Editing Marked for Death

{{Short description|1990 action film directed by Dwight H. Little}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Marked for Death
| image          = Marked For Death film.jpg
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| director       = [[Dwight H. Little]]
| writer         = {{plainlist|
* [[Michael Grais]]
* [[Mark Victor]]<ref>{{cite news|title= Fighting Words : Movie: The writers of 'Marked for Death' and Steven Seagal are still feuding over script credit. |work= [[Los Angeles Times]] |date=1990-10-16|url= https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-10-16-ca-2619-story.html|access-date=2010-11-25|first=David J.|last=Fox}}</ref>
}}
| producer       = {{plainlist|
* Michael Grais
* [[Steven Seagal]]
* Mark Victor
}}
| starring       = {{plainlist|
* Steven Seagal
* [[Joanna Pacuła|Joanna Pacula]]
* [[Keith David]]
* [[Kevin Dunn]]
}}
| cinematography = [[Ric Waite]]
| editing        = O. Nicholas Brown
| music          = [[James Newton Howard]]
| studio         = [[Steamroller Productions]]
| distributor    = [[20th Century Fox]]
| released       = {{film date|1990|10|5}}
| runtime        = 93 minutes
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| budget         = $12 million<ref>{{cite news|title= COMPANY NEWS; Small Budget, Small Star, Big Hit|work= [[The New York Times]]|date=1990-10-23|url= https://www.nytimes.com/1990/10/23/business/company-news-small-budget-small-star-big-hit.html |access-date=2010-12-14|first=Larry|last=Rohter}}</ref>
| gross          = $58 million<ref name=Mojo>{{Mojo title|markedfordeath}}</ref>
}}
'''''Marked for Death''''' is a 1990 American [[action film]] directed by [[Dwight H. Little]]. The film stars [[Steven Seagal]] as John Hatcher, a former [[DEA]] troubleshooter who returns to his [[Illinois]] hometown to find it taken over by a [[Jamaican posse|posse]] of vicious [[Jamaica]]n [[illegal drug trade|drug dealers]] led by Screwface. Using a combination of fear and [[Obeah]], a Jamaican [[syncretism|syncretic religion]] of [[West Africa]]n and [[Caribbean]] origin similar to [[Haitian Vodou|Haitian vodou]] and [[Santería]], Screwface attempts to control the drug trade in Lincoln Heights.

==Plot==
<!-- Per WP:FILMPLOT, plot summaries for feature films should be between 400 to 700 words. -->
DEA Agents John Hatcher and his partner Chico pursue drug dealer Hector on foot. Later, at a drug deal, Hector is revealed to have blown John's cover. John and Chico manage to fight their way out of the ambush caused by Hector. During their escape, Chico is shot and mortally wounded by a woman pretending to be unarmed. In response, Hatcher immediately shoots several rounds through the wall, hitting and killing the woman. Hatcher kicks in the door to her room and then realizes Chico's assailant was a woman and he has killed her. Hatcher gets Chico back to the car, but Chico dies as they leave the meeting spot. He returns home and he retires from working from the DEA. He visits his friend Max Keller, who is disturbed to see Jamaican drug dealers, known as Posse, hanging around the school where Max works. Later at a bar, they see the dealers again, and a gunfight breaks out. John manages to assist in arresting one of the Jamaicans and a responding FBI agent asks him to join the case; he refuses. At the scene, a detective finds a symbol which an expert named Leslie Davalos reveals to be a religious icon to mark the crimes of a man called Screwface.

Screwface sends some men to do a drive-by at John's sister's house (where he is staying); they wound his niece Tracey. John interrogates a gangster he saw in the club shootout called Jimmy Fingers, but he refuses to help and John is forced to kill him. One of Screwface's men, who is Jimmy's accomplice, arrives and only gives a small clue on Screwface before defenestrating. Upon returning to his sister's house, John finds the same symbol on a rug along with a cow tongue and black cross nailed to the door. Leslie informs him that such symbols mark the person for death. John demands that the FBI provide protection for his family.

During a call with his sister, she is attacked again by Screwface's men in an attempt to ritually sacrifice her. John rushes and arrives in time as Screwface flees. John enlists Max's help to go after the gang and try to find Screwface, trailing some of his gang in a park and engage in a chase ending in a high-end store. John and Max kill several of them but do not learn anything about Screwface. However, Screwface manages to ambush John that night, trapping his car between two construction vehicles and burning it with a molotov cocktail, but John escapes.

