Taglines: It’s a day he’ll never forget… until tomorrow.
Clean Slate movie storyline. Maurice Pogue has retrograde amnesia, a form of amnesia that prevents him from remembering anything that happened to him the day before. He realizes from a recording he made for himself the previous night (Sunday) – to keep himself in the know – that he’s a private investigator in Los Angeles, and acquired the condition after being injured during a case. Pogue tells himself not to reveal his condition to anyone, as he’s the key witness in the case against the man responsible for his amnesia.
Appearing on the recording is a strange woman, Sarah Novak, who informs him she has been living under the alias Beth Holly in San Francisco, and she has come to L.A. because she is being blackmailed. The police then come to Pogue’s office, and take him to what turns out to be his birthday party. He tells his friend Dolby that he’s seen Sarah, and learns from Dolby that Sarah is dead. While at the party, Pogue also meets Anthony Doover, his doctor – the only person who knows of Pogue’s condition.
Two henchmen take him from the party to meet Philip Cornell, the man Pogue is to testify against. Cornell offers Pogue a large sum of money to deny witnessing Cornell’s involvement in the crime. On re-examining his files at the office, Pogue learns that Sarah was once Cornell’s lover, who decided to testify against Cornell lest he kill her because of her knowledge of his illegal activities. Sarah hired Pogue to protect her but was killed by a car bomb, the same bomb that caused his amnesia.
That night, Pogue meets Sarah at a fashion show she’s modeling in. She tells him the girl that was killed in the explosion was a double, and that someone’s threatening to tell Cornell she’s still alive. Sarah also tells Pogue about a valuable coin Cornell stole from the L.A. County Museum, which she in turn stole from him. Sarah tells Pogue that she gave him the coin the morning before the explosion; Pogue cannot remember. The only clue the two have about the coin’s location is one word Pogue said when Sarah gave it to him: “Baby”.
The next morning, Pogue has forgotten everything again. Cornell shows up to his office to get Pogue’s sworn statement but Pogue, mistaking Cornell for his landlord, gives him a check for rent. Pogue tries throughout the day to figure out where the coin is but doesn’t find any answers. Later on, he meets with Sarah; she stays at his place for the night and they make love.
Pogue wakes up the following day remembering everything from the day before. Through learning his dog is Baby, he recalls that he hid the coin in its collar. He takes Sarah to a pay phone to call the people who are blackmailing her; Pogue notices that her handwriting is not the same as on the note the coin was wrapped in.
Clean Slate is a 1994 American comedy film directed by Mick Jackson. The film stars Dana Carvey as a private investigator who is the key witness in a murder case. After suffering a head injury however, he has developed a rare form of amnesia that causes him to forget anything that happened to him the previous day, which makes it hard for him to know whom to trust, or if he even knows them at all. Valeria Golino, Michael Gambon, James Earl Jones, Bryan Cranston, and Kevin Pollak co-star.
Clean Slate (1994)
Directed by: Mick Jackson
Starring: Dana Carvey, Valeria Golino, James Earl Jones, Kevin Pollak, Michael Murphy, Michael Gambon, Michael Murphy, Jayne Brook, Olivia d’Abo, Angela Paton
Screenplay by: Robert King
Production Design by: Norman Reynolds
Cinematography by: Andrew Dunn
Film Editing by: Priscilla Nedd-Friendly
Costume Design by: Ruth Myers
Set Decoration by: Anne Kuljian
Art Direction by: William Hiney
Music by: Alan Silvestri
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for language.
Distributed by: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release Date: May 6, 1994
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