The Death and Life of Bobby Z

Last updated
The Death and Life of Bobby Z
Bobby Z Poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by John Herzfeld
Written by
  • Bob Krakower
  • Allen Lawrence
Based onThe Death and Life of Bobby Z
by Don Winslow
Produced by
  • Brandon Birtell
  • Matt Luber
  • Keith Samples
  • Larry Schapiro
  • Peter Schlessel
  • Paul Walker
Starring
Edited by
  • Bruce Cannon
  • Alain Jakubowicz
Music by Tim Jones
Production
company
Distributed by Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group [1]
Release date
  • September 4, 2007 (2007-09-04)(United States)
[2]
Running time
97 minutes
Countries
  • United States
  • Germany
Languages
  • English
  • German
Budget$8 million
Box office$413,454 [3]

The Death and Life of Bobby Z, also known as Bobby Z and Let's Kill Bobby Z, is a 2007 American-German action film, directed by John Herzfeld, and starring Paul Walker, Laurence Fishburne, Olivia Wilde, and Joaquim de Almeida. Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group released the film direct-to-video in the United States. [4] Don Winslow, who wrote the novel on which the film is based, acknowledged that the screen adaptation was not successful. [5]

Contents

Plot

Don Huertero (Joaquim de Almeida) is a Mexican drug lord. His daughter committed suicide because a drug dealer known as Bobby Z broke her heart. Consequently, Don Huertero is out for vengeance. In trepidation, Bobby Z seeks shelter in an American embassy. From there, he is handed over to federal agent Tad Gruzsa (Laurence Fishburne).

In order to get hold of Bobby Z after all, Don Huertero takes a colleague of Tad Gruzsa as hostage and proposes an exchange. Bobby Z knows Don Huertero will not rest until he believes him dead. Being worried sick, he bribes Tad Gruzsa. Now, Tad Gruzsa conceives a plan to deceive Don Huertero. He wants to make Don Huertero believe Bobby Z was dead without harming the real Bobby Z.

When the exchange is supposed to take place, Tad Gruzsa replaces Bobby Z. In his stead, the clueless doppelgänger Tim Kearney (Paul Walker), a former Marine and an inmate, crosses the border. During the exchange, Tad Gruzsa incites a gunfight and tries to shoot the doppelgänger dead. Even so, Tim Kearney scarcely survives. He eventually teams up with Bobby Z’s child, Kit, who is being raised by Elizabeth. Tad Gruzsa keeps on trying to kill him, but he fails time after time. Despite all his efforts, it is the real Bobby Z who is taken down. Tim Kearney, on the other hand, finds love (Elizabeth, played by Olivia Wilde as a kind of it girl).

Structure

The films starts by introducing "the legend of Bobby Z", an immensely successful and famous marijuana trafficker, yacht owner and surfer, described ecstatically as an entity of almost mythical proportions by an old man, representing the contemporary folklore of the Gold Coast of Baja California.

The film then goes on to describe the film's hero Tim Kearney, played by male leading actor Paul Walker. Exposition flashbacks and narrative by the relatively hostile FBI agents serve to portray Kearney as a somewhat reckless and uncontrollable, yet also likeable and brave character, who ends up in prison because of his former qualities.

When Kearney accepts Tad Gruzsa's offer, the audience does not know anything more than he does. Thus the film continues, following Tim Kearny as he successively collects information. The audience is never ahead of him. This and the fact that a great deal of the story has already happened before the hero gets involved, require flashbacks galore. As a result, the structure is highly interlaced.

The film ends with a few concluding remarks by the same old man of the Gold Coast that appeared in the introduction.

Cast

Novel

The film is based on a 1997 novel of the same name by Don Winslow. [6] The novel was positively reviewed by several newspapers. [7] [8] [9] [10]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laurence Fishburne</span> American actor (born 1961)

Laurence John Fishburne III is an American actor. He is a three-time Emmy Award and Tony Award winner known for his roles on stage and screen. He has been hailed for his forceful, militant, and authoritative characters in his films. He is known for playing Morpheus in The Matrix series (1999–2003), Jason "Furious" Styles in the John Singleton drama film Boyz n the Hood (1991), Tyrone "Mr. Clean" Miller in Francis Ford Coppola's war film Apocalypse Now (1979), and "The Bowery King" in the John Wick film series (2017–present).

