Phoenix (film)

Phoenix
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Danny Cannon
Produced by	Victoria Nevinny Tracie Graham Rice
Written by	Eddie Richey
Starring	Ray Liotta Anjelica Huston Anthony LaPaglia
Music by	Graeme Revell
Cinematography	James L. Carter
Editing by	Zach Staenberg
Distributed by	Trimark Pictures
Release date(s)	September 4, 1998
Running time	113 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
IMDb profile

Phoenix is an American crime film directed by Briton Danny Cannon in 1998. Karl Williams, writing for the All Movie Guide, describes ‘Phoenix’ as a “noir crime drama set in Arizona and updated for post-modern sensibilities is similar in tone to other hip B-movie homages such as Bad Lieutenant (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994) and the previous year's award winning L.A. Confidential (1997)”.

Plot

Unlike many of his Phoenix police detective partners, Harry Collins (Ray Liotta) is a good cop and, despite his very idiosyncratic value system, a decent man. However his compulsive gambling has got him heavily in debt to a gangster bookie (Tom Noonan). Refusing to welsh on a bet, and with only 48 hours to pay his debt, Harry is offered a deal: murder Joey, a young prisoner (Giovanni Ribisi) who may provide the police with information about the bookie, and the debt will be written off. Harry can not contemplate such action and prefers to offer Joey some potentially life-saving advice: “You never rat out anyone… It doesn't pay in the long run”. When Harry's corrupt partner Mike (Anthony LaPaglia) finds out his predicament he volunteers to kill the bookie but Harry dismisses the offer saying he’ll “never betray a friend”. Instead, Harry comes up with a plan to rob Louie the loan shark (Giancarlo Esposito), who stashes a large amount of money in the safe in his strip club. To pull this off Harry needs the help of Mike and two other corrupt and brutal cops, James (Daniel Baldwin) and Fred (Jeremy Piven), busily engaged in moonlighting for Louie. A budding relationship with Leila, his understanding barmaid (Anjelica Huston), promises Harry a new beginning a long way from Phoenix after he completes the hold up. All does not go according to plan.

Cast

Soundtrack

• "Ama" (Written by Daniel Riddle & David Parks) performed by Hitting Birth
• "11 O'Clock" (Mark Sandman) by Morphine
• "Dogs of Lust (Germicide Mix)" (Matt Johnson) by The The
• "K. C. " (Guy Davis, Marc Olson & Mike Williamson) by Sage
• "Terrified" (Hubert Clifford) by Hubert Clifford
• "Tragedy" (Clive Richardson) by Clive Richardson
• "Mas y Mas" (David Hidalgo & Louis Perez) by Los Lobos
• "Terraplane Blues" (Robert Johnson) by Robert Johnson
• "Untitled #1" (Josh Haden) by Spain
• "I Can't Win" (Leonard Johnson, Dave Richardson & Cliff Knight) by Ry Cooder
• "From Four Until Late" (Robert Johnson) by Robert Johnson
• "Until Tomorrow" (Graeme Revell, Danny Cannon & Gail Ann Dorsey) by Gail Ann Dorsey

Reception

Lawrence Van Gelder, writing in the New York Times, argued that “character and conversation outweigh momentum and suspense in 'Phoenix' but a gifted cast, led by Ray Liotta, who was a co-producer of this story of corrupt police detectives in Arizona, splashes alluring color across its familiar noir”. ^[1]. Kevin Thomas of the L.A. Times described the film as “a terrific neo-noir”. The writer, director “and a gifted cast and crew bring to their genre piece a surprising freshness”. Thomas praises cinematographer James L. Carter who gave ‘Phoenix’ “a classic shadowy noir look even though the film is in color”. However, the film was “not merely a matter of shrewd craftsmanship but a suddenly widening and deepening moral perspective that is expressed through Liotta's beautifully sustained, endlessly revealing portrayal of a Phoenix policeman, undone by compulsive gambling, yet clinging to his own code of honor”. Moreover, in Anjelica Huston, the film-makers came up with “the definitive noir woman for their leading lady" someone "who knows she can communicate world-weariness with a shrug or a lifted eyebrow and doesn't push it”. ^[2].

References