Judgment Night (film)

Judgment Night is a 1993 American action thriller film directed by Stephen Hopkins and starring Emilio Estevez, Cuba Gooding Jr., Jeremy Piven and Stephen Dorff as a group of friends on the run from a gang of drug dealers (led by Denis Leary) after they witness a murder.

Judgment Night
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Stephen Hopkins
Produced by	Gene Levy
Screenplay by	Lewis Colick
Story by	Lewis Colick Jere Cunningham
Starring	Emilio Estevez Cuba Gooding Jr. Denis Leary Stephen Dorff Jeremy Piven Peter Greene Everlast
Music by	Alan Silvestri
Cinematography	Peter Levy
Edited by	Tim Wellburn
Production company	Largo Entertainment JVC Entertainment
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	October 15, 1993 (1993-10-15)
Running time	109 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$21 million
Box office	$12,136,999[1]

Plot

Francis "Frank" Wyatt (Emilio Estevez), his brother John (Stephen Dorff), with their friends Mike Peterson (Cuba Gooding Jr.) and Ray Cochran (Jeremy Piven), who agrees to drive them in his luxurious RV and watch a professional boxing match in Chicago for the night.

With the freeway gridlocked, Ray exits the expressway and cuts through a poor residential neighborhood. The four friends are alarmed when they accidentally hit a man named Teddy (Michael DeLorenzo) with Ray's RV and are doubly alarmed when they find that he has been shot. Teddy also has a paper bag filled with stolen drug money.

The group notice a police car, which they rush after for help. Suddenly the RV is sideswiped by a Cadillac, which leaves the RV hopelessly stuck in a narrow alleyway, upsetting Ray who now realizes that he'll now have to payback the RV in full. Moments later three gangsters Rhodes (Everlast), Travis (Michael Wiseman), and Sykes (Peter Greene) force their way into the RV; they drag Teddy outside warning the group that they would be killed if they try to stop them. Fallon (Denis Leary), a local crime lord for whom the hoods work and from whom Teddy stole the money shows up. He executes Teddy point-blank with his pistol, and then decides to kill the RV's other four occupants who have now just become witnesses to Teddy's murder. The Wyatt brothers and both of their friends escape through the front windshield of the RV, which is now set on fire by Frank in order to slow down the gangsters.

Mike, Ray, and the Wyatts are chased by Fallon's hoods into a rail yard. They hide in an old streetcar in which several bums are using for a homeless shelter. The bums demand payment, or they'll alert Fallon and his men to their presence. The group hand over their spare cash and jewelry as well as Frank's wallet and Mike's jacket to their new "hosts". The hoods overhear one of the homeless men freaking out, and recognize Mike's jacket. While Ray and Mike flee along with the Wyatt brothers, Fallon massacres several bums before noticing his mistake. He also discovers Frank's residential address as well as his full name and that he has a wife and daughter, by taking his wallet off a slaughtered bum.

Taking refuge in an apartment building, the four friends are noticed by some local kids who unfortunately are on Fallon's payroll. Mike, Ray, and the Wyatt brothers look for a phone to contact the police; but the tenants are too scared of Fallon to help. They approach a woman who is throwing out her garbage and convinces her to let them in. She has a young daughter and another adult woman in the apartment. They call the police, but they are taking too long to come. Sure enough, Fallon's henchmen soon barge into the apartment complex, kicking open doors and terrorizing the tenants for the group's location. Frank, Mike and John decide they must leave the apartment so that they don't put this woman and her family in danger. Ray, who is obviously scared, says that he's not leaving. He proceeds to pull a gun on his friends and threatens to kill them if they leave. Mike is very shocked and angry to learn that he had a gun this entire time, and is now pulling it on them. Ray sobs and is talked into giving the gun to Frank. The woman tells the four friends that there is an escape route to another building through the roof. They leave as Fallon and his gang are still terrorizing the other tenants. Mike and both of the Wyatts use a ladder that was setup by the street kids to cross over to the other rooftop. Ray, who has a phobia of heights, can't bring himself to follow. Instead, he attempts to bargain for his life and that of the group with the promise of money, Fallon later reveals to Ray that he hates him and his friends for their privileged lifestyle and that no amount of money will stop him and his henchman from the pursuit, he then kills Ray by throwing him off the rooftop.

