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Blown Away (1994 film)
Encyclopedia
Blown Away is a 1994 action film
starring Jeff Bridges
and Tommy Lee Jones
. It was directed by Stephen Hopkins
.
), an Irish terrorist, escapes from his cell in a castle prison in Northern Ireland.
In faraway Boston
, meanwhile, Lt. Jimmy Dove (Jeff Bridges
) is a veteran disposal technician for the police bomb squad. He irritates his captain, partner and everyone else when he plays hero and disarms explosives.
Nobody, except for his uncle Max (played by Jeff's real life father Lloyd Bridges
), knows of Jimmy's dark past. Originally from Belfast, Northern Ireland, Jimmy's actual name is Liam McGivney. He had been friends and partners with Gaerity, who, unbeknownst to Liam, was a freelance terrorist. After a botched attempt to stop Gaerity led to the bomber's imprisonment and the death of his girlfriend (Gaerity's sister), Liam fled to Boston and became Jimmy Dove.
Gaerity comes to Boston to seek vengeance against Jimmy, who is semi-retired but working as an instructor. Gaerity begins taunting his old protégé with threats and his homemade explosives and causing the deaths of Jimmy's colleagues Blanket, Cortez and Rita. With his new family now in danger, Jimmy reveals his secret to his wife Kate (Suzy Amis
). He returns to action to hunt for Gaerity, while an officer named Anthony Franklin (Forest Whitaker
) investigates Jimmy, suspecting a connection between the two.
Max is brutally killed by Gaerity, who arrives in time but is helpless to do anything but watch. Dove proceeds to track Gaerity to his steamboat hideout, booby-trapped with explosives. After a brief fight, he cuffs himself to Gaerity, prepared to die in order to keep his secret and to prevent any more deaths. He is saved by Franklin at the last minute, leaving Gaerity to die when the boat detonates.
Dove and Franklin hurry to reach a performance of the Boston Pops orchestra before it ends. They need to get to Kate, a musician, in time to rescue her (after Gaerity reveals that he has booby-trapped her car). After a harrowing chase, they disarm the bomb.
Franklin tells Dove that he knows his secret, but will leave the matter alone if Dove lets HIM (Franklin) be the hero and take all the credit for taking down Gaerity. Dove gives Franklin his badge and gun and walks away with his family.
of the film was released in 1994. The UK rental tape of the film notably featured a Tango Orange
advertisement in the trailers at the start which was banned from television for being frightening.
Action film
Action film is a film genre where one or more heroes is thrust into a series of challenges that require physical feats, extended fights and frenetic chases...
starring Jeff Bridges
Jeff Bridges
Jeffrey Leon "Jeff" Bridges is an American actor and musician. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Otis "Bad" Blake in the 2009 film Crazy Heart....
and Tommy Lee Jones
Tommy Lee Jones
Tommy Lee Jones is an American actor and film director. He has received three Academy Award nominations, winning one as Best Supporting Actor for the 1993 thriller film The Fugitive....
. It was directed by Stephen Hopkins
Stephen Hopkins (director)
Stephen Hopkins is a Jamaican-born film director and producer. He is best-known for his continuation of the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise with A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child and the Predator franchise with Predator 2...
.
Plot
Ryan Gaerity (Tommy Lee JonesTommy Lee Jones
Tommy Lee Jones is an American actor and film director. He has received three Academy Award nominations, winning one as Best Supporting Actor for the 1993 thriller film The Fugitive....
), an Irish terrorist, escapes from his cell in a castle prison in Northern Ireland.
In faraway Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, meanwhile, Lt. Jimmy Dove (Jeff Bridges
Jeff Bridges
Jeffrey Leon "Jeff" Bridges is an American actor and musician. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Otis "Bad" Blake in the 2009 film Crazy Heart....
) is a veteran disposal technician for the police bomb squad. He irritates his captain, partner and everyone else when he plays hero and disarms explosives.
Nobody, except for his uncle Max (played by Jeff's real life father Lloyd Bridges
Lloyd Bridges
Lloyd Vernet Bridges, Jr. was an American actor who starred in a number of television series and appeared in more than 150 feature films. Bridges is best known for his role of Mike Nelson in Sea Hunt, the most-popular syndicated American TV series in 1958...
), knows of Jimmy's dark past. Originally from Belfast, Northern Ireland, Jimmy's actual name is Liam McGivney. He had been friends and partners with Gaerity, who, unbeknownst to Liam, was a freelance terrorist. After a botched attempt to stop Gaerity led to the bomber's imprisonment and the death of his girlfriend (Gaerity's sister), Liam fled to Boston and became Jimmy Dove.
