What’s this all about?
Do you remember when David Caruso left his extremely popular and lucrative role as “Detective John Kelly” on NYPD Blue to go make movies? I do. And at the time I wondered, “what kind of movies is David Caruso going to make?”
Apparently Kiss of Death was the answer.
The 90’s saw a huge wave of tightly written crime movies that were more about the criminals than the cops. They were full of great and terrible characters. Classics like Pulp Fiction and True Romance and Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels defined the genre.
Kiss of Death seems to be trying to be this sort of film. It tells the story of a paroled con who is trying to live a straight life, but gets pulled back into a life of crime. As you might imagine, complications arise, and things spiral wildly out of control.
Who is Nick in this one?
Nick plays “Little Junior Brown,” the asthmatic, psychopath son of a crime boss who ascends to leadership himself when his father passes. Can you guess what his father’s name is? It’s “Big Junior Brown.” I’m not even kidding. We’re supposed to believe that his father is called “Big Junior” and Nick is called “Little Junior”. I don’t even know.
Anyway, I think “Little Junior Brown” is supposed to be the kind of maniac that’s far too dangerous to be around, but who has enough power that he’s impossible to avoid. We’re supposed to be scared of Little Junior;s violence and unpredictability. Nick almost pulls it off. He’s got the build, and his overall look fits, but instead of coming across as menacing but cool, like Sam Jackson in Pulp Fiction, or wildly unpredictable and violent like Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet, he lands somewhere between cartoonish and cringey.
He brings a boombox with him to kill Michael Rapaport, wraps the room in plastic tarps, and puts on a disposable poncho. When Rapaport comes into the room, there should be a deep sense of dread about what’s going to happen.
Then Nick uses his boombox to play about 8 seconds of some hip hop song that I guarantee you’ve never heard, before repeating the lyrics (which are about “cleaning out your backyard”) out loud for Rapaport (in case he didn’t hear them, I guess). He’s like your friend in high school who thought the lyrics to “Holy Diver” were super deep.
He moodily explains his (also super lame) self-assigned acronym to Caruso, but starts by explaining what an acronym is.
He bench presses a stripper in front of his buddies, which I guess is kind of impressive, but he immediately starts complaining about how heavy she is, and then calls for his Daddy to come watch him.
He gets very close to being a cool bad guy, but he never quite gets there.
Who else is in this one?
This movie stars all of the staples of late 90’s hardboiled crime cinema, as well as some other interesting choices.
As previously mentioned, David Caruso plays “Jimmy Kilmartin,” the ex-con protagonist.
Ving Rhames plays “Omar,” an undercover Federal Agent posing as a Philadelphia crime boss.
Samuel L. Jackson plays “Detective Calvin Hart,” a more-or-less honest cop who has a weepy eye from a minor gunshot injury. He does not drop any MF-bombs.
Michael Rappaport plays “Ronnie Gannon,” a scumbag criminal. For whatever reason, Michael Rappaport always played a sniveling douchebag criminal dirtbag in these. He was great at it.
Helen Hunt makes a wildly short appearance as Jimmy’s alcoholic wife.
The amazing Stanley Tucci also appears. He’s been amazing as everyone from Julia Child’s husband to Walter Winchell to Clive Davis. In this he’s just OK.
Did you see that?
Throughout the film, Nick accentuates his overacting by taking puffs off an asthma inhaler. There’s also an impossibly stupid bit running throughout where Nick assigns himself the acronym “B.A.D.” which stands for “Balls, Attitude, Direction.” He later marks everything from Jimmy’s front door to Jimmy’s daughter’s forehead.
In the climax fight scene, Nick drops his inhaler, and it slides across the floor. The camera reveals that the inhaler is in a golden holder with a bejewelled “B.A.D.” inlaid on it.
Pathetic. -Michael
I found all three moments we like to point out in this blog in a single scene in this movie. Nick was in his strip club when an overzealous patron got a bit too handsy with a stripper. I’m afraid that this is going in reverse order now. (Worst scene – best scene – did you see that)
Worst: Nick starts with his typical over the top screaming and is really just over doing it. I’m rolling my eyes and just thinking to myself that this is a contender for worst scene when..
Best: Nick lights a cigarette, calms down a bit, decides to use his acting skills, and becomes quite scary as he threatens this offender with what he’s going to do to him to teach him a lesson he’ll remember when..
WTF: Suddenly the guy is in his tighty-whities, dancing on stage, and looking very uncomfortable as the entire place laughs at him. I have to admit, it had me. Nick had gotten me with his suddenly deciding to do a good job and notching up the scary then to suddenly have a naked dolt dancing badly. It was quite funny. -Sarah
What were Nick’s best parts?
I feel like every scene that Nick is in is bad, so this is hard. I guess I’ll go with the scene in which Nick is talking to David Caruso after he’s gotten out of prison, and Caruso drops the old “whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” (unless you count polio!) and Nick’s character has apparently never heard this aphorism before. He thinks it over, repeated it a couple of times, and seems to genuinely be evaluating it, almost like a thoughtful human would do. -Michael
Please see comments above. -Sarah
What were Nick’s worst parts?
In one of Nick’s many, many scenes in a strip club, he reacts to the news of his father’s death. He shows his feelings of deep loss by screaming while doing the “pogo” dance from the 80’s, and then smashing a glass in a guy’s face before returning to his little dance.
Bravo, Nick. Just bravo. -Michael
Please see comments above. -Sarah
How was the movie?
This is my kind of movie, but this one isn’t good. The characters are all one-dimensional cardboard cutouts. Nick overacts to such an extent that he comes across less as a fearsome criminal enforcer and more as a clown. David Caruso is underwhelming. The plot is contrived without being clever or surprising, and nothing of any real consequence happens. -Michael
It certainly wasn’t a great movie, probably not even a good one, but it was okay. -Sarah
Yeah, but did you like it?
If I happened across this on a Sunday afternoon, I would have watched it, and at the end said.
“Huh. That was stupid,” and would never have thought about it again. It isn’t good, but it also isn’t bad enough to be memorable or noteworthy. Kind of like David Caruso. -Michael
Agree. I enjoyed it well enough to fill some time, but likely won’t ever watch it again. -Sarah
Where can I watch it?
List of streaming/buying options
Editor’s Note:
In the opening credits, this movie reveals that it’s based on a 1947 screenplay of the same name. I had a couple of hours to kill, and I really like FIlm Noir, so I sat down and watched 1947’s Kiss of Death starring Victor Mature in a role similar to Caruso’s and Richard Widmark in the Nick Cage role. I was expecting great things.
Honestly, the 1947 version was pretty mediocre. There were a lot of forced morality discussions, and all of the lawmen are pious and forthright, as required by the Hays Code of the day. The crimes were all pretty bland. The assistant DA has a weird, but earnest appreciation of Victor Mature’s kids, as if the act of having kids makes you an inherently good person.
It was bland and unmemorable. I can’t imagine why anyone in 1995 wanted to remake it.
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