Eszterhas wrote in his memoirs that his price as a screenwriter kept going up in the period between FIST and Flashdance despite the fact he didn’t have any credits – this script gives some indication why. The guy could clearly write – it’s a lean, tough tale that keeps you turning the pages, even though when all’s said and done the story isn’t that interesting and would have made at most a strong episode of Water Rats.
The hero is pure Eszterhas – a tough cop, chain-smoking and hard living, burnt out because of a shooting incident, who investigates the supposed overdose death of his rock star brother. He goes to Mexico, digs up the grave and finds there’s no body – and just to reinforce connections to The Third Man there’s a dodgy local police chief and a cab driver who turns out to be an FBI agent who keeps wanting the cop to stay out of it. Was brother knocked off to increase record sales? Turns out he faked his own death to get clean but they want him dead.
I enjoyed reading this –I could also see why it wasn’t made, it needed stars to carry it off. The stuff about the music industry sees to antiquated in this digital age.
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