Gaerity comes to Boston to seek vengeance against Jimmy, who is semi-retired but working as an instructor. Gaerity begins taunting his old protégé with threats and his homemade explosives and causing the deaths of Jimmy's colleagues Blanket, Cortez and Rita. With his new family now in danger, Jimmy reveals his secret to his wife Kate (Suzy Amis
Suzy Amis
Susan Elizabeth "Suzy" Amis is an American former film actress and former model.-Career:Born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Amis first worked as a Ford model before she began acting in the 1980s. She made her feature film debut in the 1985 comedy film Fandango, opposite Kevin Costner...
). He returns to action to hunt for Gaerity, while an officer named Anthony Franklin (Forest Whitaker
Forest Whitaker
Forest Steven Whitaker is an American actor, producer, and director. He has earned a reputation for intensive character study work for films such as Bird and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, and for his recurring role as ex-LAPD Lieutenant Jon Kavanaugh on the gritty, award-winning television...
) investigates Jimmy, suspecting a connection between the two.
Max is brutally killed by Gaerity, who arrives in time but is helpless to do anything but watch. Dove proceeds to track Gaerity to his steamboat hideout, booby-trapped with explosives. After a brief fight, he cuffs himself to Gaerity, prepared to die in order to keep his secret and to prevent any more deaths. He is saved by Franklin at the last minute, leaving Gaerity to die when the boat detonates.
Dove and Franklin hurry to reach a performance of the Boston Pops orchestra before it ends. They need to get to Kate, a musician, in time to rescue her (after Gaerity reveals that he has booby-trapped her car). After a harrowing chase, they disarm the bomb.
Franklin tells Dove that he knows his secret, but will leave the matter alone if Dove lets HIM (Franklin) be the hero and take all the credit for taking down Gaerity. Dove gives Franklin his badge and gun and walks away with his family.
Cast
- Jeff BridgesJeff BridgesJeffrey Leon "Jeff" Bridges is an American actor and musician. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Otis "Bad" Blake in the 2009 film Crazy Heart....
- Jimmy Dove/Liam McGivney - Tommy Lee JonesTommy Lee JonesTommy Lee Jones is an American actor and film director. He has received three Academy Award nominations, winning one as Best Supporting Actor for the 1993 thriller film The Fugitive....
- Ryan Gaerity - Lloyd BridgesLloyd BridgesLloyd Vernet Bridges, Jr. was an American actor who starred in a number of television series and appeared in more than 150 feature films. Bridges is best known for his role of Mike Nelson in Sea Hunt, the most-popular syndicated American TV series in 1958...
- Max O'Bannon - Forest WhitakerForest WhitakerForest Steven Whitaker is an American actor, producer, and director. He has earned a reputation for intensive character study work for films such as Bird and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, and for his recurring role as ex-LAPD Lieutenant Jon Kavanaugh on the gritty, award-winning television...
- Anthony Franklin - Suzy AmisSuzy AmisSusan Elizabeth "Suzy" Amis is an American former film actress and former model.-Career:Born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Amis first worked as a Ford model before she began acting in the 1980s. She made her feature film debut in the 1985 comedy film Fandango, opposite Kevin Costner...
- Kate Dove - Stephi Lineburg - Lizzie
- John FinnJohn FinnJohn Finn is an American actor known as one of the leads of the television programs Cold Case and EZ Streets. Finn has also had supporting roles in the films The Hunted , Catch Me If You Can , True Crime , Turbulence , Blown Away , The Pelican Brief , and Glory .TV series that Finn has...
- Captain Fred Roarke - Caitlin ClarkeCaitlin ClarkeCaitlin Clarke was an American theater and film actress best known for her role as Valerian in the 1981 fantasy film Dragonslayer and for her role as Charlotte Cardoza in the 1998–1999 Broadway musical Titanic....
- Rita - Christofer de Oni - Cortez (as Chris de Oni)
- Loyd Catlett - Bama
- Ruben Santiago-HudsonRuben Santiago-HudsonRuben Santiago-Hudson is an American actor and playwright, who has won national awards for his work in both areas. In November 2011 he will appear on Broadway in Lydia Diamond's play .-Early life:...
- Blanket - Cuba Gooding, Jr.Cuba Gooding, Jr.Cuba M. Gooding, Jr. is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his Academy Award-winning portrayal of Rod Tidwell in Cameron Crowe's 1996 film Jerry Maguire, and his critically acclaimed performance as Tré Styles in John Singleton's 1991 film Boyz n the Hood.-Early life:Gooding was born...
- Cameos as a Bomb Squad Class member - Ed OKeefe as press photographer
Pop culture reference
- The Whitest Kids U' KnowThe Whitest Kids U' KnowThe Whitest Kids U' Know is an American sketch comedy troupe and television program of the same name. The group consists of Trevor Moore, Sam Brown, Zach Cregger, Timmy Williams and Darren Trumeter, though other actors occasionally appear in their sketches. They were accepted into the HBO U.S...
has a sketch where TrevorTrevor MooreTrevor Paul Moore is an American actor, comedian, writer, and director best known as a founding member of the New York City-based comedy troupe The Whitest Kids U' Know, who had their own sketch comedy series on IFC which ran for five seasons...
believes Zack is Forest Whitaker after watching Blown Away and Zack is confused about Trevor, who later admits he has a disease where he sees "everyone is Forest Whitaker". - Some U2U2U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
songs heard in the film, example: "With or Without YouWith or Without You"With or Without You" is a song by Irish rock band U2. It is the third track from their 1987 album, The Joshua Tree, and was released as the album's first single on 21 March 1987...