Charles Marks, a Jamaican detective working with the FBI on Screwface's crimes, reaches out to John and Max and offers his help. Together they acquire new weapons and go to Jamaica, where Screwface is thought to have fled. With the help of a former girlfriend of his, they presumably get an address and a clue: she says that Screwface has two heads and four eyes. The three descend on Screwface's complex during a party one evening. John uses an explosive device to distract the guards and cut the power; Max and Charles open fire on the ambushing Posse gang while John infiltrates the house. He is captured and prepared for a ritual sacrifice by Screwface but escapes his bonds and manages to behead Screwface in a swordfight.

They return to Chicago and present Screwface's head and sword to the remaining loyal gang members in order to intimidate them into leaving. John tells them to get out of town within 24 hours or he will come for all of them. As they are leaving, Screwface surprisingly appears behind Charles and mortally wounds him with a sword. The posse, emboldened by Screwface's appearance, start shooting at the trio, with Max getting shot in the leg as they escape. Charles passes away during the escape, as Max says he will cover John's pursuit of Screwface, who turns out to be a twin brother of the Screwface Charles said had fled to Jamaica and was responsible for all the Posse crimes in the United States. After a lengthy fight, John manages to blind Screwface before breaking his back and throwing him down an elevator shaft. His gang sees his body impaled on a spike and John remarks they he hoped that they weren't triplets. John and Max leave the crime scene with Charles' body in tow.

==Cast==
{{div col}}
* [[Steven Seagal]] as DEA Agent John Hatcher
* [[Keith David]] as Max Keller
* [[Joanna Pacuła]] as Professor Leslie Davalos
* [[Basil Wallace]] as "Screwface"
**Wallace also portrays Screwface's Twin Brother
* [[Tom Wright (American actor)|Tom Wright]] as Detective Charles Marks
* [[Kevin Dunn]] as FBI Agent Sal Roselli
* [[Elizabeth Gracen]] as Melissa Hatcher
* [[Bette Ford]] as Kate Hatcher
* [[Danielle Harris]] as Tracey Hatcher
* [[Al Israel]] as Tito Barco
* Richard Delmonte as DEA Agent Chico
* Arlen Dean Snyder as DEA Agent Duvall
* Victor Romero Evans as Nesta
* [[Michael Ralph]] as "Monkey"
* [[Danny Trejo]] as Hector
* [[Tom Dugan (actor born 1961)|Tom Dugan]] as Paco
* Gary Carlos Cervantes as Richard "Little Richard"
* Joe Renteria as Raoul
* [[Jeffrey Anderson-Gunter]] as "Nago"
* [[Peter Jason]] as DEA Assistant Director Pete Stone
* Stanley White as Sheriff O'Dwyer
* [[Earl Boen]] as Dr. Stein
* [[Rita Verreos]] as Marta, Voodoo Priestess
* Tracey Burch as Sexy Girl #1
* [[Teri Weigel]] as Sexy Girl #2
* [[Jimmy Cliff]] as Himself
{{div col end}}

== Production ==
Steven Seagal had wanted to hire director Dwight Little for his second feature, ''[[Hard to Kill]]'', but studio [[Warner Bros.]] vetoed his choice, and went with [[Bruce Malmuth]] instead. According to Little, Seagal had the option in his contract with Warner to do one film with another studio. Seagal chose to exercise that option and make his third film at 20th Century Fox, where he demanded  that they hire Little for ''Marked for Death''. "I got that job only because Steven insisted," said Little.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Dwight Little interview|url=https://www.flashbackfiles.com/dwight-little-interview|access-date=2021-05-23|website=THE FLASHBACK FILES|language=en-US}}</ref> During production, the studio was pushing for more humor in the film, but Little and Seagal had made a pact to resist these attempts. Their template for the film was [[The French Connection (film)|''The French Connection'']].<ref name=":0" />

On the third day of shooting ''Marked for Death'', ''Hard to Kill'' came out in theaters. Dwight Little: "It opened huge, and it stayed on top for a while. No one, including Steven, thought that was going to be success. But it was. Frankly, just based on his charisma and a couple of good action scenes. I was downtown shooting a scene for ''Marked for Death'' when suddenly I see all these limos and towncars coming to the set. They were all CAA-agents and producers, coming out of the woodwork to see the next big action guy. They all wanted to talk to him."<ref name=":0" />

