After Faye and her psychotic boyfriend, Vince, successfully rob a mob courier, Faye decides to abscond with the loot. She heads to Reno, where she hires feckless private investigator Jack Andrews to help fake her death. He pulls the scheme off and sets up Faye with a new identity, only to have her skip out on him without paying. Jack follows her to Vegas and learns he's not the only one after her. Vince has discovered that she's still alive.
Direction
John Dahl's confident debut, already knowing noir inside-out.
Acting
Madsen's Vince — terrifyingly plausible unhinged boyfriend.
Director
John Dahl
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
John Dahl made this for $4 million after film school; it landed him The Last Seduction. Val Kilmer and Joanne Whalley met here and married shortly after.
This bombed theatrically but became a HBO staple that defined 'direct-to-video noir' as a legitimate aesthetic before Tarantino made it cool.
US
