Marked for Death

Marked for Death
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Dwight H. Little
Produced by	Michael Grais Steven Seagal Mark Victor
Written by	Michael Grais Mark Victor
Starring	Steven Seagal Basil Wallace Keith David Tom Wright Joanna Pacuła Elizabeth Gracen Bette Ford[1]
Music by	James Newton Howard
Cinematography	Ric Waite
Editing by	O. Nicholas Brown
Studio	Steamroller Productions
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	October 5, 1990 (1990-10-05)
Running time	93 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	Estimated: $12,000,000[2]
Box office	Domestic: $46,044,396 Worldwide: $57,000,000

Marked for Death is a 1990 action film directed by Dwight H. Little. It stars Steven Seagal as John Hatcher, a former DEA troubleshooter. Upon moving back to his home town, Hatcher finds it taken over by a gang of vicious Jamaican drug dealers, led by Screwface.

The film is widely considered by fans and critics alike to be one of Seagal's very best films (alongside Under Siege and Above the Law), due to the fight scenes integrating heavy elements of aikido, as well as use of weapons and arm dislocations. Seagal supposedly studied Obeah, a West Indian term for black magic rituals in depth to make the film.

Plot

Chicago DEA agent John Hatcher (Seagal) has just returned from Colombia, where his partner Chico (Richard Delmonte) was killed in a confrontation with drug dealers, and John killed the dealers who killed Chico. As a result of Chico's death, John has decided to retire.

One night, John and his friend Max (David), a local high school football team's head coach, go to a bar. A gun fight breaks out between local drug dealers and a Jamaican gang called the Jamaican Posse, whose leader is a drug kingpin known as Screwface (Basil Wallace). Hatcher arrests one of Screwface's henchmen as the gunfight ends.

The next day, Screwface and some of his henchmen get revenge by shooting up the house that John, his sister Melissa (Gracen), and Melissa's 12-year-old daughter Tracy (Harris) live in. Tracy gets shot and is hospitalized in critical condition.

Hatcher encounters a gangster named Jimmy Fingers (DiBenedetto) and unsuccessfully tries to get him to tell him where Screwface might be and is forced to kill him. Another Jamaican named Nesta (Evans) arrives and Hatcher is able to sit him down but Nesta tells him to go after Screwface alone and jumps out the window to his death. John finds the blood symbol used by the Posse during the murders vandalized on a carpet the next day and gets information about it from a Jamaican voodoo and gang expert named Leslie (Pacula) who works part time as a detective.

Hatcher comes out of retirement to join Max in a battle against Screwface. While John is in the detective's store, Melissa makes a phone call to him but is cut short when Screwface and his men invade into Hatcher's home and and attempts to murder Melissa but they leave upon Hatcher's arrival.

The next day, Hatcher and Max get into a fight with three of Screwface's henchmen during a car chase. The fight moves on to a mall after the henchmen's car crashes and the duo kill all three men there. At the house of Leslie, Hatcher now realizes that the only way to stop the Jamaican Posse is to bring down Screwface.

The two team up with Charles (Wright), a Jamaican Chicago police officer who has been trailing Screwface for five years. They gather all the weaponry they need from a local weapon dealer; machine guns, pistols, remote control bombs and head for Kingston, Jamaica to find Screwface. Upon their arrival, Max and Charles ask everyone in the streets for the location of Screwface's hideout. They meet a local Jamaican who presents them a photo of a woman who knows Screwface. Hatcher meets her in a club and she gives the address of Screwface's mansion.

At night, Hatcher, Max and Charles (disguised as a Posse) head for Screwface's mansion where there is a party. They secretly infiltrate the premises through a plantation area nearby. Hatcher shoots down three of the henchmen at the balcony and goes to a nearby power station and plants a bomb. He infiltrates the inner grounds by climbing on the roofs while Max and Charles monitor the activities. Hatcher detonates the bomb and party erupts in mayhem and gunfire. Hatcher enters the building and disposes every henchmen. He finds a sacrificial area and is captured by Screwface and his remaining henchmen. Hatcher is able to break free and kills every henchmen before fighting Screwface. During the swordfight, he kicks dust to Screwface and puts the sword to Screwface's penis and decapitates him.

Back in Chicago, Hatcher displays Screwface's severed head to the Jamaican Posse to get them to leave town. However, Screwface's identical twin brother, who runs the Posse crime business and actually committed all the Screwfaces in Chicago, arrives and kills Charles making the gang and the audience believe that Screwface returned from the dead. The meeting erupts into chaos and the gang open fire on the duo. While Max holds off the henchmen in the gunfight, Hatcher kills more gang members before dealing with Screwface's brother in a swordfight. The fight moves to the nightclub where Hatcher kills Screwface's brother by gouging his eyes and blinding him, breaking his back and dropping him down an elevator shaft, in which he gets impaled upon landing. The gang looks at their dead boss and with both the Screwfaces dead are presumed to be arrested at the film's ending.

The final scene shows Hatcher carrying Charles' body with Max limping next to him who was shot in the leg before the film ends with Jimmy Cliff's John Crow in the credits.

Cast

• Steven Seagal as John Hatcher
• Basil Wallace as Screwface
• Keith David as Max
• Tom Wright as Charles
• Joanna Pacuła as Leslie
• Elizabeth Gracen as Melissa
• Danielle Harris as Tracey
• Al Israel as Tito Barco
• Arlen Dean Snyder as Duvall
• Victor Romero Evans as Nesta
• Michael Ralph as Money
• Danny Trejo as Hector

Reception

Critical reaction

The movie had a mixed reception.^[3] Both The New York Times and Washington Post gave it average reviews, noting that it was a fairly standard Seagal action film.^[4][5]

Box office

Marked For Death was considered a box office success, earning a little more than $43 million domestically and $57 million worldwide.^{[6] [7][8]}

Soundtrack

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.

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.". The Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/1990-10-16/entertainment/ca-2619_1_steven-seagal. Retrieved 2010-11-25. 
2. ^ Rohter, Larry (1990-10-23). "COMPANY NEWS; Small Budget, Small Star, Big Hit". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1990/10/23/business/company-news-small-budget-small-star-big-hit.html. Retrieved 2010-12-14. 
3. ^ "Marked for Death". Entertainment Weekly. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20208655,00.html. Retrieved 2010-12-07. 
4. ^ Janet Maslin, Marked for Death (1990), The New York Times, October 6, 1990, Accessed January 13, 2011.
5. ^ Richard Harrington, ‘Marked for Death’, Washington Post, October , 1990, Accessed January 13, 2011.
6. ^ Broeske, Pat H. (1990-10-15). "Seagal's Martial Arts Film Still Has a Punch". The Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/1990-10-15/entertainment/ca-2094_1_martial-arts-film. Retrieved 2010-11-25. 
7. ^ "Steven Seagal Wants His Oscar". The Los Angeles Times. 1990-10-14. http://articles.latimes.com/1990-10-14/entertainment/ca-3282_1_steven-seagal. Retrieved 2010-11-25. 
8. ^ Broeske, Pat H. (1990-10-22). "Seagal Keeps 'Death' Hold on Box Office". The Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/1990-10-22/entertainment/ca-2441_1_box-office. Retrieved 2010-12-28. 

External links

• Marked for Death at the Internet Movie Database
• Marked for Death at Rotten Tomatoes