The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996)

The Holiday Movie Season continues.....and strangely enough, this one has quite the pedigree: it's directed by Renny Harlin who gave us the underrated Christmas actioner Die Hard 2: Die Harder and it's written by Shane Black who gave us the Christmas classic, Lethal Weapon.  Beyond that, it stars Oscar winner Geena Davis as Charli Baltimore, a former government assassin who contracted amnesia and is now mild-mannered midwestern school teacher with a young daughter.....until of course, former rivals come calling. :o Charli has also teamed up with Mitch Hennessy, a crafty private detective played by Oscar nominee Samuel L. Jackson.....and what results is a quippy, brutal, and entertaining Christmas actioner which more people should have seen while it was in theaters. 

Host: Geoff Gershon
 
Editors: Geoff and Ella Gershon

Producer: Marlene Gershon

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Transcript

THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT – 1996

Directed by Renny Harlin

Starring Geena Davis, Samuel L. Jackson, Yvonne Zima, Craig Bierko, Tom Amandes, David Morse, Melina Kanakaredes, Patrick Malahide, and Brian Cox 

Genre: Christmas Action Thriller (Audio clip)

This is just a blast of a movie which gets better everything I rewatch it! After having also rewatched Deep Blue Sea, it's now dawning on me that director Renny Harlin had a sneaky good run of genre films in the '90's with this, DBP, Die Hard 2, Cliffhanger, and hell....even 'Ford Fairlaine which I consider a guilty pleasure at this point. He just often brings such a rapid-fire sense of tension AND playfulness to setpieces which helps sell them - even if you might not completely buy what you're watching, you're not going to completely realize that until well after the movie's over. ;) Think McClane's helicopter escape in Die Harder or in this movie or Charley's (Davis) window/ice escape from the train station in this movie. 

Dude just KNOWS how to direct action and how to best utilize his actors for said action, almost everything else is secondary....and what separates movies like this from overblown Bay-fests is not only staying out of his actors' way, but also keeping the length at two hours or less (!)....and.....using a writer like Shane Black of course! (I think this was their only collaboration which is a shame) Because as utterly ridiculous as some of the dialogue is....

"And everyone knows when you make an assumption, you make an ass out of you....and umption."

It helps to know the tone you're setting off the bat and to have PEAK Samuel L. Jackson delivering true gems like that one. 😆 This film is a genuine showcase for the outsized movie star talents of both Jackson and of course Geena Davis who yes....deserved to be in more action vehicles like this one. I mean is it any wonder now decades later as to how Thelma & Louise remains SUCH a rewatchable gem despite some genuinely darker content?? 🤔 It's because of how much fun it is watching Davis' Thelma just cut loose during that third act...in the right role, she was one hell of a charismatic star! You see it here in an early scene which on paper is plain goofy: watching her Samantha/Charley overcome some of her amnesia to realize how amazing she is with a knife.....gleefully chopping up vegetables in her kitchen. 😏

The plot....oh yeah, there's a plot involving Davis' character realizing after eight years of amnesia that she was an assassin/spy for the CIA or something along those lines...new CIA plot to set up a false flag terrorist attack now run by her sorta-ex-boyfriend/mark...I don't know the whole thing has 9/11 undertones which I'm sure weren't intentional and might seem dated or prescient depending on how you look at them. Point being that both Davis and Jackson's (who's playing a private dick named Mitch) get embroiled in said plot, meeting all sorts or undesirable characters who they inevitably need to kill at some point. Brian Cox is fun to watch in a brief acid turn as a CIA handler....I think. David Morse and Melina Kanakaredes also make the most with limited screentime and then there's Craig Bierko as the main villain Timothy....but we’ll get to him a bit later.

It's still pretty great regardless with a non-stop parade of inventive, bloody action and defiantly R-rated humor....and with Black's signature violent Christmas fetish no less. :)

Best Needledrop (best song cue or score used throughout runtime of film): 

Throughout the soundtrack of this movie, there is canny use of both retro hits from the ‘70’s mixed with Christmas standards.  And then during the extended end credits, we hear a series of female-driven modern (for ’96 at least) songs which I’m guessing were placed there to hopefully plug those music acts – this was something often done in the ‘90’s when you had the film’s production company closely affiliated with a record company.  Fortunately during the credits, we are treated to VERY special song from a VERY special performer whom I believe never quite received the recognition which was due to her back in the ‘90’s despite releasing some great albums….and that would be Sweden’s own Neneh Cherry who first broke out on the world stage with a big dance hit in 1988, “Buffalo Stance.”  Well in ’96, she released her third album “Man” which was a pretty sizeable international hit even though it seemingly took FOREVER to get released stateside….great album and one of the featured hit singles was the song “Woman” which is just a gorgeous, trip-hop ballad which is kind of a meditative play on James Brown’s “It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World.”  LOVE the song and during this film’s lengthy end credits, we get to hear most of it….yeah I know, it’s BARELY a needle-drop but still a kick to hear this song.  Oh and check out the video on YouTube, wild stuff with an early performance from a YOUNG Andy Serkis!  (Audio clip) 

