Man on Fire (1987) TriStar/Action-Drama RT: 92 minutes Rated R (strong violence, language) Director: Elie Chouraqui Screenplay: Elie Chouraqui and Sergio Donati Music: John Scott Cinematography: Gerry Fisher Release date: October 9, 1987 (US) Cast: Scott Glenn, Jade Malle, Joe Pesci, Danny Aiello, Brooke Adams, Paul Shenar, Jonathan Pryce, Laura Morante, Giancarlo Prete, Lorenzo Piani, Franco Trevisi. Box Office: $519,596 (US)
Rating: ** ½
When you hear the title Man on Fire, you probably think of the 2004 action-thriller starring Denzel Washington and 9YO Dakota Fanning. What many people don’t know is that it’s actually a remake of a 1987 action-drama starring Scott Glenn and 12YO Jade Malle.
I don’t fault people for not knowing that since the original Man on Fire, based on the novel by A.J. Quinnell, barely made a ripple when it was released in fall ’87. It played for one week and didn’t even break the $1 million mark at the box office. Critics didn’t have a lot of kind things to say about it. I missed it, it went away so fast. I caught it the following summer on cable TV and turned it off before it was over. I thought it was horrible. It was dark, murky, slow-moving, humorless and heavy-handed. I tried watching it again in ’97 and made it all the way through that time. I still hated it. I fully expected to hate it again when I rewatched it recently. I didn’t. On the contrary, I kind of liked it.
Scott Glenn (Urban Cowboy) plays John Creasy, a burned-out ex-CIA agent haunted by memories of the atrocities he witnessed in Vietnam and Beirut. His friend, fellow ex-CIA agent David (Pesci, Raging Bull), gets him a job as bodyguard to Sam (Malle), the young daughter of a wealthy American couple (Adams and Shenar) in Italy where kidnapping by the Mafia is a major concern. Sam wants to be friends with Creasy, but he doesn’t want to get close. She eventually breaks through his tough exterior and the two become friends. On the way home from a friend’s wedding (she goes as Creasy’s plus-one), she’s pulled from his car by masked men. Creasy is shot multiple times trying (and failing) to prevent her from being taken. After an unusually short period of recovery, he sets out to track down the kidnappers, kill them and bring Sam home safely to her family.
Man on Fire isn’t a bad movie, not at all. It just doesn’t know what it wants to be. No, that’s not quite right. It wants to be two things, a character-driven drama and a shoot-‘em-up action flick, but stitches them together rather clumsily. The first half, which I think is the better half, focuses on the relationship between Creasy and his young charge. It’s interesting to watch them bond over John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. A quote from the book comes to define their special bond. They’re both lonely souls. He has nobody and her family is almost never around. The connection they have between them is real and when it’s threatened by outside forces, Creasy jumps into action. The second half of Man on Fire shows Creasy going after the creeps that snatched Sam. The main creep behind the kidnapping is Mafia leader Conti (Aiello, Moonstruck). Of course, Creasy has to go through a few other bad guys to get to him. This portion of the movie is good, but it burns out before the climax.
Man on Fire has its share of flaws. The direction by Elie Chouraqui (Les Menteurs) is choppy. The two parts don’t gel as well as they should. It’s an odd mix of European art film and American revenge flick. It makes for a very uneven movie. He also relies heavily on atmosphere. Ridley Scott’s influence on the movie’s look is obvious. Much of the second half takes place in darkness. Sometimes it’s hard to make out what’s going on. And, of course, it has to rain during the climax. The overemphasis on style diminishes substance.
Glenn is quite good in the lead role. He has a strong presence, both physically and emotionally. He really tries to get to the core of his character and mostly succeeds. Malle, who never appeared in another movie, is a pretty good actress. She deftly conveys her character’s loneliness and sense of isolation. She doesn’t overplay the cute card; unfortunately, she occasionally veers into brat mode.
These are the only fully realized characters in Man on Fire. We know next to nothing about Pesci’s character although he has this really great scene where he obtains a suitcase filled with weapons for Creasy. There seems to be a pre-existing relationship between Creasy and Adams’ character; what it is I can’t say with any certainty. All I know is that she goes to him one night (before the kidnapping) for comfort. One gets the idea her marriage is an unhappy one. I wasn’t even sure who Pryce (Brazil) was supposed to be. I thought he was the husband but that’s Shenar (Scarface). I think Pryce is the family lawyer or something; he handles the negotiations with the kidnappers.
I often say that if Hollywood has to do remakes, they should remake bad movies and fix what’s wrong. Man on Fire was remade in 2004. It was directed by Tony Scott who was originally slated to direct the original but replaced because the studio felt he didn’t have enough experience. I’d like to say the remake is an improvement, but that’s not entirely true. It fixes a few of the problems but at two-and-a-half hours, it’s bloated and overlong. It’s also a case of style-over-substance. I have to say that I prefer the original over the remake. I still stand by what I say about remakes though.
The 1987 Man on Fire is not that bad a movie. It’s not that great of one either. It falls into that narrow gap between success and failure. It’s neither one and both at the same time. Either way, it’s an interesting movie.