Of Seagal's martial arts, Little said: "Steven is the only guy who does what he does in the movies, where you let your opponent's energy go past you. In that respect, he's totally unique. But it's not a forward, high kicking, punching thing. That's why I felt I needed action movie stuff, like car chases, gun fights, explosions and some old fashioned cop stuff. Because if we tried to string together a bunch of Steven's fights, they will quickly start to feel the same."<ref name=":0" />

==Music==
{{main|Marked for Death (soundtrack)}}
A soundtrack containing [[hip hop]], [[reggae]], and [[R&B music]] was released on September 27, 1990 by [[Delicious Vinyl]].

==Reception==
===Box office===
''Marked for Death'' opened at number one at the U.S. box office with an opening weekend gross of $11,790,047,<ref name=Mojo/> making it Seagal's second straight film to open #1. It remained at #1 for three weekends.<ref name=Mojo/> It earned a little more than $46 million domestically and $58 million worldwide.<ref>{{cite news|title= Seagal's Martial Arts Film Still Has a Punch |work= [[Los Angeles Times]]|date=1990-10-15|url= https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-10-15-ca-2094-story.html|access-date=2010-11-25|first=Pat H.|last=Broeske}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title= Steven Seagal Wants His Oscar |work= [[Los Angeles Times]]|date=1990-10-14 |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-10-14-ca-3282-story.html |access-date=2010-11-25}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Seagal Keeps 'Death' Hold on Box Office|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=1990-10-22|url= https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-10-22-ca-2441-story.html|access-date=2010-12-28|first=Pat H.|last=Broeske}}</ref>

===Critical response===
[[Rotten Tomatoes]], a [[review aggregator]], reports that 27% of 11 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 4/10.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/marked_for_death/|title=Marked for Death (1990)|publisher=[[Rotten Tomatoes]]|access-date=2020-11-10}}</ref>  Audiences polled by [[CinemaScore]] gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.<ref name="CinemaScore">{{cite web |url=https://m.cinemascore.com |title=CinemaScore search |publisher=[[CinemaScore]]}}</ref>  Both ''[[The New York Times]]'' and ''[[The Washington Post]]'' gave it a thumbs up, writing that it was another solid Seagal action film.<ref name=NYTrev>Janet Maslin, [https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9C0CE5D61E3CF935A35753C1A966958260 Marked for Death (1990)], ''The New York Times'', October 6, 1990, Accessed January 13, 2011.</ref><ref name=WPrev>Richard Harrington, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/markedfordeathrharrington_a0aaf4.htm "Marked for Death"], ''The Washington Post'', October 1990, Accessed January 13, 2011.</ref> In a less than favorable response from ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'', they wrote that the film is partially "undone by murky cinematography".<ref>{{cite magazine|title= Marked for Death|magazine= [[Entertainment Weekly]]|date= 1994-07-15|url= https://ew.com/article/1994/07/15/marked-death/|access-date= 2010-12-07|archive-date= 2009-04-21|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090421110412/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20208655,00.html|url-status= live}}</ref> The ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' was very critical of the film.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1990-10-26-9003300013-story.html |title='Death' Marked By Stereotypes |newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]] |access-date=2019-04-11}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|0100114}}
* {{Rotten Tomatoes|marked_for_death|Marked for Death}}

{{Dwight H. Little}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marked For Death}}
[[Category:1990 films]]
[[Category:1990 action films]]
[[Category:1990 martial arts films]]
[[Category:1990s English-language films]]
[[Category:American action films]]
[[Category:American martial arts films]]
[[Category:American buddy cop films]]
[[Category:Fictional portrayals of the Chicago Police Department]]
[[Category:Films about the Drug Enforcement Administration]]
[[Category:Films about drugs]]
[[Category:American films about revenge]]
[[Category:20th Century Fox films]]
[[Category:Films scored by James Newton Howard]]
[[Category:Films directed by Dwight H. Little]]
[[Category:Films shot in Colombia]]
[[Category:Films shot in Chicago]]
[[Category:Films shot in Jamaica]]
[[Category:Films shot in Los Angeles]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Michael Grais]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Mark Victor]]
[[Category:1990s American films]]
[[Category:English-language action films]]