Time To Heat Up “Cult Movie Monday!”
This week’s “Cult Movie Monday” goes back 30 years to a time when erotic thrillers were big box office – and this time, a huge comeback for Al Pacino as well!
Sea Of Love – starring Al Pacino, Ellen Barkin and John Goodman
Al Pacino was one of Hollywood’s biggest stars in the late 70’s and early 80’s, but 1989’s erotic thriller “Sea Of Love” was a big comeback – his first film in more than 4 years.
Pacino stars as Frank Keller, a New York detective investigating a serial killer – one who finds the victims through the lonely hearts columns in newspapers.
Check out the trailer:
Keller falls in love with Helen, the main suspect in the case, played by Ellen Barkin, who exudes a lot of sexy charm as the suspect.
Here’s some great trivia, courtesy of IMDB:
Barkin, in a 2011 interview with Chicago’s Huffington Post, said that this movie was not her best work, didn’t think Director Harold Becker liked her, but this movie did make her a household name. The article states that Barkin says that “she was forced into doing the sensual grocery store scene, where she caresses yellow peppers while wearing little under her raincoat other than a sly thigh to entice co-star Al Pacino. Barkin said she had a big fight with Becker over it, since she really didn’t want to do it. Pacino was ‘brilliant’ and ‘very generous’ to work with, but the reason it’s hard for her to watch, is when she views Sea of Love (1989) what the audience sees as ‘attitude’ on her part, is really a ‘tenseness’. But through her training in method acting at the Actors Studio, she made her tenseness in that scene work for her in front of the camera. It was her first role where she was cast as ‘an object of desire’.”
SEA OF LOVE, John Goodman, Al Pacino, 1989, (c) Universal
John Goodman is also terrific in the film as Pacino’s fellow Cop – and there is a great sequence in the movie where the two set up “lonely hearts” dates in a restaurant in order to get a fingerprint from what they think is a woman who is killing her dates…
One other fun piece of trivia: acording to the documentary included with the DVD, there is a scene where Al Pacino gets rudely bumped into on 5th Avenue while trying to court Ellen Barkin. According to the director this was an unscripted moment – yes, that’s a real unsuspecting New Yorker just trying to get past some guy! Pacino incorporates the moment into his performance and continues without missing a beat.
“Sea Of Love” is a great “B” movie with an “A” list cast, just like another one of my “Cult Movie Monday” choices:
Yes, another great trio of Actors: Nicole Kidman, Alec Baldwin and Bill Pullman starred in the terrific “B” movie “Malice” – see the trailer here:
Let me know what you think of “Sea Of Love!”
Categories: Action Films, Cult Movies, Exploitation films, Film Fight Club, Great Films, Hollywood, Movies, New York, Obscure Movies, Pop Culture, Revenge Movies, Talent/Celebrities, Uncategorized
johnrieber 
Forced into a sensual grocery scene… well, it’s not everyday you get to caress yellow peppers and be paid for it.
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HA! Yes, it was a “B” movie moment to be sure from two “A” list talent!
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Both great films, with the casts on top form. Critics can sit and pull them apart, but why bother? Just very watchable entertainment, and even worth second viewings. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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Pete, they are “B” movies in tone and style with “A” list acting – fun plots, easy to watch and nice payoffs…they can’t all be “Citizen Kane” and I for one am happy about that!
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Me too! 🙂
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