" and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking ForI Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" is a song by rock band U2. It is the second track from their 1987 album The Joshua Tree and was released as the album's second single in May 1987...
". The album The Joshua TreeThe Joshua TreeThe Joshua Tree is the fifth studio album by rock band U2. It was produced by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, and was released on 9 March 1987 on Island Records. In contrast to the ambient experimentation of their 1984 release The Unforgettable Fire, U2 aimed for a harder-hitting sound on The Joshua...
is mentioned in a scene along with U2 being mentioned as an "IrishIrish peopleThe Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
born band", like the antagonist. - In the Chuck HoganChuck HoganChuck Hogan is an American author. He is the author of Prince of Thieves: A Novel, a work upon which Ben Affleck's Academy Award-nominated film The Town is based on. The work won the 2005 Hammett Prize and was called one of the ten best novels of the year by Stephen King...
novel Prince of Thieves, which became the basis for the Ben AffleckBen AffleckBenjamin Géza Affleck-Boldt , better known as Ben Affleck, is an American actor, film director, writer, and producer. He became known with his performances in Kevin Smith's films such as Mallrats and Chasing Amy...
film The TownThe Town (2010 film)The Town is a 2010 crime film starring, co-written, and directed by Ben Affleck adapted from Chuck Hogan's novel Prince of Thieves. The film opened in theaters in the United States on September 17, 2010 at number one with more than $23 million and positive reviews...
, the narrator (presumably, Hogan himself) calls this film "one of the all-time worst motion pictures ever made."
Crtical Reception
The film was widely criticised for the poor Irish accents of the three Irish characters, with Tommy Lee Jones' portrayal of Ryan Gaerity coming in for particular criticism.Release
The VHSVHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
of the film was released in 1994. The UK rental tape of the film notably featured a Tango Orange
Tango (drink)
Tango is a carbonated soft drink sold primarily in the United Kingdom and Ireland and from 2010 in Sweden, Norway and Hungary as well, first launched by Corona in 1950. Corona were bought by the Beecham Group in 1958, and Beecham Soft Drinks were bought by Britvic in 1987...
advertisement in the trailers at the start which was banned from television for being frightening.
See also
- The Friends of Eddie CoyleThe Friends of Eddie CoyleThis is an article about the movie. For information about George V. Higgins' 1970 novel, go to The Friends of Eddie Coyle .The Friends of Eddie Coyle is a 1973 crime film starring Robert Mitchum and Peter Boyle. Directed by Peter Yates, the screenplay was adapted from the novel by George V. Higgins...
(1973) - Recent crime films based in or near Boston:
- The Boondock SaintsThe Boondock SaintsThe Boondock Saints is a 1999 American action comedy film written and directed by Troy Duffy. The film stars Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus as Irish fraternal twins, Connor and Murphy MacManus, who become vigilantes after killing two members of the Russian Mafia in self-defense...
(1999), set in South Boston - The Boondock Saints II: All Saints DayThe Boondock Saints II: All Saints DayThe Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day is the 2009 sequel to 1999's The Boondock Saints. Written and directed by original Boondock Saints creator Troy Duffy, the film stars Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus, who return to their roles, as well as several of the other actors from the first...
(2009), set in Ireland and South Boston - The DepartedThe DepartedThe Departed is a 2006 American crime thriller film, fashioned as a remake of the 2002 Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs. The film was directed by Martin Scorsese and written by William Monahan...
(2006), concentrating on criminals from South Boston - Gone Baby GoneGone Baby GoneGone Baby Gone is a 2007 American crime drama-mystery film directed by Ben Affleck and starring his brother Casey Affleck. The screenplay by Ben Affleck and Aaron Stockard is based on the novel of the same name by Dennis Lehane, author of Mystic River and Shutter Island...
(2007), concentrating on the Dorchester section of Boston - Mystic RiverMystic River (film)Mystic River is a 2003 American drama film directed, co-produced and scored by Clint Eastwood, starring Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Laurence Fishburne, Marcia Gay Harden, Laura Linney and Emmy Rossum. The film was written by Brian Helgeland, based on Dennis Lehane's novel of the same...
(2003) - Shutter Island (2010)
- The TownThe Town (2010 film)The Town is a 2010 crime film starring, co-written, and directed by Ben Affleck adapted from Chuck Hogan's novel Prince of Thieves. The film opened in theaters in the United States on September 17, 2010 at number one with more than $23 million and positive reviews...
(2010), set in Charlestown
- The Boondock Saints
- Edge of Darkness (2010)