Eye for an Eye ** (1996, Sally Field, Kiefer Sutherland, Ed Harris, Beverly D’Angelo, Joe Mantegna, Keith David) – Classic Movie Review 12,951

Sally Field stars in Eye for an Eye (1996) as a mother who takes the law into her own hands after her daughter is raped and murdered by a psychopath (played by Kiefer Sutherland), who is acquitted on a technicality.

Director John Schlesinger’s unpleasant and distasteful 1996 Paramount Pictures vigilante revenge thriller film Eye for an Eye is written by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, based on a 1993 novel by Erika Holzer, and stars Sally Field, Kiefer Sutherland, Ed Harris, Beverly D’Angelo, Joe Mantegna, and Keith David.

Eye for an Eye is a hard-hitting, well-acted but troubling and unlikeable revenge thriller, in which mother Karen McCann (Sally Field) decides to take the law into her own hands after her daughter Julie (Olivia Burnette) is raped and murdered by the psychopathic Robert Doob (Kiefer Sutherland), who is acquitted on a technicality thanks to a smart lawyer.

The acting is fine, as you would expect in a Schlesinger movie, with Field giving a strong, intense, committed central performance, and Ed Harris and Joe Mantegna outstanding in underwritten, stereotyped roles as the husband and detective. But both the script and the direction are problematic, and the film’s message is very worrying.

Also in the cast are Ron Dean, Wanda Acuna, Stella Garcia, Philip Baker Hall, Olivia Burnette, Justine Johnston, Alexandra Kyle, Darrell Larson, Charlayne Wooodard, Geoffrey Rivas, Armin Shimerman, Natalia Nogulich, Nicholas Cascone, Wayne Père, Joan Crowe, Ross Bagley, Jane Morris, Cynthia Rothrock, Bobby J Foxworth, and Manny Rodriguez.

The film opened on January 12, 1996.

Eye for an Eye is directed by John Schlesinger, runs 102 minutes, is made by Paramount Pictures, is written by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, based on a novel by Erika Holzer, is shot in widescreen by Amir M Mokri, is produced by Michael I Levy, is scored by James Newton Howard, and is designed by Stephen Hendrickson.

It probably broke even financially. On a budget of $20 million, it took $26.9 million at the box office.

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 12,951

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