Desperate Measures | 
| Director: Barbet Schroeder
Actors: Michael Keaton, Andy Garcia, Brian Cox, Marcia Gay Harden, Erik King
Studio: Sony Pictures
Category: DVD
List Price: $9.95
Buy Used: $1.30
You Save: $8.65 (87%)
New (43) Used (61) from $1.30
Rating:  34 reviews
Sales Rank: 34394
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dvd, Full Screen, Letterboxed, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), Spanish (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), French (Dubbed)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
DVD Layers: 1
DVD Sides: 2
Picture Format: Array
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 100 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.1 x 0.6
MPN: COLD21759D
ISBN: 0767812743
UPC: 043396217591
EAN: 9780767812740
ASIN: 0767812743
Theatrical Release Date: January 30, 1998
Release Date: May 27, 1998
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Call it "Desperate Movie," because this ludicrous thriller deteriorates into unintentional comedy. For reasons that are never explained, a sociopathic killer (Michael Keaton) is the only available bone marrow donor for the cancer-stricken son of a San Francisco cop (Andy Garcia), who must capture the killer alive after a laughable escape in a labyrinthine hospital. The ensuing manhunt relies on plentiful plot holes and ridiculous shortcuts (like Keaton's use of a surgical laser to cut leg irons, or accessing hospital schematics from a prison computer). Self-consciously shot in film noir style, the cat-and-mouse routine leads to a briefly impressive car chase, but the premise (which even the movie's original press notes described as "intriguing, if unlikely") is based on "moral ambiguity" that doesn't translate from script to screen. Instead of forcing Keaton's typically "sick genius" to prove his ingenuity, the film pits him against a squad of cops who couldn't find a beer in a crowded pub. --Jeff Shannon
Product Description
TWO POWERFUL STARS GO HEAD-TO-HEAD IN THIS INTRIGUING THRILLER ABOUT A COP WHO MUST PROTECT A MURDERER IN ORDER TO SAVE HIS DYING SON. SCORCHING SUSPENSE AND KEATON'S HIGH-OCTANE PERFORMANCE MAKE FOR A KILLER COMBINATION.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 29 more reviews...
 High Marks For Suspense February 6, 2009
Craig Connell (Lockport, NY USA)
Here's an underrated suspense movie that's good. It's "good" in that fact it delivers what it promises: suspense. I'm sure there are a number of holes in this far-fetched tale but it's fun to watch nevertheless.
Michael Keaton is almost mesmerizing in his role as the sick killer. There is some decent action in here, too, but suspense is the name of this game. Once you've started in, it's very difficult to put down. Andy Garcia and Marcia Gay Hayden turn in solid performances as well.
It was nice to see a tough-but-loving father (Garcia) go to any lengths to save his kid. Speaking of the kid (Joseph Cross), they show this very little soft-spoken boy that is trying be saved and all of sudden he says the word "a-hole." What is the purpose of inserting that? Only in the world of film!
Organ April 14, 2008
Christine Andersen
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
His son need's a organ, and ge want his to give his kidney to him, but he doesn't give it up with out a fight.
Dramatic but never tragic September 9, 2007
Jacques COULARDEAU (OLLIERGUES France)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
A good film indeed but it does not compare to any Seven or Silence of the Lambs. It has punch, rhythm, inventiveness, creativity even. It has some good dramatic stuff with a kid who is going to die of leukemia as the main stake. It has the antagonistic situation needed for a good film with the only donor being the serial killer who is going to try anything he can to escape. A criminal donor for the son of a cop. We avoid the easy tear forcing unreal situations like when the child is confronted to the escaping criminal who had taken him hostage, but we are not far from it with a child of 9 slightly too mature for his breeches. The female doctor, or rather surgeon is quite valiant and faces danger with elegance and courage. But in spite of all it is nothing but an adventure film more than a thriller because we know the transplant will take place, hence we know the end and we also know that the killer is going to try to escape again and the last scene is outrageously amateurish on the side of the security forces. Well done, good rhythm, good suspense but not more than good, a few creative ideas but nothing really poignant with pathos at any moment.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines
 Stat! March 31, 2007
Brian Moore
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
Finally, a movie that helps explain why I'm so unusually nice to homicidal maniacs - one man's homicidal maniac might be another man's son's bone marrow donor. Happens all the time!
 Annoying snore... August 16, 2006
Katy Lake (The People's Republic of New Jersey)
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
I'm wondering when it became a federal crime to have a PLOT in a movie anymore. The writers of "Desperate Measures" apparently thought an interesting and coherent storyline would get them a seat in the death house because they avoided anything even remotely connected to reality in this movie.
First, there's the eminently annoying Andy Garcia. His usual tics are in full bloom - this guy has more twitches than Clint Eastwood on speed. His son needs a bone marrow transplant, and the only human being on the entire earth who is a match is psycho killer Michael Keaton.
The movie is about how Garcia tries to keep the nutcase alive after he torches the hospital personnel and shoots all the cops in his escape attempt. The boy who plays the son is adorable; one of the few kids who actually ACTS like a kid. And Michael Keaton really has a knack for psycho parts (although I still miss his "Batman" hero performances.) Both Keaton and the kid are the only reason it even merits two stars.
But it's the idea that no matter what this guy does, who he kills, he MUST live so Garcia's kid can get a transplant. After one of the many slaughter scenes in the movie, the police captain says to Garcia, "How many cops have to die so your son can live?"
Good freaking question!
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