The Evil That Men Do (film)
| The Evil That Men Do | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster
|
|
| Directed by | J. Lee Thompson |
| Produced by | Pancho Kohner |
| Written by | John Crowther David Lee Henry |
| Based on |
The Evil That Men Do by R. Lance Hill |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Ken Thorne |
| Cinematography | Javier Ruvalcaba Cruz |
| Edited by | Enrique Estevez |
|
Production
company |
|
| Distributed by | Tri-Star Pictures |
|
Release date
|
|
|
Running time
|
90 minutes |
| Country | Mexico United States United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $4.6 million |
| Box office | $13.1 million |
The Evil That Men Do is a 1984 Mexican-American-British action thriller film directed by J. Lee Thompson, and starring Charles Bronson, Theresa Saldana, and Joseph Maher. The film was adapted by David Lee Henry and John Crowther from the novel of the same name by R. Lance Hill. Bronson plays a former assassin, who comes out of retirement to avenge the death of his journalist friend.
The movie marks the fifth collaboration between Bronson and director J. Lee Thompson (following 1976's St. Ives, 1977's The White Buffalo, 1980's Caboblanco, and 1983's 10 to Midnight).
Holland is a former CIA assassin who lives quietly and peacefully on a West Indies island. He is persuaded out of retirement by the death of Jorge Hidalgo, a friend and dissident journalist. Hidalgo was murdered by Clement Molloch, a Welsh doctor who lives in Guatemala. Molloch has made a science of the practice of torture and sells his knowledge and skills to any government that can pay his price.
Holland is hired by Hector Lomelin, a professor and friend of Hidalgo. He poses as a family man and is accompanied to Guatemala by Hidalgo's widow Rhiana and daughter Sarah.
Additional actors included Enrique Lucero as Aristos; Roger Cudney as Cannell; Constanza Hool as Isabel Lomelin; and Joe Seneca as Santiago.
The movie's first draft was written by the novel's writer; R. Lance Hill (as per the terms of his contract). John Crowther was hired to rewrite the draft in the spring of 1982. Crowther was originally hired on a weekly contract, but when the producers realized the extent to which the script needed rewriting, it was drastically extended. Prior to rewriting the film's screenplay, Crowther had written the martial-arts, action movie Kill and Kill Again. Crowther had known Pancho Kohner - the movies producer - for many years. It was Kohner who hired him to rewrite the script. In addition to this, Crowther had worked on Bronson's earlier movies. For example, he was an uncredited writer on Love and Bullets; and a casting director on 10 to Midnight. According to Crowther, Hill's script was of poor quality, and the producers knew that it would need "major rewrites". In Crowther's opinion, there were "holes" in the logic of Hill's script. He gave an example where, in the novel, Molloch is said to have better security than an "Israeli Mossad". But in the reality of Hill's script, Molloch merely has "three lame-os" providing him with security. Crowther called Hill's premise "ridiculous". Crowther felt that it was a constant challenge to rewrite the script. To make the movie more interesting, seven of the novel’s minor characters were cut from the script. In addition to this, a number of vignettes were also cut, including: Moloch’s surreal dream of being tortured in a concentration camp by Josef Mengele.
...
Wikipedia