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Year: 1996
Runtime: 104 min
Language: English
Director: John Herzfeld
In this gritty thriller, ordinary guy Dosmo Pizzo finds himself entangled in a deadly game of betrayal and deception after a botched murder-for-hire scheme. As he fights for survival, he takes two unlikely hostages - an obnoxious art dealer and his level-headed assistant - and sparks a desperate cat-and-mouse chase with the cunning Lee Woods.
Warning: spoilers below!
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In the heart of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, two hitmen, Lee Woods and Dosmo Pizzo, execute a chilling nighttime operation. They break into a home where a peaceful couple, aspiring Olympic athlete Becky Foxx and her ex-husband Roy Foxx, sleep unaware of the impending horror. In a cruel twist, Lee administers a tranquilizer to Becky before executing Roy with a gunshot to the head. The duo then heads to a secluded area off Mulholland Drive. In a brutal betrayal, Lee shoots Dosmo and incinerates the car, making Dosmo the scapegoat for the gruesome crime. This ignites a series of frantic events as Lee escapes with his Swedish girlfriend, Helga Svelgen, seeking refuge in a cozy hotel bungalow.
Meanwhile, the story takes a shocking turn when it’s revealed that Dosmo survived the attack, his bulletproof vest having saved him. Desperate and injured, he seeks sanctuary in the luxurious mansion of art dealer Allan Hopper, where he takes Allan and his assistant, Susan Parish, hostage. Unbeknownst to Dosmo, Allan has summoned his sister, Audrey Hopper, a nurse, to assist him. On her journey, she stumbles upon a troubled TV producer, Teddy Peppers, contemplating a dismal fate.
As dawn breaks, Becky awakens to the horrifying sight of Roy’s corpse beside her. Panicked, she bursts outside and flags down two police detectives: the ambitious Wes Taylor and the jaded veteran Alvin Strayer. While Wes expresses sympathy, he quickly becomes suspicious of Becky’s knowledge regarding the crime. The chilling truth emerges—that Becky orchestrated Roy’s murder, hiring Lee and Dosmo for a sum of $30,000, blissfully unaware of the tragedy that would unfold in her own home.
Audrey arrives at Allan’s mansion only to find herself taken hostage by Dosmo, who compels her to tend to his injuries under the threat of harm. Meanwhile, Lee brazenly returns to the scene of the crime to retrieve the money and, encountering homicide detectives Creighton and Carla Valenzuela, kills them both in a desperate bid to cover his tracks. As the plot thickens, Wes revisits the crime scene, unwittingly placing himself in Lee’s crosshairs.
The tension escalates when a confrontation arises between Becky and Helga in Lee’s bungalow. Following a violent struggle over a gun, Helga sustains a severe wound, allowing Becky a chance to escape while Helga, in a frenzy, fires at her but misses. In a cruel twist of fate, Helga eventually finds herself at Becky’s home, where Lee has ambushed Wes. In a moment of cold calculation, Lee decides to eliminate Helga, only for his weapon to jam just as the chaos unfolds. Helga escapes only to be fatally wounded on the roadside by the time Audrey attempts to intervene.
Caught in a violent clash between Dosmo and Lee, Wes suffers critical injuries when caught in the crossfire. Just as desperation weighs heavily on Lee, an unexpected ally, Teddy, intervenes, fatally shooting him. Grateful for the twist of fate, Wes allows Dosmo to abscond with the $30,000, setting the stage for a daring getaway.
In a poignant conclusion, Teddy shows up at an anniversary party hosted by Audrey. The film closes with a serene scene: as Susan and Dosmo drive away from Los Angeles, Dosmo dreams of opening a pizzeria in Brooklyn, receiving a loving smile from Susan as they look forward to a new beginning together.
Last Updated: October 25, 2024 at 10:15
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