Touches You

Powerful

The acting in this movie is really good.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Although the movie is set in a contemporary setting, it is basically a traditional Western in a classical vein. A callous criminal commits a crime and tries to escape by crossing the border, even if this means travelling through the wilderness and shooting inoffensive citizens ; a grizzled old sheriff is determined to catch the miscreant and bring him to justice, if necessary with the aid of some unwilling instant-deputies or guides. What follows is a long pursuit, where the brave sheriff and his helpers need to overcome both natural perils and the evil cunning of the criminal. "Shoot to kill" is quite entertaining, with good acting, ingenious stunts (watch out for the Bridge from Hell) and ravishing scenery. I get the impression that it has been largely forgotten - undeservedly so, since it is well worth watching. Sadly there is a hugely illogical plot twist, or plot evolution, which undermines the internal coherence of the story. This illogical twist occurs 4/5ths into the movie and influences the ending. You'll notice it when you see it...

The idea behind this film was a good one. Too bad it wasn't written well. Casting Sidney Poitier as the FBI agent was a good idea, and he did an outstanding job. Tom Berenger, on the other hand, only knows one emotion in most of his movies, anger. Kirstie Alley's character could have been a great one, and even showed some possibilities once, but the writer really let us down by making her role mostly a helpless female. This was completely inconsistent with the strongly independent character she was supposed to be. I don't care for Alley's acting anyway. The movie should have ended about fifteen minutes sooner than it did. The director milked the cow dry before the unbelievable final action. I will keep this in my collection only as an example of Poitier's performances.

Shoot to Kill starts late one night in San Francisco as diamond merchant Mr. Berger (Milton Selzer) sets the alarm off in his jewellery shop & the police show up, still in his pyjama's with a couple of pounds of diamonds it's clear that he's being forced to act against his will & when questioned by special FBI agent Warren Stantin (Sidney Poitier) he admits that an armed man has his wife as a hostage. The local police & Stantin try to negotiate the release of Mrs. Berger (Janet Rotblatt) but the plan only ends up getting her killed & the killer escaping with the diamonds. The next day & the killer is trying to cross the border into Canada through a small town called Bishop Falls but is spooked when he sees a large police presence & decides to kill a member of a hiking group & take his place so he can cross the border on foot. Meanwhile Stantin learns of the man's death which was in the same unique manner Mrs. Berger was killed & sets off after his man through the tricky & rough mountainous terrain...Directed by Roger Spottiswoode & known under the better title of Deadly Pursuit here in the UK I thought this was a great action thriller which doesn't often get mentioned. The script by Harv Zimmel, Michael Burton & Daniel Petrie Jr. takes itself pretty seriously although there are one or two light hearted moments surrounding agent Stantin's 'fish out of water' type situation even if the scene where he confronts a Grizzly Bear & scares it off by flapping his arms in the air is a little too silly. The film moves along at a nice pace & mixes the genres of thriller, action & whodunit very effectively. The character's are good & I liked the way that despite working together agent Stantin & his guide didn't suddenly become the best of friends & have long deep, meaningful conversations about their lives as in say Lethal Weapon (1987) because that's just so clichéd. In fact there isn't that much dialogue spoken in the film & poor Kirstie Alley barely says a word! Shoot to Kill starts off as a whodunit mystery but about half way through it reveals the killer & it changes in tone & becomes a taught thriller & I actually rather liked this abrupt & unexpected change in direction it took. A good solid throughly entertaining thriller with a decent cast that's worth a look but won't have much replay value as once you know the killer the films twist won't have any impact & the entire first half will lose it's effectiveness.Director Spottiswoode does a good job here, the isolated forest locations are well used & the film has a nice tension to it especially during it's first half when we don't know who the killer is. There are some good action scenes including chases, a car chase, some shoot outs & people hanging over cliffs on rope although when John hits that cliff face the force & impact would have broken just about every bone in his body. The violence & body count are relatively low as is the profanity but that makes a nice chance.Technically the film is fine with nice location shooting, it was shot largely in Canada with the opening sequence shot in San Fransico. It's well made & I would have imagined it had a decent budget coming from the Disney owned Touchstone Pictures. The acting is good & there's a pretty impressive cast here.Shoot to Kill, I much prefer the title Deadly Pursuit, is a neat little action thriller with a good concept that's not predictable has unusual relationships between the character's & is well worth a watch.