The trio are chased into the sewers by Fallon and his henchmen. At one point, Mike says that they have to stop running, take a stand, and fight. Armed with pipes, they wait for the bad guys in the sewer. Sykes, Fallon's aide-de-camp, almost shoots Mike. But Frank jumps him and in the end, Mike winds up shooting Sykes to his chagrin because he thought he didn't have the guts to do it. The three then climb out of the sewer. Fallon and his other two men come across Sykes’ dead body and Travis starts to complain that the chase is no longer worth it. This angers Fallon who doesn't want to hear his “whining” and proceeds to clock him in the face and drowns him.

Meanwhile, Mike berates John for almost getting him killed back in the sewer as he didn't have his back like he said he would. He froze and that's why Frank was the one who had to subdue Sykes. Frank comes to his little brother's defense and Mike backs down as he calls him “boss”. They then take refuge in an abandoned building, John cries that he is scared. Frank tries to console him, Mike just looks on from afar, then proceeds to call Frank “boss” again and says that the street is clear. Frank tells Mike to cool it with the “boss” stuff. They soon see a bus and try to flag the driver down, but the bus driver refuses to stop. This prompts Mike to start shooting at the bus. Frank tells him to stop because he's going to give them away and get them killed. Mike punches Frank. Frank yells that he has a wife and a baby to get back to. Frank and John start to leave and Mike calls after them to wait for him.

The trio than break into a swap meet, hoping to summon the police by setting off the building's alarm. This alerts over two security guards to arrest them, but the group is happy to see them and begin to think that the ordeal is over and that they are home-free. One guard goes to turn off the alarm and to call the cops, but he is met with Fallon who kills him. Fallon's other lieutenant, Rhodes, proceeds to kill the second security guard who is still arresting the group. Rhodes kills the guard and thus begins a deadly game of cat and mouse, Rhodes eventually shoots Mike but not before Mike gets two shots into Rhodes himself. Rhodes tries to finish Mike off, but his wounds proves to be too much, and he falls down and dies. John retrieves Mike, but Fallon shoots John in the leg. The three friends make their way to a bathroom where Frank tries to patch his brother and Mike up. Frank leaves to try to get help, but spots Fallon, who is about to discover John and Mike in the bathroom closet. Frank distracts Fallon and later sneaks up behind Fallon to attempt to choke Fallon to death with his belt, but Fallon was able to get off of Frank's grip on him and a fight ensues. Fallon wins the fight, but then starts telling Frank that he will visit his house to kill his wife and daughter after he kills him. This enrages Frank who overpowers Fallon and throws him off a ledge to his death.

Soon after Frank checks Fallon's body to be sure that he is dead. The police arrive and attempt to arrest Frank, but Frank successfully convinces the police that he is the victim. Mike and John are rushed to a hospital with the paramedics telling Frank that both are expected to survive their wounds, Frank then receives his wallet back from a police officer who comments that he has a good looking family.

Cast

• Emilio Estevez as Frank Wyatt, a family man going with his brother and his two friends to the boxing match
• Cuba Gooding Jr. as Mike Peterson, Frank's best friend who goes to the boxing match
• Denis Leary as Fallon, the drug lord who pursues the four friends after they see him kill a thieving henchman
• Stephen Dorff as John Wyatt, Frank's younger brother, who is invited by Frank to the boxing match after Frank's third friend drops out.
• Jeremy Piven as Ray Cochran, A friend who rents an RV to take his friends to a boxing match
• Peter Greene as Sykes, Fallon's second-in-command
• Everlast (credited as Erik Schrody) as Rhodes, one of Fallon's minions
• Michael Wiseman as Travis, one of Fallon's minions
• Michael DeLorenzo as Teddy, Fallon's lieutenant who is executed for stealing from him, right in front of Frank, Mike, John, and Ray, thus beginning the chase
• Christine Harnos as Linda Wyatt, Frank's wife and John's sister-in-law, she reluctantly agrees to let Frank go to the boxing match

Reception

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 35% based on 20 reviews, with an average rating of 4.2/10.[2] On Metacritic it has a score of 46% based on reviews from 11 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[3] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[4]

Leonard Klady of Variety wrote: "The most chilling aspect of the urban thriller "Judgment Night" is how infinitely superior its craft is to its art. This is an exceedingly well directed, cleverly filmed and edited, tension-filled affair. It is also a wholly preposterous, muddled, paranoid's view of the inner-city nightmare where the slightest misstep is sure to have a fateful result."[5] Richard Harrington of the Washington Post felt the movie was "regrettably familiar fare" and stated "The filmmakers have made a big deal of a soundtrack that features 11 collaborations between rappers and rockers (...), but their casting consciousness is less adventurous."[6]

Box office

The movie debuted at No. 5.[7] The film grossed a total of $12,136,938 at the US Box Office.[1]

Soundtrack and Score

A soundtrack for the film titled Judgment Night: Music From The Motion Picture was released the same year on September 14, 1993.[8] The score for the film, composed and conducted by Alan Silvestri, is completely orchestral. Silvestri previously collaborated with Hopkins in Predator 2.

