On Deadly Ground
Encyclopedia
On Deadly Ground is a 1994
environmental action-adventure
film
, co-produced, directed by and starring Steven Seagal
, and co-starring in an all-star cast, Michael Caine
, Joan Chen
, John C. McGinley
, R. Lee Ermey
, Kenji Nakano, and Billy Bob Thornton
in one of his early appearances. The film held a #1 position at the box office and exemplified the dangers of pollution. It earned $38.6M during its theatrical run. In recent years, the film has gained a cult following
.
Oil operates Aegis 1, an oil refinery
and several oil rigs in Alaska
. They purchased the oil rights from the local Eskimos twenty years ago, but will lose them if the refinery isn’t on-line by a certain deadline. With 13 days to go, and billions of dollars at stake, the company cuts corners and uses faulty equipment. Hugh Palmer, a rig foreman, is aware of this; as he predicts, his rig catches fire. It takes Forrest Taft (Seagal), a specialist in dealing with oil drilling-related fires, to extinguish the fire. Taft refuses to believe Hugh’s story of faulty equipment, but discovers that it’s true after accessing the company’s computer records. Michael Jennings (Michael Caine
), the ruthless CEO of Aegis, believes that Hugh's carelessness is to blame and arranges for him to be ‘dealt with’ by his henchmen MacGruder (John C. McGinley
) and Otto (Sven-Ole Thorsen
).
Jennings is alerted to Taft's activities and orders that Taft be also removed. MacGruder and Otto torture and murder Palmer. Taft is set up for a trap by investigating a supposedly damaged pump station. He is badly wounded by an explosion, but survives and is rescued by Masu (Joan Chen
), the daughter of Silook, the chief of her tribe.
MacGruder and Otto are unable to locate Taft's body, and Jennings assumes that he is still alive. Taft is being cared for by Silook's tribe. After unsuccessfully trying to leave, using a dogsled, Silook has Taft undergo a vision quest
in which he sees the truth. When made to choose between two women, Taft opts for the elderly, clothed grandmother, forgoing the erotically-charged nude Eskimo
seductress. The grandmother warns Taft that time is running out for those who pollute the world. Taft realizes that he has no choice but to see the refinery closed. He leaves, with MacGruder and Otto hot on his trail.
At Silook's village, they demand to know where Taft is. Silook refuses to give the information and is fatally shot by MacGruder. Jennings berates MacGruder for killing Silook. They bring in a group of New Orleans based mercenaries
led by Stone (R. Lee Ermey
) to finish off Taft before he can stop Aegis 1 from going on-line. They also have an FBI Anti-Terrorist Unit at the refinery.
Accompanied by Masu, Taft (who is probably ex-CIA and an expert on sabotage and demolition), collects weapons and explosives and manages to enter the refinery complex. MacGruder ( Who was killed by Taft by throwing him in the helicopter's propeller for killing Hugh and Silook), Otto and Jennings’ ruthlessly efficient female assistant Liles, are powerless to stop him and are all killed in various gruesome ways.
Taft and Masu confront Jennings and string him up, dropping him into the oil, effectively drowning him in his own wealth. A series of explosions destroy the rest of Aegis 1.
As an epilogue, Taft, far from being arrested for sabotage and multiple murders (self defense), is asked to deliver a speech at the Alaska State Capitol
about the dangers of oil pollution, and the companies that are endangering the ecosystem. This speech is reminiscent of Charlie Chaplin
's monologue at the end of The Great Dictator
. This speech at the end of the film is parodied in the South Park
episode Over Logging
. During the speech they show a scene of one of the first commercial hydrogen fuel cell systems developed by Perry Energy Systems.
.
At the time of its release Roger Ebert
and Gene Siskel
included the film in their "Worst of" list for 1994, singling out the melancholy tone of the film, and the quality of Seagal's dialogue. Ebert in particular singled out the speech by Seagal's character that concluded the film, which he saw as extraneous, and an example of the film's "egotistical vanity scenes", as well as its inaccuracies.
Variety
film critic Leonard Klady referred to the film as "a vanity production parading as a social statement" and commented that the film seemingly borrowed heavily from the earlier film, Billy Jack
but opined that Seagal lacked "acting technique and the ability behind the camera to keep the story simple and direct" that Billy Jack star Tom Laughlin
, exhibited. Like Ebert, Klady also singled out the speech by Seagal's character at the end of the film.
, including Worst Picture, Worst Actor (Steven Seagal), Worst Actress (Joan Chen), Worst Screenplay and Worst Original Song ("Under the Same Sun"), with Seagal "winning" Worst Director.
