Man on Fire

France, Italy

1987

92 Min

Color

1.66:1

English, French, Italian

Currently 3.8/5 Stars.
1
2
3
4
5

SCR Élie Chouraqui, Sergio Donati, A. J. Quinnell

CAST Scott Glenn, Jade Malle, Joe Pesci, Brooke Adams, Jonathan Pryce, Paul Shenar, Danny Aiello, Laura Morante, Lou Castel

PROD DES Giantito Burchiellaro

In Italy, wealthy families often hire bodyguards to protect family members from the threat of kidnapping. A wealthy family that needs a bodyguard hires a burned-out ex-CIA agent to protect their daughter, Samantha “Sam” Balletto. The ex-CIA agent, John Creasy, has been broken down from all of the death and horror of combat he witnessed in the Vietnam War and in Beirut, Lebanon. Although Creasy is not interested in being a bodyguard, especially to a twelve year old youngster, he accepts the assignment because he has no better job offers.

Creasy barely tolerates the precocious child and her pestering questions about him and his life. But slowly, she chips away at his seemingly impenetrable exterior, his defenses drop, and he opens up to her. They become friends and he replaces her parents in their absences, giving her advice, guidance and help with track. Creasy’s life is shattered when Sam is kidnapped. Despite being seriously wounded during the kidnapping, Creasy vows her safe return, and vows vengeance on the kidnappers. —Wikipedia

Director

Élie Chouraqui

French director and screenwriter, Elie Chouraqui was born in Paris, France. Not impressed by film as a youth, Chouraqui instead turned to literature for enjoyment. His love of literature shifted slightly after working on the film Smic, Smac, Smoc (1971) with director Claude Lelouch. Chouraqui continued to work for Lelouch as his assistant director in the early to mid-70s, while at the same time beginning to work on his own screenplay.

By 1978, Chouraqui made his directorial and screenwriting debut when he released the feature film Mon Premier Amour (My Fist Love). Only 24 years old at the time, movie goers were impressed with his work which was presented at film festivals worldwide. To make the film, he created his own production company, 7 Films Cinema, which continued to produce his other films such as Qu’est-ce qui fait courir David? (What Makes David Run) (1981), Paroles et musique (Love Song) (1984), Les Marmottes (The Groundhog) (1993), and Les Menteurs (The Liars) (1996… read more