<i>The Mask of Zorro</i> 1998 swashbuckler film by Martin Campbell

The Mask of Zorro is a 1998 American Western swashbuckler film based on the fictional character Zorro by Johnston McCulley. It was directed by Martin Campbell and stars Antonio Banderas, Anthony Hopkins, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Stuart Wilson. The film features the original Zorro, Don Diego de la Vega (Hopkins), escaping from prison to find his long-lost daughter (Zeta-Jones) and avenge the death of his wife at the hands of the corrupt governor Rafael Montero (Wilson). He is aided by his successor (Banderas), who is pursuing his own vendetta against the governor's right-hand man while falling in love with de la Vega's daughter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jared Harris</span> British/Irish actor

Jared Francis Harris is a British actor. His roles include Lane Pryce in the drama series Mad Men (2009–2012), for which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series; King George VI in the historical drama series The Crown (2016–2017); and Valery Legasov in the miniseries Chernobyl (2019), for which he won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor and was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie.

<i>Wilde</i> (film) 1997 film by Brian Gilbert

Wilde is a 1997 British biographical romantic drama film directed by Brian Gilbert. The screenplay, written by Julian Mitchell, is based on Richard Ellmann's 1987 biography of Oscar Wilde. It stars Stephen Fry in the title role, with Jude Law, Vanessa Redgrave, Jennifer Ehle, Gemma Jones, Judy Parfitt, Michael Sheen, Zoë Wanamaker, and Tom Wilkinson in supporting roles.

American Buffalo is a 1975 play by American playwright David Mamet that had its premiere in a showcase production at the Goodman Theatre, Chicago. After two additional showcase productions, it opened on Broadway in 1977.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joaquim de Almeida</span> Portuguese actor (born 1957)

Joaquim António Portugal Baptista de Almeida is a Portuguese actor. He started his film career playing a role in the 1982 action film The Soldier, and later achieved recognition for playing Andrea Bonanno in the 1987 Italian film Good Morning, Babylon. He achieved international fame with his portrayals of Félix Cortez in the 1994 thriller Clear and Present Danger and Bucho in the 1995 action thriller Desperado. Several years later, he became popular for playing Ramon Salazar on the Fox thriller drama series 24, between 2003 and 2004, and Hernan Reyes in the 2011 film Fast Five, a role he reprised in 2023's Fast X.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ronald Pickup</span> British actor (1940–2021)

Ronald Alfred Pickup was an English actor. He was active in television, film, and theatre, beginning with a 1964 appearance in Doctor Who. Theatre critic Michael Billington described him as "a terrific stage star and an essential member of Laurence Olivier's National Theatre company". His major screen roles included the title role in The Life of Verdi and Prince Yakimov in Fortunes of War (1987).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacob Vargas</span> Mexican actor (b. 1971)

Jacob Vargas is a Mexican-American actor, producer, and dancer.

<i>Just Cause</i> (film) 1995 film by Arne Glimcher

Just Cause is a 1995 American crime thriller film directed by Arne Glimcher and starring Sean Connery and Laurence Fishburne. It is based on John Katzenbach's novel of the same name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Foster (character)</span> Superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics

Dr. William "Bill" Foster, also known as Black Goliath, Giant-Man and Goliath, is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is a professor with powers similar to Hank Pym's increasing size and mass to gigantic proportions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don Winslow</span> American writer

Don Winslow is an American political activist and retired author best known for his crime novels including Savages, The Force and the Cartel Trilogy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Olivia Wilde</span> American actress (born 1984)

Olivia Wilde is an American actress, director and producer. She played Remy "Thirteen" Hadley on the medical-drama television series House (2007–2012), and has appeared in the films Tron: Legacy (2010), Cowboys & Aliens (2011), The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (2013), The Lazarus Effect (2015), and Don't Worry Darling (2022), which she also directed. She made her Broadway debut in 2017 as Julia in 1984.