1994 in film
1994 was a significant year in film.The top grosser worldwide was The Lion King, which to date stands as the highest-grossing traditionally-animated film of all time...
environmental action-adventure
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...
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, co-produced, directed by and starring Steven Seagal
Steven Seagal
Steven Frederic Seagal is an American action film star, producer, writer, martial artist, guitarist and reserve deputy sheriff. A 7th-dan black belt in Aikido, Seagal began his adult life as an Aikido instructor in Japan...
, and co-starring in an all-star cast, Michael Caine
Michael Caine
Sir Michael Caine, CBE is an English actor. He won Academy Awards for best supporting actor in both Hannah and Her Sisters and The Cider House Rules ....
, Joan Chen
Joan Chen
Joan Chong Chen is a Chinese American actress, film director, screenwriter and film producer. She became famous in China for her performance in the 1979 film Little Flower and came to international attention for her performance in the 1987 Academy Award-winning film The Last Emperor...
, John C. McGinley
John C. McGinley
John Christopher McGinley is an American actor, most notable for his roles as Perry Cox in Scrubs, Bob Slydell in Office Space, Sergeant Red O'Neill in Oliver Stone's Platoon and Marv in Stone's Wall Street. He has also written and produced for television and film...
, R. Lee Ermey
R. Lee Ermey
Ronald Lee Ermey is a retired United States Marine Corps drill instructor and actor.Ermey has often played the roles of authority figures, such as his breakout performance as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in Full Metal Jacket, Mayor Tilman in the Alan Parker film Mississippi Burning, Bill Bowerman in...
, Kenji Nakano, and Billy Bob Thornton
Billy Bob Thornton
Billy Bob Thornton is an American actor, screenwriter, director and musician. Thornton gained early recognition as a cast member on the CBS sitcom Hearts Afire and in several early 1990s films including On Deadly Ground and Tombstone...
in one of his early appearances. The film held a #1 position at the box office and exemplified the dangers of pollution. It earned $38.6M during its theatrical run. In recent years, the film has gained a cult following
Cult following
A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a specific area of pop culture. A film, book, band, or video game, among other things, will be said to have a cult following when it has a small but very passionate fan base...
.
Synopsis
AegisAegis
An aegis is a large collar or cape worn in ancient times to display the protection provided by a high religious authority or the holder of a protective shield signifying the same, such as a bag-like garment that contained a shield. Sometimes the garment and the shield are merged, with a small...
Oil operates Aegis 1, an oil refinery
Oil refinery
An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where crude oil is processed and refined into more useful petroleum products, such as gasoline, diesel fuel, asphalt base, heating oil, kerosene, and liquefied petroleum gas...
and several oil rigs in Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
. They purchased the oil rights from the local Eskimos twenty years ago, but will lose them if the refinery isn’t on-line by a certain deadline. With 13 days to go, and billions of dollars at stake, the company cuts corners and uses faulty equipment. Hugh Palmer, a rig foreman, is aware of this; as he predicts, his rig catches fire. It takes Forrest Taft (Seagal), a specialist in dealing with oil drilling-related fires, to extinguish the fire. Taft refuses to believe Hugh’s story of faulty equipment, but discovers that it’s true after accessing the company’s computer records. Michael Jennings (Michael Caine
Michael Caine
Sir Michael Caine, CBE is an English actor. He won Academy Awards for best supporting actor in both Hannah and Her Sisters and The Cider House Rules ....
), the ruthless CEO of Aegis, believes that Hugh's carelessness is to blame and arranges for him to be ‘dealt with’ by his henchmen MacGruder (John C. McGinley
John C. McGinley
John Christopher McGinley is an American actor, most notable for his roles as Perry Cox in Scrubs, Bob Slydell in Office Space, Sergeant Red O'Neill in Oliver Stone's Platoon and Marv in Stone's Wall Street. He has also written and produced for television and film...
) and Otto (Sven-Ole Thorsen
Sven-Ole Thorsen
Sven-Ole Thorsen is a Danish actor, stuntman, bodybuilder and strongman competitor. Sven won Denmark's Strongest Man in 1983....
).
Jennings is alerted to Taft's activities and orders that Taft be also removed. MacGruder and Otto torture and murder Palmer. Taft is set up for a trap by investigating a supposedly damaged pump station. He is badly wounded by an explosion, but survives and is rescued by Masu (Joan Chen
Joan Chen
Joan Chong Chen is a Chinese American actress, film director, screenwriter and film producer. She became famous in China for her performance in the 1979 film Little Flower and came to international attention for her performance in the 1987 Academy Award-winning film The Last Emperor...
