Hippoboscinae

Marked for Death
Theatrical Release Poster
Directed by	Dwight H. Little
Written by	Michael Grais Mark Victor
Produced by	Michael Grais Mark Victor
Starring	Steven Seagal Basil Wallace Keith David Tom Wright Joanna Pacula Elizabeth Gracen Bette Ford
Cinematography	Ric Waite
Edited by	O. Nicholas Brown
Music by	James Newton Howard
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	1990
Country	United States
Language	English

Marked for Death is a 1990 action film directed by Dwight H. Little. It stars Steven Seagal as John Hatcher, a former law enforcement agent. Upon moving back to his home town, Hatcher finds it taken over by a gang of vicious Jamaican drug dealers, led by Screwface (played by Basil Wallace).

The fight scenes in the film are arguably Seagal's best, integrating heavy elements of aikido, as well as use of weapons and arm dislocations. Seagal supposedly studied Jamaican voodoo rituals in depth to make the film.

Plot

Chicago DEA agent John Hatcher has just returned from Colombia, where his partner Chico (Richard Delmonte) was killed in a confrontation with drug dealers, and John killed the dealers who killed Chico. As a result of Chico's death, John has decided to retire.

One night, John and his friend Max (Keith David), a local high school football team's head coach, go to a bar. A gun fight breaks out between local drug dealers and a Jamaican gang called the Jamaican Posse, whose leader is a drug kingpin known as Screwface. Hatcher battles a few from both sides, killing some of Screwface's henchmen, before the gunfight ends.

The next day, Screwface and some of his henchmen get revenge by shooting up the house that John, his sister Melissa (Elizabeth Gracen), and Melissa's 12-year-old daughter Tracy (Danielle Harris) live in, and Tracy gets shot. Tracy is hospitalized in critical condition.

Hatcher comes out of retirement to join Max in a battle against Screwface, who later breaks into the Hatcher home and is about to kill Melissa, but Screwface leaves upon Hatcher's arrival. Hatcher now realizes that the only way to stop the Jamaican Posse is to bring down Screwface.

Teaming up with a Jamaican cop named Charles (Tom Wright), who has been trailing Screwface for years, Hatcher and Max head for Jamaica to find Screwface, whom Hatcher decapitates after a brief swordfight.

Back in Chicago, Hatcher displays Screwface's severed head to the Jamaican Posse to get them to leave town. However, Screwface seems to return from the dead and kills Charlie, causing the meeting to erupt into chaos. Max holds off the henchmen in a gunfight, while Hatcher gets into a swordfight with Screwface (who turns out to have been a pair of identical twins). Hatcher kills Screwface by gouging his eyes to blind him, breaking his back, followed by dropping him down an elevator shaft. Shortly after the battle, Hatcher leaves carrying Charles' body, with Max limping beside him.

Main cast

• Steven Seagal as John Hatcher
• Basil Wallace as Screwface
• Keith David as Max
• Joanna Pacula as Leslie
• Tom Wright as Charles

Box Office

Marked For Death was considered a box office success, earning a little more than $43 million domestically and $57 million worldwide.

Trivia

• The villain Screwface was appropriated from a Bob Marley song of the same name.
• A 1960 Pontiac Bonneville automobile is destroyed in the film.
• The actress who played Marta, Rita Verreos, later competed on the reality show Survivor Fiji
• A sample from the film was used in a track entitled "Screwface" by the electronic musician Luke Vibert, under his two monikers, Amen Andrew and Spac Hand Luke, on the CD "Amen Andrews Vs Spac Hand Luke" released in 2006.
• The film is supposed to take place in Chicago and its suburbs. However, during some scenes palm trees and hills are visible due to the filming in Los Angeles.

External links

• Marked for Death at IMDb