John Herzfeld is an American film and television director, screenwriter, actor and producer. His feature film directing credits include Two of a Kind, 2 Days in the Valley (1996), 15 Minutes (2001) and Escape Plan: The Extractors (2017). He has also directed numerous made-for-television movies, including The Ryan White Story (1989), The Preppie Murder (1989), Casualties of Love: The "Long Island Lolita" Story (1993) and Don King: Only in America (1997), for which he was nominated for an Emmy and won the DGA award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Specials. He won a Daytime Emmy Award for directing the 1980 ABC Afterschool Special titled Stoned.

Joaquim António Portugal Baptista de Almeida is a Portuguese actor, who has appeared in more than 100 film and television roles. After doing some theater, Almeida began acting during the 1980s, appearing in films such as The Soldier (1982), The Honorary Consul (1983), Good Morning, Babylon (1987) and Milan noir (1988).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laurence Fishburne filmography</span>

Here is a comprehensive list of Laurence Fishburne's stage, film, television, video game, and music video credits.

Live Read is a monthly live staged reading of a film script and a part of the Film Independent at LACMA film series at the Bing Theater directed by Jason Reitman and hosted by Elvis Mitchell from 2011 to 2016. In 2019, Film Independent brought the series back as part of Film Independent Presents... at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, produced by director of programming and events, Rachel Bleemer. A guest director reads the stage directions in the scripts while images from the film would be projected behind the cast. The script is typically announced days before the event and while some actors were announced beforehand, full cast lists and the role each actor would play were kept secret until the event itself. The actors do not rehearse ahead of time.

<i>And Sudden Death</i> 1936 American film by Charles Barton

And Sudden Death is a 1936 American drama film directed by Charles Barton and written by Joseph Moncure March. The film stars Randolph Scott, Frances Drake, and Tom Brown; with supporting actors Billy Lee, Fuzzy Knight, Terry Walker and Porter Hall. The film was released on June 16, 1936, by Paramount Pictures.

<i>Last Flag Flying</i> 2017 film by Richard Linklater

Last Flag Flying is a 2017 American war comedy-drama film directed by Richard Linklater with a screenplay by Linklater and Darryl Ponicsan, based upon the latter's 2005 novel of the same name. It stars Steve Carell, Bryan Cranston, and Laurence Fishburne as three Vietnam War veterans who reunite after one of their sons is killed in the Iraq War.

Death Sentence is a 1974 American made-for-television crime film directed by E.W. Swackhamer and starring Cloris Leachman and Laurence Luckinbill. It is based on the 1968 novel After the Trial by Eric Roman.

References

  1. ↑ "Sony group playing pickup". The Hollywood Reporter . 26 June 2007.
  2. ↑ "Sony group playing pickup". The Hollywood Reporter . 26 June 2007.
  3. ↑ "The Death and Life of Bobby Z at BoxOfficeMojo.com". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2009-12-22.
  4. ↑ "Sony group playing pickup". The Hollywood Reporter . 26 June 2007.
  5. ↑ 'In All Candor: Don Winslow on Savages, The Kings of Cool and Satori'; CraveOnline , 5 July 2012
  6. ↑ Winslow, Don (1997). The death and life of Bobby Z (1st ed.). New York: Knopf. pp.  259 p., 24 cm. ISBN   0-679-45429-2. LCCN   96052202. OCLC   36060008.
  7. ↑ Stasio, Marilyn (May 25, 1997). "Crime (reviews of several novels, including The Death and Life of Bobby Z)". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-11-03.
  8. ↑ Taylor, Charles (August 5, 1997). "The Death and Life of Bobby Z". Salon. Archived from the original on 2008-12-30. Retrieved 2008-11-03.
  9. ↑ Chollet, Laurence (April 27, 1997). "Author Changes Tracks". The Record (Bergen County, NJ). Archived from the original on November 4, 2012. Retrieved 2008-11-03.
  10. ↑ Reed, Ronald (May 11, 1997). "It's a mad, mad, mad, mad chase. Review of The Death and Life of Bobby Z". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. p. 6. Retrieved 2008-11-03.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.