City of Industry (1997)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

John Irvin

Writer (WGA):

Ken Solarz (written by)

Release Date:

14 May 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Wanting a man dead can be reason enough to live.

Plot:

A retired thief swears revenge on the lunatic who murdered his brother and partner, while going on the run with the loot they stole.

Plot Keywords:

Revenge | Heist | Los Angeles California | Neo Noir | Female Nudity

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Harvey Keitel	...	Roy Egan
Stephen Dorff	...	Skip Kovich
Timothy Hutton	...	Lee Egan
Famke Janssen	...	Rachel Montana
Wade Dominguez	...	Jorge Montana
Michael Jai White	...	Odell Williams
Lucy Liu	...	Cathi Rose (as Lucy Alexis Liu)
Reno Wilson	...	Keshaun Brown
Dana Barron	...	Gena
Tamara Clatterbuck	...	Sunny
Brian Brophy	...	Backus
François Chau	...	Uncle Luke
Flex Alexander	...	A Roc (as Flex)
Brian Shen	...	Pai-Gow Dealer
Ai Wan	...	Gwen

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:16 | New Zealand:R18 | Netherlands:16 | Australia:MA | Finland:K-16 (video premiere) | Germany:16 | Portugal:M/16 (video premiere) | Spain:18 | UK:18 | USA:R | France:-12

Filming Locations:

Angelino Heights, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Largo Entertainment

Trivia:

The line, "I'm my own police," spoken by Roy, is taken directly from _This Gun For Hire (1942)_.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: Port Arthur, TX, is an inland swamp city. There are no white sandy beaches with 30' cliffs, and none of the thick-bladed grass found on California beaches, as shown in the final scene. It doesn't even face the Gulf of Mexico, so there's not even any surf. Just a shallow muddy lake.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003)

Soundtrack:

LAST NIGHT

A great movie with a fantastic soundtrack

This is one of my favorite movies - great film noir and certain to have a cult following. I saw it because I am always fascinated with the characters Harvey Keitel plays - he brings an emotional and physical intensity to his roles that is unequaled. Here he is outstanding as Roy Egan- an experienced, complicated thief who never says much. He is convinced by his brother Lee to rob a jewelry store ( when is Harvey going to learn not to rob jewelry stores?) They are joined by Lee's friends Jorge and Skip - these are four macho guys who we care about because they care about each other - except Skip who doesn't seem to care about anything. When the heist goes bad, Roy spends the rest of the movie hunting down the guy who betrayed him. There is a scene when Roy is alone in a hotel room and begins to pound a table - even though he says nothing, we can feel his fury and frustration building - this is Keitel at his best. All the acting in this movie is great - the four male leads are well- cast and work well together, and Jorge's wife Rachel is sympathetic as a young mother who wants to do what's best for her kids. Elliot Gould has a small part as a loan shark and Lucy Liu shows up briefly as an exotic dancer. The locations are interesting - this is the true dark side of L.A., and the ending - though violent- is satisfying and stays with you. This movie also has one of the best soundtracks I've heard. City of Industry will grab you and pull you in at the opening credits and not let you go until the very end.