{"id":4363,"date":"2024-10-05T21:34:59","date_gmt":"2024-10-05T21:34:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=4363"},"modified":"2024-10-12T21:20:42","modified_gmt":"2024-10-12T21:20:42","slug":"cohen-tate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/10\/05\/cohen-tate\/","title":{"rendered":"Cohen & Tate"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Cohen & Tate <\/strong>(1989)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Hemdale\/Action\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 86 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language, violence, child in peril)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Eric Red\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Eric Red\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Bill Conti\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Victor J. Kemper\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: January 27, 1989 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Starring: Roy Scheider, Adam Baldwin, Harley Cross, Cooper Huckabee, Suzanne Savoy, Marco Perella, Tom Campitelli, Andrew R. Gill, Frank Bates.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $64,227 (US)<\/p>\n

Rating:<\/strong>\u00a0***<\/p>\n

\u00a0Cohen & Tate<\/strong> is an action-thriller that barely received any sort of theatrical release and I think I know why. Who wants to see an actioner about two hitmen taking a child to some Mob bigwigs to find out if he has any incriminating information about their operation? The movie opens with the boy\u2019s parents being murdered and goes on from there. It\u2019s not exactly a feel-good film.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Despite their being in Witness Protection, professional killers Cohen (Scheider, Jaws) and Tate (Baldwin) find and kill the parents of nine-year-old Travis Knight (Cross, The Believers) with relative ease. It must be the corrupt FBI agent that fed them the information. They put the boy in their car and head to Houston to deliver him to their employer. Tate is a cold-hearted psychopath who wants to kill the kid. Cohen, the more experienced of the two, won\u2019t let him. He just wants to complete the assignment and get paid.<\/p>\n

\u00a0On the way, quick-thinking Travis does whatever he can to pit the two hitmen against each other. Not too hard a task considering they\u2019re already at each other\u2019s throats. How to handle their passenger is obviously their main point of contention. Travis, ever the resourceful kid, uses it to his advantage. It\u2019s the only chance he has of surviving this ordeal. Meanwhile, law enforcement officials have set up road blocks to capture the hitmen and save Travis. Because Cohen and Tate are professionals, they know how to get around such things.<\/p>\n

\u00a0When a movie bypasses theaters and goes directly to video, it’s usually not a good sign. These movies are typically bad; releasing them theatrically would be a HUGE waste of money. I don\u2019t recall Cohen & Tate<\/strong> ever playing at theaters; I saw it on video in summer \u201990. It\u2019s a surprisingly good movie. It’s not anywhere close to a classic, but it has a certain appeal as Travis tries to form a relationship with Cohen. We know that Cohen is incapable of forming any type of meaningful relationship, but he comes to be the boy\u2019s protector, often preventing Tate from killing him.<\/p>\n

\u00a0What\u2019s interesting about Cohen & Tate<\/strong> is that it\u2019s just as much a drama as an action flick and a psychological thriller. Both of the title characters are clearly disturbed. They kill people for a living, hello! As Cohen, the lesser of the evils, Scheider does a fine job. Always one of the most reliable actors in the industry, he has a likable way about him even when he plays villainous characters. He imbues his character with vulnerability. He\u2019s getting older and knows his days are numbered. He probably should have retired a while ago, but this is the only life he\u2019s ever known. Baldwin plays it up as a stone cold psycho, a killing machine without a trace of humanity or compassion. He is pure evil. Cross is pretty good as the package caught between the two assassins. He\u2019s no better or worse than any child star of the time. His character is one crafty little kid. He knows how to play an angle.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Directed by Eric Red (Body Parts), Cohen & Tate<\/strong> does have its share of far-fetched scenes like Travis\u2019 attempted escape at a truck stop. I don\u2019t want to give too much away so I\u2019ll only say that it involves a state trooper and one hell of a lucky shot. It\u2019s moments like this that throw Cohen & Tate<\/strong> off-balance. It\u2019s a markedly uneven movie in both tone and pacing. It\u2019s best not to think of it as an actioner even though it has action elements. Think of it more as a darker version of O. Henry\u2019s The Ransom of Red Chief. Let\u2019s be real here, the notion of taking a child to certain death isn\u2019t anybody\u2019s idea of light-hearted entertainment. Some will find it disturbing. Travis constantly being in danger provides the movie\u2019s suspense. Will they or won\u2019t they kill him?<\/p>\n

\u00a0Although flawed, I like Cohen & Tate<\/strong> very much. I like that Red tries to do something different. It\u2019s compelling, thrilling and even a little bit touching. It deserved better than a DTV release.\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cohen & Tate (1989)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Hemdale\/Action\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 86 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language, violence, child in peril)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Eric Red\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Eric Red\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Bill Conti\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Victor J. Kemper\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: January 27, 1989 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Starring: Roy Scheider, Adam Baldwin, Harley Cross, Cooper Huckabee, Suzanne Savoy, Marco Perella, Tom Campitelli, Andrew R. Gill, Frank Bates.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4757,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hidden-treasures"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Cohen-Tate-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4363"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4363\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4759,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4363\/revisions\/4759"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}