 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

The Government gave her a choice. Death. Or life as an assassin. Now, there's no turning back.

Plot:

A gang of armed drug-addicts break into a chemist shop to try and steal drugs to fuel their habit. However...

Plot Keywords:

Assassin | Lethal Injection | Black Belt | Washington D.C. | California

Cast

Bridget Fonda	...	Maggie Hayward - Claudia Anne Doran - Nina
Gabriel Byrne	...	Bob
Dermot Mulroney	...	J.P.
Miguel Ferrer	...	Kaufman
Anne Bancroft	...	Amanda
Olivia d'Abo	...	Angela
Richard Romanus	...	Fahd Bahktiar
Harvey Keitel	...	Victor the Cleaner
Lorraine Toussaint	...	Beth
Geoffrey Lewis	...	Drugstore Owner
Mic Rodgers	...	Cop
Michael Rapaport	...	Big Stan
Ray Oriel	...	Burt
Spike McClure	...	Johnny D
Lieux Dressler	...	Johnny's Mom

Also Known As:

The Assassin (Australia) (International: English title) (UK) (USA) (video title)
Girl No. 5 (USA) (working title)
The Assassin - (Point of No Return) (UK) (DVD box title)
The Specialist (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

109 min | Germany:104 min (TV version) | Turkey:101 min (TV version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:R (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Portugal:M/16 | Finland:K-16 (re-rating) (uncut) (1993) | Finland:K-16 (DVD) (cut) (1999) | Finland:K-18 (original rating) (uncut) (1993) | Germany:16 (heavily cut) | Philippines:R-18 | USA:R (certificate #32163) | Argentina:13 | France:-12 | Germany:18 | Norway:15 | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | Australia:M | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Bourbon Street, French Quarter, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Luc Besson declined the opportunity to remake his French hit Nikita (1990).

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Claudia buys cans of Progresso Ravioli in the store, and then serves that ravioli at dinner. One can easily see the areas of the ravioli that do not have sauce on them. The sauce is atop the ravioli, which clearly indicates that the ravioli was cooked separately and the sauce was placed over the pasta later. However, canned ravioli would have a completely different appearance; it would have sauce dispersed evenly all over each ravioli.

Quotes:

Victor: I'm Victor. I'm the cleaner.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Killing Floor (2007)

Soundtrack:

ZYDECO BOOGALOO

A great remake, much warmer.

La Femme Nikita is no doubt a great movie . . . but I think it's snobbery to call Point of No Return crap.

I found myself caring much more for Fonda's character than the original Nikita. Nikita was very dark and cold which worked great for the psychological thrills -- but at the end of the movie I didn't feel as much compassion for Nikita. Point of No Return is much warmer and the love story is more passionate. I think the Point Of No Return characters were better developed, but the action scenes could have been better.

I watch Point of No Return twice as much as I watch La Femme Nikita. They are both great films. If you like dark action and/or turn your nose up at American remakes...watch Nikita. If you like a well-rounded movie with action and a love story watch Point of No Return.