San Francisco police officer Frank Connor is in a frantic search for a compatible bone marrow donor for his gravely ill son. There's only one catch the potential donor is convicted multiple murderer Peter McCabe who sees a trip to the hospital as the perfect opportunity to get what he wants most: freedom. With McCabe's escape, the entire hospital becomes a battleground and Connor must pursue and, ironically, protect the deadly fugitive who is his son's only hope for survival.
Acting
Keaton's unhinged charisma carries the whole thing.
Direction
Schroeder keeps the hospital claustrophobic and sweaty.
Stunts
That propane tank sequence is genuinely unhinged.
Director
Barbet Schroeder
Michael Keaton
Peter McCabe
Andy Garcia
Frank Conner
Brian Cox
Captain Jeremiah Cassidy
Marcia Gay Harden
Dr. Samantha Hawkins
Erik King
Nate Oliver
Efrain Figueroa
Vargas
Joseph Cross
Matthew Conner
Janel Moloney
Sarah Davis
Richard Riehle
Ed Fayne
Tracey Walter
Medical Inmate
Keith Diamond
Derrick Wilson
Steve Park
Dr. Gosha
Dennis Cockrum
Pelican Bay Head Guard
John C. Meier
Rains, Cop shot in ER
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Keaton allegedly took the role specifically to play against his nice-guy Batman type, and reportedly improvised several of McCabe's weirder tics.
This was part of a weird 1998 trend where every thriller needed a hospital siege and a child in peril—Deep Impact, Armageddon, and this all dropped within months of each other. Hollywood was processing something.
US