Wasted Talent (most under-utilized talent involved with film): 

Regarding Timothy…..I'm at a loss as to whether Bierko is actually GOOD in this role as he cuts a menacing figure but just isn't given much to do. He's got the crazy eyes thing down which helps but there's a subplot introduced with his character which goes nowhere and I'm not sure why. It feels like there was stuff left on the cutting room floor with his character as he's kinda halfway between a henchman and a full-on master villain. It honestly doesn't hurt the film THAT much as there's such a fun dynamic between Davis and Jackson that I was fine just hanging with them more....but a truly great adversary for Charley might have brought this movie to the elite level of action films for this era. (Audio clip) 

Trailer Moment (scene or moment that best describes this movie):

The climax of this movie takes place at Niagra Falls….mainly the suspension bridge which separates the United States from Canada….and this happens to be target of the previously mentioned false flag attack.  If it’s possible to have TWO money shots barely seconds apart, this sequence pulls that off.  So here’s the basic setup: Charley’s on the bridge unarmed and 50 feet above her is a flaming corpse holding a machine gun suspended up in the air via a rope of Christmas lights and the only thing holding up that corpse is that the rope is tied to the bridge right near her……also just over yonder is Timothy in a helicopter with a machine gun which aimed RIGHT at her……and his helicopter just happens to be hovering over a giant gasoline truck rigged to explode in less than a minute.  So guess what happens?  Yup….she uses her knife to cut the rope of Christmas lights with the leverage of the flaming corpse pulling her, she grabs the machine gun as they pass each other and…… (Audio clip) 

Yeah it’s pretty impressive and as if that wasn’t enough…..then 30 seconds later, the truck explodes….then the bridge explodes….then the nearby toll booths explode…..flying into the air is not only shrapnel but several cars which were on the bridge.  And to top it all off, we watch Jackson’s Mitch drive Charlie and daughter just outside of the flames and just around the smashing cars around them – it’s improbable and overblown but still one of THE great escape action setpieces of the ‘90’s, right up there with the Richard Kimble’s prison bus/train derailment escape in The Fugitive.  We’re talking about a display of pyrotechnics which is SO beautifully shot and executed that this SAME explosion has been reused for at least two smaller budget action films which have come out since.

MVP (person or people most responsible for the success of this film):

I was genuinely torn about this one as you have a prominent star, a high-priced screenwriter, and a big time genre director ALL strutting their stuff here resulting in a highly entertaining movie.  Davis is fantastic and Black’s screenplay is a load of fun but at the end of the day, The Long Kiss Goodnight MIGHT be the best pure directing we have ever seen from Renny Harlin because this movie just MOVES, pays good attention to character, and just features some CRAZY sequences which just should not work for the sheer absurdity of them.  Yet Harlin pulls them off with style and confidence…..the best example would likely be an early sequence where Davis’s Samantha Cain (her FAKE identity) is just driving home a drunken guest from her h0liday party…..he’s acting ridiculously distracting her when she suddenly plows into a deer on a windy road in the middle of a snowy forest.  

To fully describe this sequence just doesn’t do it justice but let’s just say that it CULMINATES with the action heroine in Samantha/Charli suddenly awakening as she stands up in the snow after being flung forward from her crashed car……a third of her face now covered with blood, half of her hair replete with Christmas lights, and with a flaming car behind her, she calmly creeps over to this now fatally injured deer on the ground, grasps the ends of its antlers, and then abruptly breaks it neck out of mercy!  I don’t think I have seen a scene like this before OR since…..and pulling it off along with at least a dozen other memorable scenes alongside it, Renny Harlin is your MVP.

 (Audio clip) 

Final Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5 

As far as holiday action movies go, the original Die Hard and Lethal Weapon films REMAIN the elite.  But if we’re talking top tier just behind them, The Long Kiss Goodnight has earned its spot at the table for Christmas dinner!

Streaming on Showtime

And that ends another INCANDESCENT review!