Taglines: This is one case that’s going to be settled out of court.
Ricochet movie storyline. In this action thriller, Denzel Washington plays Nick Styles, the assistant district attorney of L.A. The film opens in his early days as a cop on the L.A.P.D. During a carnival, master criminal Earl Talbot Blake creates a scene after a botched drug deal.
Styles and Blake confront each other, during which Blake is wounded by Styles and later sent to prison. Seven years later, Blake escapes from prison during a parole board hearing to carry out his revenge against Styles, and what follows is a violent series of events that destroys Styles’ career. This sets the stage for one last bloody duel between Styles and Blake.
Ricochet is a 1991 American crime thriller film, directed by Russell Mulcahy and starring Denzel Washington, John Lithgow, Ice-T, Kevin Pollak, and Lindsay Wagner. The film details a struggle between a Los Angeles attorney (Washington) and a vengeful criminal (Lithgow) he arrested and caused to be convicted when he was previously a cop.
Reportedly, violent scenes in the film were heavily cut down following the test screenings. According to interview with director Russell Mulcahy, in one of the scenes that were cut out Blake physically abuses Styles until Styles pukes out and Blake gets a sponge to clean him up. This is why Styles has vomit on him when he is found in the streets. Uncut version of the film was never released.
About the Story
In 1983, rookie Los Angeles police officer and law student Nicholas Styles (Denzel Washington) meets his future wife Alice (Victoria Dillard). He drifts away from his childhood friend Odessa (Ice-T), who is drifting into a life of crime in South Central Los Angeles. Styles and his partner Larry Doyle (Kevin Pollak) patrol a carnival, where they encounter hitman Earl Talbot Blake (John Lithgow) and his servile accomplice Kim (Josh Evans).
Styles catches Blake at gunpoint and is forced into a standoff when Blake takes a hostage. After stripping his equipment and uniform off, Styles uses a hidden gun in his athletic supporter, shooting Blake in the knee and subduing him. The incident is caught by an amateur videographer and is shown on television, making Styles a hero. He and Doyle are subsequently promoted to Detective, while Blake is sent to prison.
Eight years later, Styles has moved on to be an Assistant District Attorney, is married to Alice, and has two daughters. At the same time, Blake has degenerated into further violence fighting against the Aryan Brotherhood. He also strikes a deal with the leader of the gang to plot an escape. Having been incarcerated with Blake, Kim is paroled and plans to assist in Blake’s escape and revenge. Blake and the AB members stage a violent prison escape during a parole hearing, which only Blake and the AB leader survive. Blake murders the gang leader and burns his corpse.
Styles finds Odessa, who has become a major drug-dealer in the neighborhood. Blake and Kim later kill the city councilman, staging his death to appear as a suicide. Styles is abducted by Blake and Kim outside his home and is held hostage in an empty swimming pool for several days. Blake and Kim regularly inject Styles with heroin and cocaine while engaging in arm wrestling. Blake hires a blonde white female prostitute Wanda (Linda Dona) to have sex with Styles.
As she stripes naked, Wanda ignores Styles’ weak objections and proceeds to rape him as Blake records the incident on video. After Blake and Kim deposit Styles’ unconscious body on the steps of City Hall, Alice overhears Styles’ phone conservation and thinks he cheated on her with a prostitute. Styles witnesses a video of Blake going up to his daughters’ room and holding a hatchet over them just before the tape cuts out.
Terrified and enraged, Styles heads to the park, sees a black-clad figure who is a clown, and holds him at gunpoint. After the tape has been substituted with the video recording of Styles’ rape, he vehemently protests his innocence and Blake’s complicity to District Attorney Priscilla Brimleigh (Lindsay Wagner), who suspends Styles. After receiving evidence of Blake’s obsession, Styles and Doyle go to the bookstore that night, and Styles beats information out of the owner. Blake ambushes Doyle, fatally wounds him in the alley, and escapes.
Ricochet (1991)
Directed by: Russell Mulcahy
Starring: Denzel Washington, John Lithgow, Ice-T, Kevin Pollak, Lindsay Wagner, Mary Ellen Trainor, Josh Evans, Victoria Dillard, John Amos, Linda Dona, Starletta DuPois
Screenplay by: Fred Dekker, Menno Meyjes, Steven E. de Souza
Production Design by: Jaymes Hinkle
Cinematography by: Peter Levy
Film Editing by: Peter Honess
Costume Design by: Marilyn Vance
Set Decoration by: Richard C. Goddard, Sam Gross
Art Direction by: Christiaan Wagener
Music by: Alan Silvestri
MPAA Rating: R for strong violence and sensuality, and for language and drug content.
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: October 4, 1991
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