Marked for Death

Marked for Death is a 1990 American action film directed by Dwight H. Little. The film stars Steven Seagal as John Hatcher, a former DEA troubleshooter who returns to his Illinois hometown to find it taken over by a posse of vicious Jamaican drug dealers led by Screwface. Using a combination of fear and Obeah, a Jamaican syncretic religion of West African and Caribbean origin similar to Haitian vodou and Santería, Screwface rules the drug trade in Lincoln Heights.

Marked for Death
Theatrical release poster
Directed byDwight H. Little
Written by
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyRic Waite
Edited byO. Nicholas Brown
Music byJames Newton Howard
Production
company
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release date
  • October 5, 1990 (1990-10-05)
Running time
93 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$12 million[2]
Box office$58 million[3]

Plot

John Hatcher and his partner pursue Hector on foot. Later, at a drug deal, Hector is revealed to have blown John's cover and his partner is killed. He returns home and demands a vacation. He visits his friend Max Keller, who is disturbed to see Jamaican drug dealers, known as Posse, hanging around the school where he works. Later at a bar, they see the dealers again, and a gunfight breaks out. John manages to assist in arresting one of the Jamaicans and a responding FBI agent asks him to join the case; he refuses. At the scene, a detective finds a symbol which an expert named Leslie reveals to be a religious icon to mark the crimes of a man called Screwface.

Screwface sends some men to do a drive-by at John's sister's house (where he is staying); they wound his niece Melissa. John interrogates a gangster he saw in the club shootout called Jimmy Fingers, but he refuses to help and John is forced to kill him. One of Screwface's men, who is Jimmy's accomplice, arrives and only gives a small clue on Screwface before defenestrating. Upon returning to his sister's house, John finds the same symbol on a rug along with a cow tongue and black cross nailed to the door. Leslie informs him that such symbols mark the person for death. John demands that the FBI provide protection for his family.

During a call with his sister, she is attacked again by Screwface's men in an attempt to ritually sacrifice her. John rushes and arrives in time as Screwface flees. John enlists Max's help to go after the gang and try to find Screwface, trailing some of his gang in a park and engage in a chase ending in a high-end store. John and Max kill several of them but do not learn anything about Screwface. However, Screwface manages to ambush John that night, trapping his car between two construction vehicles and burning it with a molotov cocktail, but John escapes.

A Jamaican detective working with the FBI on Screwface's crimes reaches out to John and Max and offers his help. Together they acquire new weapons and go to Jamaica, where Screwface is thought to have fled. With the help of a former girlfriend of his, they presumably get an address and a clue: she says that Screwface has two heads and four eyes. The three descend on Screwface's complex during a party one evening. John uses an explosive device to distract the guards and cut the power; Max and Charles gun them down while John infiltrates the house. He is captured and prepared for a ritual sacrifice by Screwface but escapes his bonds and manages to behead Screwface in a swordfight.

They return to Chicago and present Screwface's head and sword to the remaining loyal gang members in order to blackmail them, but Screwface surprisingly appears and a gunfight erupts, killing Charles. Max covers John's chase of Screwface, who turns out to be a twin brother and was responsible for all the Posse crimes in the United States. John manages to blind Screwface and throw him down an elevator shaft, where his gang sees his body impaled on a spike. John carries out Charles' body as he and Max leave.

Cast

Production

Steven Seagal had wanted to hire director Dwight Little for his second feature, Hard to Kill, but studio Warner Bros. vetoed his choice, and went with Bruce Malmuth instead. According to Little, Seagal had the option in his contract with Warner to do one film with another studio. Seagal chose to exercise that option and make his third film at 20th Century Fox, where he demanded that they hire Little for Marked for Death. "I got that job only because Steven insisted," said Little.[4] During production, the studio was pushing for more humor in the film, but Little and Seagal had made a pact to resist these attempts. Their template for the film was The French Connection.[4]

On the third day of shooting Marked for Death, Hard to Kill came out in theaters. Dwight Little: "It opened huge, and it stayed on top for a while. No one, including Steven, thought that was going to be success. But it was. Frankly, just based on his charisma and a couple of good action scenes. I was downtown shooting a scene for Marked for Death when suddenly I see all these limos and towncars coming to the set. They were all CAA-agents and producers, coming out of the woodwork to see the next big action guy. They all wanted to talk to him."[4]

Of Seagal's martial arts, Little said: "Steven is the only guy who does what he does in the movies, where you let your opponent's energy go past you. In that respect, he's totally unique. But it's not a forward, high kicking, punching thing. That's why I felt I needed action movie stuff, like car chases, gun fights, explosions and some old fashioned cop stuff. Because if we tried to string together a bunch of Steven's fights, they will quickly start to feel the same."[4]

Music
Main article: Marked for Death (soundtrack)

A soundtrack containing hip hop, reggae, and R&B music was released on September 27, 1990 by Delicious Vinyl.

Reception

Box office

Marked for Death opened at number one at the U.S. box office with an opening weekend gross of $11,790,047,[3] making it Seagal's second straight film to open #1. It remained at #1 for 3 weekends.[3] It earned a little more than $46 million domestically and $58 million worldwide.[5][6][7]

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 27% of 11 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 4/10.[8] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[9] Both The New York Times and The Washington Post gave it a thumbs up, writing that it was another solid Seagal action film.[10][11] In a less than favorable response from Entertainment Weekly, they wrote that the film is partially "undone by murky cinematography".[12] The Chicago Tribune was very critical of the film.[13]

References
  1. Fox, David J. (1990-10-16). "Fighting Words : Movie: The writers of 'Marked for Death' and Steven Seagal are still feuding over script credit". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-11-25.
  2. Rohter, Larry (1990-10-23). "COMPANY NEWS; Small Budget, Small Star, Big Hit". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-12-14.
  3. Marked for Death at Box Office Mojo
  4. "Dwight Little interview". THE FLASHBACK FILES. Retrieved 2021-05-23.
  5. Broeske, Pat H. (1990-10-15). "Seagal's Martial Arts Film Still Has a Punch". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-11-25.
  6. "Steven Seagal Wants His Oscar". Los Angeles Times. 1990-10-14. Retrieved 2010-11-25.
  7. Broeske, Pat H. (1990-10-22). "Seagal Keeps 'Death' Hold on Box Office". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-12-28.
  8. "Marked for Death (1990)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2020-11-10.
  9. "CinemaScore". cinemascore.com.
  10. Janet Maslin, Marked for Death (1990), The New York Times, October 6, 1990, Accessed January 13, 2011.
  11. Richard Harrington, ‘Marked for Death’, Washington Post, October 1990, Accessed January 13, 2011.
  12. "Marked for Death". Entertainment Weekly. 1994-07-15. Archived from the original on 2009-04-21. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
  13. "'Death' Marked By Stereotypes". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
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