), the daughter of Silook, the chief of her tribe.
MacGruder and Otto are unable to locate Taft's body, and Jennings assumes that he is still alive. Taft is being cared for by Silook's tribe. After unsuccessfully trying to leave, using a dogsled, Silook has Taft undergo a vision quest
Vision quest
A vision quest is a rite of passage in some Native American cultures.In many Native American groups, the vision quest is a turning point in life taken before puberty to find oneself and the intended spiritual and life direction. When an older child is ready, he or she will go on a personal,...
in which he sees the truth. When made to choose between two women, Taft opts for the elderly, clothed grandmother, forgoing the erotically-charged nude Eskimo
Eskimo
Eskimos or Inuit–Yupik peoples are indigenous peoples who have traditionally inhabited the circumpolar region from eastern Siberia , across Alaska , Canada, and Greenland....
seductress. The grandmother warns Taft that time is running out for those who pollute the world. Taft realizes that he has no choice but to see the refinery closed. He leaves, with MacGruder and Otto hot on his trail.
At Silook's village, they demand to know where Taft is. Silook refuses to give the information and is fatally shot by MacGruder. Jennings berates MacGruder for killing Silook. They bring in a group of New Orleans based mercenaries
Mercenary
A mercenary, is a person who takes part in an armed conflict based on the promise of material compensation rather than having a direct interest in, or a legal obligation to, the conflict itself. A non-conscript professional member of a regular army is not considered to be a mercenary although he...
led by Stone (R. Lee Ermey
R. Lee Ermey
Ronald Lee Ermey is a retired United States Marine Corps drill instructor and actor.Ermey has often played the roles of authority figures, such as his breakout performance as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in Full Metal Jacket, Mayor Tilman in the Alan Parker film Mississippi Burning, Bill Bowerman in...
) to finish off Taft before he can stop Aegis 1 from going on-line. They also have an FBI Anti-Terrorist Unit at the refinery.
Accompanied by Masu, Taft (who is probably ex-CIA and an expert on sabotage and demolition), collects weapons and explosives and manages to enter the refinery complex. MacGruder ( Who was killed by Taft by throwing him in the helicopter's propeller for killing Hugh and Silook), Otto and Jennings’ ruthlessly efficient female assistant Liles, are powerless to stop him and are all killed in various gruesome ways.
Taft and Masu confront Jennings and string him up, dropping him into the oil, effectively drowning him in his own wealth. A series of explosions destroy the rest of Aegis 1.
As an epilogue, Taft, far from being arrested for sabotage and multiple murders (self defense), is asked to deliver a speech at the Alaska State Capitol
Alaska State Capitol
The Alaska State Capitol is the state capital of Alaska. Located in the state capital of Juneau at the corner of East 4th Street and Main Street, it houses the Alaska Legislature and the offices for the governor of Alaska and lieutenant governor of Alaska....
about the dangers of oil pollution, and the companies that are endangering the ecosystem. This speech is reminiscent of Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
's monologue at the end of The Great Dictator
The Great Dictator
The Great Dictator is a comedy film by Charlie Chaplin released in October 1940. Like most Chaplin films, he wrote, produced, and directed, in addition to starring as the lead. Having been the only Hollywood film maker to continue to make silent films well into the period of sound films, this was...
. This speech at the end of the film is parodied in the South Park
South Park
South Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...
episode Over Logging
Over Logging
"Over Logging" is the sixth episode of the twelfth season of the animated series South Park, and the 173rd episode of the series overall. It originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on April 16, 2008...
. During the speech they show a scene of one of the first commercial hydrogen fuel cell systems developed by Perry Energy Systems.
Cast
- Steven SeagalSteven SeagalSteven Frederic Seagal is an American action film star, producer, writer, martial artist, guitarist and reserve deputy sheriff. A 7th-dan black belt in Aikido, Seagal began his adult life as an Aikido instructor in Japan...
as Forrest Taft - Michael CaineMichael CaineSir Michael Caine, CBE is an English actor. He won Academy Awards for best supporting actor in both Hannah and Her Sisters and The Cider House Rules ....
as Michael Jennings - Joan ChenJoan ChenJoan Chong Chen is a Chinese American actress, film director, screenwriter and film producer. She became famous in China for her performance in the 1979 film Little Flower and came to international attention for her performance in the 1987 Academy Award-winning film The Last Emperor...