In 2005, Intrada released a complete version of Silvestri's orchestral score, containing two rejected tracks that he composed with electronic synthesized elements.

Score album track listing

All tracks composed and conducted by Alan Silvestri

1. "Freeway Confrontation" – 2:07 - Played when the group engages in a fight on the highway.
2. "New Passenger" – 4:33
3. "Execution" – 5:22 - Played when the group witnessed a murder and escapes the RV.
4. "Train Yard" – 2:13 - Played while the group was hiding in a train cab.
5. "Some 'Splainin' to Do" – 5:17
6. "Bat Woman" – 2:14 - Played when Frank saw a woman throwing trash.
7. "Ladder Crossing" – 9:45 - Played when the group crosses the bridge ladder.
8. "Ray's Deal" – 3:24 - Heard when Ray made a deal with the goons.
9. "Ray Eats It" – 2:05 - Played when Ray fell off of the building.
10. "Hello Ladies" – 1:30 - Played when the goons find them in the sewers.
11. "Make a Stand" – 3:32 - Played when Mike and the group decide to make a stand against the goons.
12. "Mike Shoots Sykes" – 5:20
13. "All I Got Is You" – 4:40
14. "Stalk & Talk" – 4:41
15. "Final Fight" – 3:34
16. "It's Over" – 1:04
17. "Frank Takes the Wheel" – 4:02 (Unused) - Should be played when the group is chasing the police vehicle.
18. "I Tried" – 2:36 (Unused) - Should be heard when John is sobbing and makes a confession to his brother Frank.
19. "Judgment Night Theme" – 3:09

Production

Screenwriter Kevin Jarre wrote the first spec script for the movie sometime around 1989 or earlier, and producer Lawrence Gordon, who produced films like Predator (1987) and Die Hard (1988), bought it in January of 1990[9][10]. At the 25th anniversary screening of the film during Cinepocalypse film festival in Chicago, director Stephen Hopkins confirmed in a Q&A about how Jarre's script, which was a lot darker and more violent, went through different writers, including Gary Cunningham and John Carpenter[11], and many different versions, which involved bikers in the desert outside L.A., and rooftop motorcycle chases[12]. The original script was entirely re-written to the point where only Lewis Colick, one of the writers who worked on re-writes, got the final screenplay credit (Colick shares story credit with Jere Cunningham).

Comedian Adam Carolla was a stand-in for one of the "bad guy" actors, Michael Wiseman.[13] He was friends with the assistant director. It was his first foray into film.[14]

References

1. "Judgment Night". Box Office Mojo.
2. "Judgment Night (1993)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
3. "Judgment Night". Metacritic. Retrieved 2020-05-04.
4. "CinemaScore". cinemascore.com. Archived from the original on 2018-12-20.
5. Klady, Leonard. "Judgment Night". Variety. Retrieved 2017-11-10.
6. Harrington, Richard. "Judgment Night". Washington Post. Retrieved 2017-11-10.
7. Fox, David J. (19 October 1993). "Weekend Box Office : 'Demolition Man' Fends Off 'Hillbillies'". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2020-05-04.
8. Judgment Night at Amazon.com
9. "Threads That Led to the Making of 'Glory' : Movies: Screenwriter Kevin Jarre recalls the 'unbelievable odyssey' in getting the tale of a black Civil War regiment made". The Los Angeles Times. 1990-01-18. Retrieved 2020-02-10.
10. "The Best Movie You Never Saw: Judgment Night". www.joblo.com. 2019-08-02. Retrieved 2020-02-10.
11. "John Carpenter Wrote a Script for 'Judgment Night'". www.bloody-disgusting.com. 2018-06-25. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
12. "Stephen Hopkins on Judgment Night, Urban Hellscapes, and '90s Chicago". www.consequenceofsound.net. 2018-06-23. Retrieved 2020-02-10.
13. "Emilio Estevez and the Rotten Tomatoes Game". Adam Carolla. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
14. "Mohr Stories 134: Adam Carolla". podcast. 2013. Retrieved 2013-02-18.

External links

• Judgment Night on IMDb
• Judgment Night at AllMovie
• Judgment Night at Box Office Mojo
• Judgment Night at the American Film Institute Catalog