Fatal Beauty | |
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Theatrical release poster
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Directed by | Tom Holland |
Produced by |
Samuel Goldwyn, Jr. Leonard Kroll |
Written by |
Hilary Henkin Dean Riesner |
Story by | Bill Svanoe |
Starring | |
Music by | Harold Faltermeyer |
Cinematography | David M. Walsh |
Edited by | Don Zimmerman |
Distributed by |
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer United Artists (MGM/UA Communications Co.) |
Release date
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October 30, 1987 |
Running time
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104 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $12 million |
Fatal Beauty is a 1987 American action comedy thriller film starring Whoopi Goldberg and Sam Elliott, directed by Tom Holland. The screenplay was written by Hilary Henkin and Dean Riesner. The original music score was composed by Harold Faltermeyer, of Top Gun fame. The film was marketed with the tagline "An earthquake is about to hit L.A. It's called Detective Rita Rizzoli."
Detective Rita Rizzoli (Whoopi Goldberg) is an undercover narcotics police officer who stages an undercover buy with drug dealer Tito Delgadillo, when during the bust she sees her friend and informant Charlene being dragged out of the bar by her pimp and runs to her aid, alerting Delgadillo of being an undercover cop. After saving Charlene and shooting the pimp, Rizzoli notices all the money used for the buy is missing. Delgadillo retreats to a warehouse in Los Angeles where a family of Asian immigrants is preparing plastic envelopes of imported cocaine stamped with the gang's brand name "Fatal Beauty". One worker, however, has been sampling too much of the drug and, in his intoxicated state, prepares envelopes with a fatally high concentration of cocaine and a misaligned stamp. Delgadillo discovers the error but before they can correct it, the house is attacked by two small-time hoods, Leo Nova and Earl Skinner (Brad Dourif and Mike Jolly) who kill everyone within including Delgadillo and steal the lethal product.
Back at the police station, Rizzoli is chewed out by her boss, Lt. Kellerman (John P. Ryan), for ruining the bust when he receives a call in which Rizzoli is needed at the warehouse where the drugs were being made. At the warehouse Rizzoli identifies Delgadillo as the only victim whom authorities weren't able to identify because his face was mutilated during the attack by pointing out the diamond pinkie ring on his finger bearing his initials that he showed Rizzoli earlier that evening. Rizzoli also discovers traces of Fatal Beauty and Charlie Dawson's body, which was stuffed in a van labeled "Kroll Enterprises". The next morning Rizzoli receives a call from Charlene, asking for money. When Rizzoli refuses, Charlene offers some information about the drug-related murder the previous night, hoping to sway Rizzoli to give her the money. Charlene tells Rizzoli that there is a goon squad looking for the killers. She also tells her that the person, to whom all the drugs belonged, drove a "Rolls." That prompts Rizzoli to pay a visit to Conrad Kroll (Harris Yulin), whom she accuses of drug dealing.