Romeo Is Bleeding

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Romeo Is Bleeding
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Peter Medak
Produced by	Hilary Henkin Paul Webster
Written by	Hilary Henkin
Starring	Gary Oldman Lena Olin Annabella Sciorra Juliette Lewis Roy Scheider
Music by	Mark Isham Gary Alper
Cinematography	Dariusz Wolski
Editing by	Walter Murch
Distributed by	Gramercy Pictures
Release date(s)	1994
Running time	100 min.
Country	U.K. / U.S.A.
Language	English
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Romeo Is Bleeding is a 1993 darkly comic police story starring Gary Oldman and Lena Olin. The film's title was taken from a Tom Waits song. Oldman plays a bad cop on the take whose actions finally catch up with him. Olin is Mona, a murderous Russian hit woman.

Bon Jovi recorded the song Always for the film but later withheld the song after the band was given a preview screening and was not satisfied with it.^[1]. Despite praise for the performances by Oldman and Olin, the film itself was generally panned by critics^[2] and was a box office failure, grossing only $3.6 million worldwide^[3] despite its $10 million budget.^[4] Despite being poorly received on release, however, the film has since gained a cult following.^[5]

1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Footnotes
4 External links

[edit] Plot

Jack is a dirty cop who does favors for the mob for a large fees. He has a loving wife, Natalie, and an adoring mistress, Sheri. He thinks he has it all, until both the cops and mob are outwitted by a vicious Russian mob assassin named Mona Demarkov.

The head of the Italian mob, Don Falcone orders the cop to deal with Demarkov or face dire consequences. Jack is unable to kill Demarkov. Soon Falcone becomes disappointed in Jack's ineptness and orders one of Jack's toes removed. Seriously injured due to the amputation and realizing that he has endangered his wife and mistress, Jack instructs his wife to leave the city immediately, giving her money and instructions where to meet him out West when the time is right. Jack also ends his affair with his mistress and puts her on a train out of the city. Jack tries to hunt Demarkov but soon realizes that he is putty in her hands. Although Jack is attracted to her sexually and no match for her professionally. Demarkov tricks Jack into killing his mistress and then forces him to kill Don Falcone, even after losing the use of her arm and having it replaced with a prosthetic. In the end, Demarkov turns Jack into the police, his former associates, and cops a plea deal that will indicate Jack for the numerous murders that she tricked Jack into doing. The police apparently arrange a final confrontation for Jack and Demarkov courthouse, as he is heading in and she is heading out. Before she leaves, she threatens to kill both Jack and his wife. Thinking he has nothing to lose, and desperate to save the only thing good in his life, Jack grabs a gun from the ankle holster of one of his fellow officers and shoots her dead. Jack turns the gun on himself, only to discover that the revolver is empty. Instead of being sent to prison for the murder, he is given a commendation. This frees Jack to begin his new life in a small, remote town. He waits at the appointed time and place for Natalie to return to him, but her forgiveness is only in his mind.