Fatal Pursuit

Probably the worst movie I've seen in ages. Uniformly bad writing, acting, lighting, cinematography: you name it, it's sub-competent. I especially like the way our Yanni-looking leading man (who aspires to Jimmy Buffet-ness) and B-movie queen Shannon Whirry (whose English accent fades in and out in even single lines) attempt to banter and have chemistry; it's laugh-inspiring. Plot? Who knows! All I can tell you is that Malcolm McDowell had reached his low point here. Avoid this movie at all costs! Or, watch it with two or three sharp-tongued friends a'la "MST3K" and have a ball! "Time is the fire in which we burn!" indeed!

This has to be one of the worst movies of all time. The characters are completely unoriginal, acting is terrible and offers no belief in the story what so ever (also the actress doesn't keep her English accent for the whole movie, it seems to fade), the story is as bad as it gets and the scenes are just stupid. One of the first scenes it the movie shows people getting shot up. some guy somehow gets caught on fire and falls into death next to a parked limo. he is about a meter away and the limo explodes. this is the highpoint of the movie and it wasn't even good. I cannot believe that this was made in 1998. By the looks of this movie you would think it had to be a terrible movie from the early 80s.

I seen an edited version, no nude scenes; this movie was extremely funny and entertaining. The two "odd couple" pair, were perfect for each other, and I love when the movie comes to a great ending. I won't spoil the plot. Cute, a little dark incidents of crime, but the PI and British lady investigator, always brought it back to a lighter side of funny, and just a great crime, yet feel good movie, The investigation was like a little thrilling romantic adventure of two people that were an obvious "not made for each other" pair. I think the places and/or scenes they had to endure together, were hysterical, yet edgy in a thriller/crime way. The sexual overtones were not overdone, and made it more funny and more believable, in how these two people work together. If you don't mind a few people gettin blown up, it's a really cute, funny and entertaining way to spend watching a movie. But, it's only a movie, so it was really great. Imo.

Fatal Pursuit is a poorly executed attempt at the erotic thriller genre. While suffering a number of faults it is primarily undermined by it's script.

Gang boss Bechtal (Malcolm McDowell), his moll Giselle (Lydie Dernier) and muscle Franco (Robert Z'Dar) steal $8 million in diamonds in a violent New Orleans kidnapping/robbery. British insurer Pinkrose (Michael Ensign) sends in Jill (Shannon Whirry) to investigate. She is teamed with local "good old boy" private investigator Deghy (L.P. Brown 111) and his sidekick Herbert (Charles Napier). They trace a witness to the crime through bad cops (Larry Manetti as Gersi), good cops (Obba Babatunde as Trindad, Joe Estevez as Morier) and subsequent witness Shelby (Larry Linville). Regarding the latter, Major Frank Burns in the MASH TV series, I should just note that this was his second to last credit before passing away. RIP.

L.P. Brown is believable as a "bad boy" private investigator and, as a co-producer of the movie, seems to have made sure he gets the best one liners. Unfortunately this leaves less for the other characters. This is especially notable with Shannon Whirry, who starts out with a reasonably strong and independent character but, through the script, ebbs into the "girl" in awe of our "hero". Charles Napier looks ready to have some fun, of course with that grin when didn't he look like he was ready for some fun, but the script leaves him nothing to do. Malcolm McDowell career has unfortunately descended into playing villains in B movies. The best that can be said here is that he's energetic, the man can snarl with intensity, but unfortunately that is all the performance entails. Lydie Dernier' s character is described or seen as "on the street" (prostitute?), thief, gangster's moll, killer and tourist shop operator. No wonder she just decided to play it as psycho. Robert Z'Dar has physical presence but isn't called on to do much (acting wise).

Once the romantic antagonism between Deghy and Jill peters out there isn't anything left but the plot. It would be unfair to say there is no plot; there is one and within its own context it is logical. The problem is that the plot is fundamentally stupid. First there is the witness to the jewel theft. Then there is the witness to the death of the first witness. It is nothing but coincidences related to the gangsters' amazing proclivity to leave witnesses. You've just killed a couple of people, stolen $8 million in diamonds and then you just glare at the witness and walk off! As for the erotic I would say that Shannon Whirry' s shower scene more than makes up for the fact that her British accent keeps coming and going. If they had expanded that to ninety minutes and cut the rest of the film we might have to revise our vote to 9 out of 10.

On the positive side the movie has a few good one liners, initial romantic tension between the leads and it moves along. It may make passable viewing for viewers in a non-demanding frame of mind. However I honestly couldn't understand why people just don't rent The Big Easy instead (same ambiance much more successfully executed).

One late Friday night/morning in the blistering Australian summer, I found myself unable to sleep and with nothing to do besides willing on a cold front, I turned on my T.V and found a film called 'Fatal Pursuit'. With my only other option being a Chuck Norris informercial, i settled in and watched quite possibly the worst movie i've ever seen (although 'Overboard' still holds that mighty crown). There is no intelligent way to describe how bad the film is, so i'll simply say this: It Sucks. It Just plain Sucks. The only possible reasons for watching this film are: the main Character's moustache, the big chin guy from Tango & Cash, and the refreshingly large amount of full body female nudity. Chuck Norris' Total Gym never looked better.