There is one sure truth about movies, not only that they last forever, but also that our memories last with it. Therefore, whatever how many years passed by; when you watch a certain movie, you recall all of your happy, or unhappy, memories which are connected with the first watching' time, with all of its thoughts and feelings.As for (Shoot to Kill), I was 21 year old when I first watched it. Back then, I've just ended my fourth and final year in faculty of arts, waiting for the result of my exams, exactly like my friend (he was my neighbor too) who was waiting for his result as well, but at the faculty of law. Both of us were movies' freaks, and maybe you'll understand how crazy we were when I tell you that we raced once to finish watching all the movies in one video store near our homes !! I remember that he saw more horror movies than I did, but I surpassed in watching the action and the musical ones. Anyway, it was the glorious glory's days, we were watching movies through our national TV like (Hot To Trot), (Romancing The Stone), (Other People Money); there were all good, so at the theaters too like (X Files "The Film"); although we were disappointed with it, but we were having each other, and ready to watch more movies, better or worse. Through the VHS, we enjoyed a lot of nice ones, and how we got our own dictionary out of the movies' dialogue; to hang a phone call saying (I'll Be Back !) from (The Terminator), or to end a hot conversation peacefully (Opinions are like asses, everybody got one !) from (The Dead Pool), or to be naughty sometimes (Hubba Hubba !) from (Payback) and so on.. On 14/7/1999, I watched (Contact) by (Robert Zemeckis), and my friend just finished (Shoot To Kill), so we recommended every one's movie to each other, to discuss it later, as usual, in our discussion zone : The Gym !I went to read its cover to discover that it's an action thriller that got (Sidney Poitier) as the lead, and (Roger Spottiswoode) as a director, so I rented it enthusiastically. And when I watched it, I just fell in love with it. (Shoot to Kill) was sharp, so solid and more beautiful than most of the above. It's the good old school at its best, and that's ladies and gentlemen my favorite kind of action, not the awful grisly comic books graphic novels video games kind of pace, violence and idiocy (YES, Sin City, Sin Movies !). I see that this good movie got it all. Firstly, the fine screenplay. It's fine because it cared about making good action thriller time with no flaws at all, and – in the same time – showed the comparison of 2 clever men and how everyone, in his own world and by his environment's rules, is a real hero. Actually, it said that the work of any police officer in the city is as hard as the mountain climber's work in the woods. Or that the world is one giant jungle, therefore you must know how to survive, but everyone by their special talents. Look how the magnificent (Poitier) acts so clumsy in the forest, with many wicked details and witty expressions, while (Berenger) was the MAN. But then in the city, it's totally the opposite, where (Poitier) was the master of his civilized yet the same brutal jungle, and (Berenger) turned into the naive one who discovered finally the truth about (Poitier) to tell him during the car chase "You're Crazy!".Furthermore, that strong music, that wonderful cinematography, and that perfect editing; remember the armlet's scene in the beginning; that was unforgettable piece of work as a lesson in how to build a thrill in one short scene. And, naturally, the proficient direction. This movie delivers greatly, particularly in the last 15 minutes; I simply adore this climatic sequence.I loved it to the extent that I watched it for a second time right after the first one immediately. You can find it in my list for the best 100 non-Egyptian movies ever. And it's still an enjoyment to watch that one from the 1980s, thanks mainly to the iconic presence of (Poitier) as an action star here (try to believe that this graceful elegant was 61 years old at the time !!). I didn't find till now an explanation for his 11 years of absence as a movie star from 1977 to 1988 ?! But whatever, he came back to make (Little Nikita – 1988) and (Shoot To Kill – 1988) and really what a huge difference between them both; as one is half good and one is too good ! (I wrote a review about Little Nikita on its IMDb page). So after watching the movie, on the title's date, I remember so joyfully that in the next afternoon I met my friend in the very zone of us, and when I asked him smiling "You FBI guys do this kind of s**t a lot ?" I had him and me answering in the same time imitating Poitier : "Every Damn Day !". Although it's a line which maybe we've heard in other movies or even TV shows before, but when it has Poitier's performance.. It becomes CLASSIC.