The Mighty Quinn (1989)

Director: Carl Schenkel

Writers: A.H.Z. Carr, Hampton Fancher

Composer: Anne Dudley

Starring: Denzel Washington, James Fox, Mimi Rogers, M. Emmet Walsh, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Art Evans, Esther Rolle, Norman Beaton, Alex Colon, Robert Townsend, Keye Luke

More info: IMDb

Tagline: THE CHIEF OF POLICE AND THE CHIEF SUSPECT. They know each other too well to let a little thing like murder get in their way.

Plot: When police officer Xavier Quinn's childhood friend, Maubee, becomes associated with murder and a briefcase full of ten thousand dollar bills, The Mighty Quinn must clear his name. Or try to catch him, which could be even trickier.



My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again? No.

Hmmmm.  It's a pleasant film with Denzel as a likable lead as usual.  The Jamaican location shooting is a nice getaway from the usual crime picture.   Walsh is fun and despicable as usual.  I liked the DR. NO (1963) nod with the three blind guys.  That was cute.  Quinn's (Washington) detective work feels 75% complete, as if there were some scenes cut that filled out more of the investigation. But then there's some thinly-veiled filler like with a scene where Quinn plays piano and sings.  It's funny how he suddenly loses his Jamaican accent.  It was a nice little scene but it distracted us from the investigation.  Once he's back on the hunt the film doesn't let up as if the film makers had gotten lazy and suddenly realized what they were there to do. Still, fans of Denzel or Walsh will dig it.  Rogers isn't in the picture much despite third billing and Townsend maybe has ten minutes of screen time and he's on the damn poster.  He's mostly there to deliver some much needed exposition on what really went down.  Oh, and what a bad poster, too.  It looks like it's a silly comedy.  There is some humor in this but it's not what the poster pretends to be (thankfully). The MGM DVD sports a non-anamorphic widescreen print with the sole extra being the original theatrical trailer.