Product Details

• Actors: Melanie Griffith, Tommy Lee Jones, Sting, Sean Bean, James Cosmo
• Directors: Mike Figgis
• Writers: Mike Figgis
• Producers: Alan J. Wands, Nigel Stafford-Clark
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Language: English, Polish
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Paramount Home Video
• VHS Release Date: November 30, 1988
• Run Time: 93 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6301151658
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #211,306 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

British director Mike Figgis takes another disturbing view on the dark city of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in this modern British jazz and crime drama. In "Stormy Monday", pop singer Sting plays a jazz club owner who is threatened by American business man Tommy Lee Jones who wants to take his club with violent oppression. Unfortunately Sting's close friend Sean Bean falls in love with Jones' girlfriend Melanie Griffith... Even if you know this kind of plot from many other crime thrillers and serie noire dramas, this movie is well-balanced, thrilling, fascinating and fast-pacing. The actors are great, the pictures of the city of Newcastle, though photographed in rather neon-like 1980's glamour style, nearly as dark and menacing as in Figgis's earlier work "Get Carter", and the superb jazz sound track (mainly composed by Figgis himself) adds much atmosphere to the story - and even Sting plays a great double bass solo on stage! Watch this great crime movie, as it's a good example of the rise of modern British cinema in the 1980's.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A must-see for fans of Mike Figgis, Sean Bean, or Sting., May 9, 2002

By 

Ashley Clifton (Gainesville, Florida USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stormy Monday [VHS] (VHS Tape)

A slick noir piece set in Newcastle, England (yes, Sting's hometown), Stormy Monday is a little-known but beautiful film by Mike Figgis (also the director of "Leaving Las Vegas"). When guileless Irish drifter Brendan (Sean Bean) arrives in town, he befriends a shady nightclub owner Finney (Sting) and falls in love with a ill-used waitress, Kate (Melanie Griffith). As the film's off-beat, strangely elliptical plot advances, all three characters find themselves at odds with a villainous real estate developer, Cosmo (Tommy Lee Jones), who is busy snatching-up an entire portion of the city. (Presumably, Cosmo plans on turning it all into one giant shopping mall, and the film works nicely as a commentary on American-style "globalism" masking good-old American greed.) When Brendan thwarts an attempt on Finney's life (Finney is the last business-owner refusing to sell-out to Cosmo), he and Kate become bystanders in a power struggle between the two men-a situation complicated by Kate's moonlighting as a call girl for Cosmo. As the love story between her and Brendan unfolds-played out against a darkly lyrical backdrop of underworld violence-the film perfectly captures both the promise and menace of the 1980's.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stylish, slick, suspenseful, stars Sting, June 22, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Boston, Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stormy Monday [VHS] (VHS Tape)

How can this movie be so unknown and underrated? The cast is swell: Tommy Lee Jones makes a terrifically creepy/suave villain -- he's worth the price of a rental alone. Melanie Griffith is quite appealing (and how often is that the case?) Sean Bean has one of his earliest starring roles, and he's great, and Sting rounds things out in a role tailor-made for him: jazz club owner. The movie is full of clever moments and artistic touches. If you like a good suspense drama with romance, and especially if you like nightclubs and slick jazz, this is a fine choice.

The director, Mike Figgis, later gained fame for directing LEAVING LAS VEGAS. STORMY MONDAY is more entertaining.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Early Figgis, dark-themed, worth a look, February 16, 2004

By 

LGwriter "SharpWitGuy" (Astoria, N.Y. United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stormy Monday (DVD)

One of Mike Figgis' first films, Stormy Monday fuses an intriguing mix of American greed, crudeness, and innocence with British coolness, toughness, and civility. But added to the mix, interestingly enough, is a Polish element (more on that later).

One American is Melanie Griffith as a cocktail waitress and vaguely defined moll (or former moll) of the other, Tommy Lee Jones, a ruthless moblike businessman who plans on making Newcastle, England his own--commercially, of course. (Political takeover is a little hard to imagine circa 1988). Melanie emits a sexy blend of sensuality and innocence, pretty much irresistible. The British are Sting, as the owner of a club (a role he neatly reprised in Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels), and Sean Bean as his cleaning person/gofer. Both are civil and, as it happens, tough as well. And Sting's coolness is in the ultra category, a real neat piece of work.

Sean and Melanie meet and then do a whole lot more; they do the romantic thing, all the while being pursued, as is Sting, by Tommy's henchmen. Tommy plays rough, as it turns out. The mingling of Yank and Brit romantically (Melanie and Sean) is paralleled by battling of Yank and Brit commercially (Tommy and Sting).

The Polish element? Melanie's character is half Polish, and, as well, the band slated to play in Sting's club has an accident so the Cracow Jazz Ensemble (or some such), all Poles, steps in instead, among which is Andrej, a sympathetic band manager, the only one who speaks English. Andrej is destined to play a critical role in the film, but rather than provide a spoiler here, see the film to understand what this means.

Violence plays a large part in the proceedings, as is obvious from the above description. This is a well-plotted film that put Mike Figgis on the map. Doesn't hurt that he not only wrote and directed it, but also composed the music for it, an effectively moody jazz score.

Recommended.