Columbia Pictures’ first bona-fide David Puttnam-initiated project, and to the shareholders’ chagrin, it involved getting an old Brit chum in (and there’ll be moere of that sort of thing – much, much more). Ridley ‘Duellists’ Scott lards this tale of cop Tom Berenger protecting witness Mimi Rogers with shafts of light, backlighting and violated plate glass windows aplenty, as was the style at the time. Original writer Howard Franklin came up with a cerebral script – bit of action, mostly ‘Odd Couple thrown together’ character stuff, you know the drill – thinking the astute, writer-friendly Puttnam would lap it up. Bizarrely, Dave saw the film as a ‘thinking man’s Lethal Weapon’ – not what he had in mind at all – but promised Franklin a veto over rewrites. Some months later, Franklin phones up, wondering when these rewrites will be sent to him for approval. ‘Er, oh,’ quoth Puttnam. ‘Er, they started filming a couple of months ago. Sorry.’
