Blue Steel (1990)

Out on her first night on the beat, rookie NYPD cop Megan Turner (Jamie Lee Curtis) comes upon a robbery in a grocery store and takes down the perpetrator.  However as soon as she takes him down, things take a strange turn as one witness flees the scene with that perp's weapon.  Soon after, Megan meets a mysterious commodies trader named Eugene played by Ron Silver (Timecop, Reversal of Fortune, The West Wing) and....things get even stranger from there. :o These events kick off a slick, violent action thriller directed by Oscar-winner Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker, Point Break, Zero Dark Thirty) relatively earlier in her career.  Back in the spring of 1990, this film underperformed but has since garnered a cult following....also included in the cast are Clancy Brown, Elizabeth Pena, Louise Fletcher, and Kevin Dunn. 

Host & Editor: Geoff Gershon
Producer: Marlene Gershon

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Transcript

BLUE STEEL - 1990

Directed by Kathryn Bigelow

Starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Ron Silver, Clancy Brown, Elizabeth Pena, Louise Fletcher, Phillip Bosco, Kevin Dunn, Richard Jenkins, and Tom Sizemore

Genre: Crime Thriller (Audio clip)

In the history of cinema, I don't think there was ever a time period with SUCH a prevalence of slow motion blood squibs as right around 1990. 🤫 I mean WOW....State of Grace, Die Hard 2, Total Recall, Marked For Death, and Young Guns II all came out that same year....Black Rain and Glory had just come out too - THIS was the time. And it's no accident that genuinely squib-happy directors like Renny Harlin and John Woo were rising up around this time....oh and Kathryn Bigelow of course because this film is jam-packed with slo-mo squib action!

It gets to be a bit much at points but Bigelow DOES direct the s@#t out of this pot-boiler focused on a rookie cop Megan played by Jamie Lee....and how on her first night of action, she inadvertently inspires a serial killer by taking down a perp robbing a grocery store right in front of him. Him is Eugene, a seemingly already disturbed commodities trader who reaches a new level when that perp's gun falls in his possession and he flees the scene....he just happened to be shopping nearby and he's played by the late, great Ron Silver. This was a memorable time for Silver as an actor - Reversal of Fortune, Enemies: A Love Story....he was going toe-to-toe with a lot of big-time actors and always chewing the scenery to hold his own.

As he does here as a somewhat older, lumpier version of Patrick Bateman who becomes obsessed with Curtis' Megan and starts knocking off random people around the city when he's not romancing her. Curtis nails her role even more as a new female cop struggling to be taken seriously by her male peers and superiors while eventually trying to catch Eugene who has been going out of his way to taunt her. It's a tricky performance which comes very close at times to going full-on Dirty Harry but Curtis mitigates that with a few well-placed emotional beats.

But make no mistake the action is still quite good as you would expect from Bigelow....it's also helped by effectively PIERCING sound design which results in almost every gun shot sounding like the controlled demolition of a building. 🙄 It also becomes increasingly suspenseful as this cat-and-mouse game between Megan and Euguene ramps up. Also along for the ride are a handsomely permed (Who knew?) Clancy Brown as the ONE cop who believes Megan's plight and decides to help her AND.....the late great Elizabeth Pena as Megan's best friend. What also helps is a muscular score from Brad Fiedel.

The climax is somewhat drawn out and the overall message of female empowerment gets a BIT muddled during a questionable sex scene late in the movie but this movie still packs a punch overall. Here's hoping that Bigelow soon returns to the action genre.

Best Needle-drop (best song cue or score used throughout runtime of film): 

One aspect which REALLY helps sell the overall unsettling vibe of this movie is the score….from New York City’s OWN FAVORITE synth composer of the 1980’s….the man who gave us the ICONIC Terminator theme, I’m referring of course to Brad Fiedel.  And once again, he delivers another moody, entirely synth-based score which sounds very much like it belongs to a horror film. (Audio clip) 

With some punctuated electric guitar riffs throughout, this breathy score just never really lets you off the hook throughout the film’s 105 minute runtime….however it was never released as a soundtrack nor could I find any specific tracks listed.  No matter as you can still find a ten minute suite version of it YouTube….as the soundtrack to playing cat-and-mouse with a killer who you know, it’s just flat-out WORKS. (Audio clip) 

