Hard to Kill * (1990, Steven Seagal, Kelly LeBrock, William Sadler) – Classic Movie Review 10,587

Director Bruce Malmuth’s 1990 action crime thriller Hard to Kill stars Steven Seagal (from Above the Law [Nico]) and his iconic ponytail as LA Detective Mason Storm, who proves impossible to kill as he relentlessly pursues a case of high-level political corruption with help from nurse Andy Stewart (Kelly LeBrock). Three hired assassins left him for dead, with his wife killed in their house, and he has waited seven years to even the score, expose the killers and take revenge.

Seagal is in his element in this feebly-written, all-action cop movie, with exciting car chases, shoot-outs and kung fu fights. Steven McKay gets sole writing credit, though a 1989 draft of the screenplay credits Steven Pressfield, Ronald Shusett and Steven Seagal as writers.

Also in the cast are William Sadler [Bill Sadler], Frederick Coffin, Bonnie Burroughs, Andrew Bloch, Dean Norris, Charles Boswell and Branscombe Richmond.

The UK cinema version was cut by 12 seconds to gain an 18 rating, with the cuts restored in 1999 for home viewing.

Seagal and LeBrock were married with three children, Annaliza, Dominic and Arissa. She had semi retired from acting and did the movie as a favour for her husband. She calls the movie Hard to Watch or Hard to Believe. They married on 5 September 1987 and divorced in 1996.

The inside of the mansion was also used in The Big Lebowski.

Seagal did not see eye to eye with Malmuth, saying: ‘I think it’s a miracle that this guy can put one foot in front of the other.’ Seagal was unhappy with the filming of the action scenes and being excluded from the editing process.

It was filmed as Seven Year Storm until Warner Bros re-titled the finished film. Warner Bros heavily cut the film and re-edited down to 96 minutes. There are three deleted scenes in the trailer.

It did very well. Costing $10,000,000, it grossed $47,410,827 in the US.

Marked for Death, Out for Justice, Under Siege and On Deadly Ground quickly followed.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,587

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