Murphy's Law (1986)

Director:

J. Lee Thompson

Writer:

Gail Morgan Hickman (writer)

Release Date:

18 April 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Action

Tagline:

They set him up. He takes them down.

Plot:

An action-packed thriller starring Charles Bronson as Jack Murphy, a cop who is running to stay alive long enough to even the score with his wife's killer.

Plot Keywords:

Police | Stalking | Knee In Groin | Elevator Shaft | Stalker

Cast

Charles Bronson	...	Jack Murphy
Kathleen Wilhoite	...	Arabella McGee
Carrie Snodgress	...	Joan Freeman
Robert F. Lyons	...	Art Penney
Richard Romanus	...	Frank Vincenzo
Angel Tompkins	...	Jan
Bill Henderson	...	Ben Wilcove
James Luisi	...	Ed Reineke
Clifford A. Pellow	...	Lt. Nachman
Janet MacLachlan	...	Dr. Lovell
Lawrence Tierney	...	Cameron
Jerome Thor	...	Judge Kellerman
Mischa Hausserman	...	Det. Dave Manzarek
Cal Haynes	...	Reese
Hans Howes	...	Santana

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (TVC)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

Singapore:M18 | Australia:R | Iceland:16 | West Germany:16 (f) | New Zealand:R16 | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | Norway:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Bradbury Building - 304 S. Broadway, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Golan-Globus Productions

Quotes:

Arabella McGee: You're welcome, dildo-nose.

Movie Connections:

References "Airwolf" (1984)

"Don't f*** with Jack Murphy!"

"Murphy's Law" was a refreshing change-of-pace for Charlie, not that it gives him less scenes to kick criminals around, and blow them away in cold blood, but it has a great flair of comedy and introduces the legendary superstar to the run-from-everybody-and-prove-your-innocence formula that was created by Hitchcock in the 1930's. The scenes between Bronson and Kathleen Wilhoite are fun to watch (exactly HOW many words of insult does Wilhoite come up with in this movie?) and Carrie Snodgress is downright scary as a female psycho. Her opening scene with B-movie-star legend Lawrence Tierney is chilling. To top it all of Bronson get to deliver a reeeaaally cool line before he blows away one of the bad-guys at the end. Nobody says the F-word like Charles Bronson, that's for sure.

Only one quibble: the score (the songs not included). It's like the composer walked out on the project and they had to do with some low budget prerecorded stuff. It's just awful how the music sometimes just seem to loop for two minutes and then tone down in a second when a phone rings, or a line is spoken. I hope someone was fired for this.

But asides from the soundtrack this really is one of Charles Bronson's best of the 1980's, together with "The Evil That Men Do" and "Death Hunt". If you're not a fan of Bronson I guess that's not saying much, but if you DO like him you can not miss "Murphy's Law"!