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

Over the past 40+ years, Clancy Brown has just become one of those go-to character actors who ALWAYS delivers heft, intimidation, and just sheer POWER as a commanding presence on screen – most often than not playing the villain – in films as varied as Highlander, The Shawshank Redemption, Promising Young Woman, Starship Troopers, and even the recent stellar limited series on Max, The Penguin.  The guy ALWAYS delivers and it IS gratifying to see him get to stretch a bit here, playing a generally upright, handsome homicide detective on the GOOD side and named Nick Mann no less. (Audio clip) 

His character also goes through a compelling arc in this film as he starts out as seemingly ANOTHER misogynistic heel in the police department who looks down upon Jamie Lee’s Megan…..but then becomes her biggest ally.   HOWEVER I did mention a questionable sex scene earlier right?  Yeah that’s with him and Jamie Lee….ok I GET it, it was the ‘80’s and per Hollywood rules at the time, you were just NOT allowed to have two attractive actors of the opposite sex on screen immersed in a tense, violent situation….without them having to consummate their relationship in a weirdly lit sequence.  Yes they look good together, YES it’s kind of intriguing to see which body parts receive the most focus within this particular sequence….but overall, I just feel like it hurts the story and the THEMES of this story.  They’re two cops on the beat….doing their jobs….it would have been MORE refreshing to allow their relationship to remain platonic.  Alas from what I have heard, Bigelow had studio notes on this not really leaving her choice….but overall, just not necessary.  Brown didn’t have to eventually be relegated to a thankless love interest role. (Audio clip)  

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

And speaking of love scenes, the highlight of this film happens to be a scene roughly an hour BEFORE this sequence when we actually have an aborted sex scene.  Megan has been dating Ron Silver’s Eugene who has become increasingly obsessed with her as he murders people all over the city leaving her name on the bullet.  I think it’s roughly their second or third date…..she has gone back to his place and things start to…..escalate.

And just as they’re getting really heated, Eugene lets his true colors come out….he felt her gun holstered as they were making out and at first he doesn’t want her to take it off….and THEN for kinks apparently, he asks her to take out the gun and aim it at him.  Megan’s clearly starting to get uncomfortable with this…..but as if that wasn’t enough, Euguene starts monologuing about the thrill and finality of death, ALSO revealing that he was actually at the supermarket where she shot that robber early on.  

Watching Curtis’ face during this scene tells it all….the jig is up, HE’S the killer and she knows it.  But what’s excellent about this sequence is what comes next: no violence, nothing crazy, she simply points her gun at Eugene, announces that she’s arresting him, and calls her fellow officers to come by.  It most lesser movies, this would become some overwrought scene of violence but here there’s more than enough mental violence to go around….and it’s a brilliantly tense set-up for the remainder of the story.  And as overwrought as much of what follows is, THIS is the film at its best firing (pun intended) on all cylinders, all tension and emotion. 

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

Admittedly this is a very much a director’s movie – this was early in Bigelow’s career and her first time working with a major studio with a full budget, it was an opportunity to strut her stuff and for the most part, it’s VERY well-directed.  But as I didn’t completely agree with all of her choices – especially the multiple climaxes – I feel as if the one key individual who TRULY carries this movie is Jamie Lee.  She is just FANTASTIC here…..taking us through the wide range of emotions while still portraying a convincing action hero.  There are some genuinely tricky scenes here and she nails EACH of them….not the least of which is a stand-off with her abusive father just over an hour in which could have just fallen apart in lesser hands. (Audio clip) 

Her Megan is a complicated, flawed person who is nonetheless easy to root for….and of course, you could make a strong case that this character was a logical action extension of the many of the horror movie roles which made her a star earlier in her career including Prom Night, The Fog, and most notably her iconic Laurie Strode from the Halloween franchise.  For delivering what I think might be her best overall performance, Jamie Lee Curtis is the MVP. (Audio clip) 

Final Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

In retrospect, it’s just a genuine kick to witness one of the premiere female directors of the past 40 years working with one of our most iconic female genre stars of this era….I truly wish they did more collaborations together, it’s not too late. 

Streaming on Prime Video, tubi, Pluto TV, plex, and freevee

And that ends another MAGNUM review! (It’s a reference to another movie…THINK about it)