as Masu - John C. McGinleyJohn C. McGinleyJohn Christopher McGinley is an American actor, most notable for his roles as Perry Cox in Scrubs, Bob Slydell in Office Space, Sergeant Red O'Neill in Oliver Stone's Platoon and Marv in Stone's Wall Street. He has also written and produced for television and film...
as MacGruder - R. Lee ErmeyR. Lee ErmeyRonald Lee Ermey is a retired United States Marine Corps drill instructor and actor.Ermey has often played the roles of authority figures, such as his breakout performance as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in Full Metal Jacket, Mayor Tilman in the Alan Parker film Mississippi Burning, Bill Bowerman in...
as Stone - Shari ShattuckShari ShattuckShari Shattuck is an American actress and author.Shattuck was born in Atlanta, Georgia. She was a longtime actress on The Young and the Restless, portraying the character Ashley Abbott...
as Liles - Billy Bob ThorntonBilly Bob ThorntonBilly Bob Thornton is an American actor, screenwriter, director and musician. Thornton gained early recognition as a cast member on the CBS sitcom Hearts Afire and in several early 1990s films including On Deadly Ground and Tombstone...
as Homer Carlton - Richard HamiltonRichard Hamilton (actor)Richard Hamilton was an American film, television, theater, and radio actor. He was raised in California, where he worked at the Pasadena Playhouse, before moving to Broadway. There, he performed in award-winning productions of Buried Child and Mornings at Seven...
as Hugh Palmer - Chief Irvin Brink as Silook
- Apanguluk Charlie Kairaiuak as Tunrak
- Elsie Pistolhead as Takanapsaluk
- John TrudellJohn TrudellJohn Trudell is a Native American-Mexican author, poet, actor, musician, and former political activist. He was the spokesperson for the United Indians of All Tribes' takeover of Alcatraz beginning in 1969, broadcasting as Radio Free Alcatraz...
as Johnny Redfeather - Mike StarrMike Starr (actor)Michael "Mike" Starr is an American actor. Starr is notable for his large size, standing 6 ft 3 1/2 in , and has typically been typecast as thugs or henchmen....
as Big Mike - Sven-Ole ThorsenSven-Ole ThorsenSven-Ole Thorsen is a Danish actor, stuntman, bodybuilder and strongman competitor. Sven won Denmark's Strongest Man in 1983....
as Otto (as Swen-Ole Thorsen) - Jules Desjarlais as Drunken Eskimo
Critical response
The film bears a 0% freshness rating on the review aggregate site Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
.
At the time of its release Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
and Gene Siskel
Gene Siskel
Eugene Kal "Gene" Siskel was an American film critic and journalist for the Chicago Tribune. Along with colleague Roger Ebert, he hosted the popular review show Siskel & Ebert At the Movies from 1975 until his death....
included the film in their "Worst of" list for 1994, singling out the melancholy tone of the film, and the quality of Seagal's dialogue. Ebert in particular singled out the speech by Seagal's character that concluded the film, which he saw as extraneous, and an example of the film's "egotistical vanity scenes", as well as its inaccuracies.
Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
film critic Leonard Klady referred to the film as "a vanity production parading as a social statement" and commented that the film seemingly borrowed heavily from the earlier film, Billy Jack
Billy Jack
Billy Jack is a 1971 action film. It is the second, and highest grossing, in a series of motion pictures centering on a character of the same name, played by Tom Laughlin who also directed and co-wrote the script. Filming began in Prescott, Arizona, in fall 1969, but the movie was not completed...
but opined that Seagal lacked "acting technique and the ability behind the camera to keep the story simple and direct" that Billy Jack star Tom Laughlin
Tom Laughlin
Tom Laughlin is an American actor, director, screenwriter, author, educator and political activist. Laughlin is best known for his series of Billy Jack films. He has been married to Delores Taylor since 1954. Taylor has also co-produced and acted in all four of the Billy Jack films...
, exhibited. Like Ebert, Klady also singled out the speech by Seagal's character at the end of the film.
Awards
On Deadly Ground was nominated for six Golden Raspberry AwardsGolden Raspberry Awards
A Golden Raspberry Award, or Razzie for short, is an award presented in recognition of the worst in movies. Founded by American copywriter and publicist John J.B. Wilson in 1981, the annual Razzie Awards ceremony in Los Angeles precedes the corresponding Academy Awards ceremony by one day...
, including Worst Picture, Worst Actor (Steven Seagal), Worst Actress (Joan Chen), Worst Screenplay and Worst Original Song ("Under the Same Sun"), with Seagal "winning" Worst Director.