El guardaespaldas

After keeping the secret safe for 30 odd years I finally let it slip to my fiancée that I hadn't seen this.

So that ended up being my Sunday afternoon.

I am pleased to say that this is actually pretty good.

In some ways not an awful lot happens in this (like a lot of 90's movies) but the characters are engaging and the story is lean and holds it all together without getting too complicated.

I was surprised that there was some action, Kevin does a few roly-poly's through windows and there are some fisty-cuffs but this is mostly romance with a dash of suspense.

It is strange seeing something for the first time that is firmly ingrained into pop-culture.

After seeing poor old Whitney dragged out for public appearances in the last stages of her life it was startling to see her in her full, magnificent glory.

The "I will always love you" moment was ever-present in my mind like a shark circling a life raft.

But when it came it was still pretty impactful.

This has three special effects in it and two of them are really bad by todays standard - but mostly I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed this and I think it stands up.

Bodyguard (1992)

Plot In A Paragraph: Frank Farmer (KC) a former Secret Service agent takes on the job of bodyguard to a singing superstar Rachel Marron (Whitney Houston)

Whilst I do not rate The Bodyguard as high as some people do. It is an enjoyable movie, I happen to have watched it a lot in recent years, and I always like it, but I can go years without feeling the need to revisit it.

It is hard to say what I don't like, as it's nothing in particular, I just find the directing a bit flat, and at times the actors are poorly framed. I remember I loved it when it was released, but by the time I watched it again on video, my opinion if it, had dropped considerably.

The soundtrack is very effective, all the new songs are catchy and for the second year in a row, the single to a KC movie dominates the charts. I knew the song I Will Always Love You from the Burt Reynolds/Dolly Parton movie The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas. And whilst I still call it a Dolly Parton song, I know many call it a Whitney Houston one, and think of her version as the definitive one.

Of the cast, in her first movie Houston is very good. I'm surprised she didn't make more movies (she only made 4 more) as the talent was there. It's another less is more performance from KC, similar to his performance in The Untouchables, but it's still effective here, and he has some good, witty lines. All the supporting cast are fine too.

The film had to undergo some hasty re-cutting when test audiences hated the original ending with Farmer dying after saving Marron. I remember KC saying in an interview, that he didn't even understand the new ending to the movie.

Sadly for me the tacked on happier ending ruins things a bit!! As Farmer is clearly shot in the chest and gut at Oscars, but he turns up at the airport with his arm in a sling.

It was another $100 million plus grosser for KC as The Bodyguard finished the year the 7th highest grossing movie of 1992, with a domestic gross of $121 million.

8/10 for this reviewer.

Despite a few dumb twists, The Bodyguard is a really good romantic drama. Kevin Costner is great in the lead role and Whitney Houston is really good in her debut role and they have good chemistry. It's well paced, well filmed and Mick Jackson's direction is good. The music by Alan Silvestri is really good and the soundtrack is excellent.

Frank Farmer is a top line bodyguard, formerly secret service protector to President Reagan, he is approached to guard Rachel Marron, the latest pop sensation on the cusp of Hollywood domination. After initially being reluctant to take the job, Farmer gets to the task of protecting Rachel from a potential maniac who's been sending her threatening letters. As the initial in camp hostilities die down, Frank & Rachel start to draw ever closer, but so does the person who wants her dead...

The Bodyguard is one of those films that was long in gestation, originally mooted in 1976 to star Steve McQueen (it was written with McQueen in mind in the 60s) and Diana Ross, it was put on the back burner after McQueen fell ill to the cancer that killed him. Then it resurfaced in 1979 with Diana Ross to play opposite Ryan O'Neal, but the two stars just couldn't get on and the project again fell by the wayside. Enter Kevin Costner and his boys at TIG Productions, original choice to star alongside Costner, Maddona, ruined her chance (thankfully) of starring after being a bitch to Costner in her Truth Or Dare documentary. In stepped Whitney Houston (brilliantly diva casting), Costner gave himself a crew cut (in homage to McQueen) and The Bodyguard went on to make $410,900,000 worldwide.

The film now seems like a myth to me because the rating across many forums is on the low side, critics hate it and you will be hard pressed to find macho film fans readily about to own up to liking the picture. That's a shame because as undeniably nonsense as it is, it has got a great thriller heart to blend in with its romantic core. The good ship Bodyguard may dock at all the formula ports in the genres, but it's one hell of a journey getting to the end, even with that song that seemed to top the charts for years! (the soundtrack to the movie selling 17 million in America alone).

In spite of the obviousness of the plot, and the general feeling of familiarity, The Bodyguard has much going for it, things that ensured it became a monster hit and had cinema goers queueing round the block to see it. Houston is something of a revelation, here she nails the diva bitch heart of gold portrayal of Rachel with astonishing ease, and couple that with a voice sent from some deity paradise far away, makes her total value for money. Costner also stepped up to the plate to win a new breed of fans as Farmer, his charm and laid back manner works well with a ruggedness that the male viewers could easily get on side with. The rest of the cast are merely playing second fiddle to the well matched up leads, and outside of Gary Kemp becoming increasingly annoying as the film progresses, they all blend in well to create what is now a sadly undervalued picture.

See it with someone you love, don't just take my word for it, look at the box office take, it doesn't lie. 7/10

The Bodyguard is a movie with many flows and one redeeming factor: the WH factor. People went to see this picture because they wanted to see Whitney singing and she delivered some of her most passionate vocal performances before the mesmerised eyes of her millions of fans on the big screen. Let's face it, who wants to see her acting when she can sing so beautifully?

The unrelenting criticism by couch 'drama experts' of her acting seems a tad over the top. She never claimed to be an actress and despite this being her film debut, she did not disgrace herself. She did the best she could with what she was given: a patchy character with very little to say. What else could she do to play this role? Well, just what she did, sing her heart out.

The best thing that Kevin Costner did was to insist that Whitney was the only one he wanted for this part. He knew he had a winner, but he also tried to do too much with the story: a romantic thriller with patches of 'comedy', a study in professional-personal conflict and 'who done it' thrown in. That's the reason for the plot's erratic turns and the non existent character development. The glue that holds the whole mess together is Whitney, the singer, looking stunning and sounding like an angel.

This could have been a gigantic flop and instead it was a massive hit. It will remain a phenomenon in popular culture because it delivered what the vast majority of its audience wanted: escapism, a couple of hours away from their own reality and a look inside the glamorous life of a superstar. They were entertained by a great pop singer, who had made a huge video clip for her songs and they did not mind paying for the privilege. Those who hate The Bodyguard, went to see it with some unrealistic expectations of 'serious cinema and acting'?! Hey, go to see foreign movies with subtitles for that and come down from your pretentious cloud.