Money Talks (1997 film)
| Money Talks | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Brett Ratner |
| Produced by | Walter Coblenz Tracy Kramer |
| Written by |
Joel Cohen Alec Sokolow |
| Starring |
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| Music by | Lalo Schifrin |
| Cinematography |
Russell Carpenter Robert Primes |
| Edited by | Mark Helfrich |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | New Line Cinema |
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Release date
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Running time
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97 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $25 million |
| Box office | $78.4 million |
Money Talks is a 1997 American action comedy film directed by Brett Ratner, starring Chris Tucker and Charlie Sheen. This film is the first of four collaborations between Brett Ratner and Chris Tucker, with the other three being the Rush Hour series.
Franklin Maurice Hatchett (Chris Tucker) is a small-time car wash hustler and ticket scalper who owes money to a local mob leader named Carmine (Damian Chapa). He gets dimed out to the police by an investigating news reporter named James Russell (Charlie Sheen) after unintentionally thwarting Russell's attempts to have him confess his crimes on camera, and is taken to jail. When placed on a prison transport unit, he is handcuffed to a French criminal named Raymond Villard. The transport unit is attacked on a bridge, with mercenaries killing all the police officers and prisoners except for Franklin and Villard; the mercenaries are Villard's men, but since he is handcuffed to Hatchett he decides to bring him for the moment, and they escape on a helicopter with another French criminal named Dubray. While on the helicopter, Hatchett overhears the two discussing the location of a cache of stolen diamonds. Hatchett then jumps out of the helicopter after realizing that Villard and Dubray plan to kill him. While eating at a local diner, Franklin and Villard's mugshots are shown on the news as the two men who killed several police officers. Two other officers in the diner then recognize Franklin, and chase him into the street. He is able to elude them, and decides to call Russell after seeing his face on an advertisement.
Russell has just been fired from his job at Channel 12 News after arguing with his manager, but convinces Hatchett to hide with him since the next week is Sweeps Week. He arranges to get his job back, but plans to keep Hatchett hidden until the following Monday. Together they attend Russell's wedding rehearsal dinner, where Hatchett meets Russell's fiancé Grace (Heather Locklear), and somehow ingratiates himself to Grace's father (Paul Sorvino) and all the other guests by quoting Barry White and pretending to be Vic Damone's son. In the meantime, two police detectives question Hatchett's girlfriend Paula (Elise Neal), and wiretap her phone. After calling Paula, Hatchett tries to leave, but realizes that the police are combing the city for him, and convinces Russell to help him. The two rampage all over the city to find clues to clear Hatchett's name, including calling a bomb threat on a European nightclub, getting shot at by the police when they visit Paula, and being chased by Villard and Dubray, who murder a shopkeeper in the process, which eventually gets Russell's name involved and spread all over the news. The two visit Hatchett's childhood friend Aaron (Michael Wright), a local arms dealer, who gives them guns and promises to help if they get in trouble. The following morning, Hatchett convinces Grace's father, under false pretenses and still pretending to be Vic Damone Jr, to take him to the auto expo where he overheard the Europeans had stashed the diamonds. Hatchett and Grace's father get into a bidding war with Villard and Dubray over the car with the diamonds inside, which ends with Dubray chaotically chasing Hatchett across the city while Villard kidnaps Russell.
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