Product Details

• Actors: Ellen Barkin, Laurence Fishburne, Frank Langella, Michael Beach, Gia Carides
• Directors: Damian Harris
• Writers: Ross Thomas
• Producers: Amedeo Ursini, Jeffrey Chernov, Warren Carr
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Walt Disney Video
• VHS Release Date: March 5, 1996
• Run Time: 108 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6303486746
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #205,867 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Laurence Fishburne is so cool and confident as rogue CIA man Nelson Crowe he looks born to the game. Wearing a cagey smile and exuding a fierceness beneath his calm, he runs through a battery of tests under the watchful eyes of Ellen Barkin (whose crooked grin reveals she's interested in more than simply his professional abilities) and Frank Langella. Barkin and Langella run "The Toolshed," a private-sector version of the CIA that provides security, investigations, and covert work such as blackmail and espionage, and they've got plans for Fishburne. Little do they know that he's not as rogue as they think. As Barkin plots her palace coup with Fishburne as her strong-arm partner, CIA agent Michael Murphy (at his most sleazy and manipulative in an unbilled role) plans his own takeover. Fishburne's role recalls Deep Cover, another film where the cop finds himself so in tune with his undercover part that he becomes as ruthless as the people he's investigating. Bad Company is rarely as compelling as Deep Cover, but its cleverly twisting plot (by veteran mystery scribe Ross Thomas) and roll call of corruption makes for an entertainingly cynical thriller. Director Damian Harris proves an adept stylist with his low-key direction and sleekly handsome look, but Fishburne makes the film with quiet menace and cold-blooded efficiency oozing from under his calculated reserve. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Masterpiece? It is., July 24, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Bad Company [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This film has become the whipping boy and scapegoat of manyso-called critics. This effect -- the "let's join in andconform!" effect -- proves that most of these people really don't want thrillers which break the mold and offer something different than the average escapism. They want the same old thing, done with faster cuts, with more melodrama and less intelligence. This isn't the case here. The plot bears some resemblance to "The Day of the Jackal" in that they are both 'clockwork' thrillers: they show the steps and the pieces of their plots, and then construct the plot from these pieces before your eyes. It gives you a character taking an IQ test, then shows you the assignment, then shows each step of completing the assignment and the twists that develop. In doing this, it reinvents the espionage thriller for our modern times. No longer is the battle about ideology (as it is in most espionage films). No longer do the Americans stand for democracy, the Russians for communism, etc. Ideology is gone, and now -- with the spread of 'freedom and democracy' -- the result is that money and sex (temptation, pretty much) are the only things that matter. Spies work for money, taking missions from Americans against their own government. Spies will backstab and double cross if the sex is good. It's all about the bottom line and how I will benefit. Democracy in action. Working with this idea, Mr. Thomas creates dialogue that is on the level with such classics as "The Big Sleep" (a film that is incomprehensible plot-wise -- something that "Bad Company" isn't -- but loved for many of the same reasons that "Bad Company" was panned). Damien Harris's low-key approach keeps a level of violence and tension just below the surface (which is much more interesting than having it all glaringly obvious and on the surface), while Jack N. Green creates a visual atmosphere to match Mr. Harris' approach. The performances from all involved are top notch and match the low-key style that is taken to the material (thus many people slap the film with having bad performances, because they aren't flashy and over-the-top and nobody is dying or has a mental illness). If you boil down all the bad reviews, you'll see that they are angry that a film deals so nonchaltantly with corruption, greed, extortion and violence and is missing the typical huge explosion and over-the-top action overkill of most modern thrillers ... This film doesn't post moral road signs for you and never insults your intelligence. It is a cool, dry, witty thriller that not only is a top entry into the espionage thriller genre, but reinvents it in its own subtle way. And unfortunetly, it's been trashed so much that Touchstone has taken it out of print. Now that's the biggest insult.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Bad Company (1994), September 8, 2009

By 

G. Hannah "Madman at Large" (Costa Rica) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bad Company (DVD)

Former CIA operatives going rogue to a high paying Private Corporation. They refer to themselves as the 'Toolshed'. Good action, well written and directed. I thoroughly enjoyed this film!

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Something different, February 3, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Bad Company [VHS] (VHS Tape)

An interesting movie, interesting characters, beautifully filmed.