V.I. Warshawski is a 1991

1991 in film

The year 1991 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*April 28 - Bonnie Raitt marries actor Michael O'Keefe in New York* Terminator 2: Judgment Day, became one of the landmarks for science fiction action films with its groundbreaking visual effects from Industrial Light & Magic.*November...

 film directed by Jeff Kanew

Jeff Kanew

Jeffrey Roger Kanew is an American film director, writer and editor who early in his career made trailers for many films of the '70s and is probably best known for directing the film Revenge of the Nerds ....

. It was intended to be a film franchise for star Kathleen Turner

Kathleen Turner

Mary Kathleen Turner is an American actress. She came to fame during the 1980s, after roles in the Hollywood films Body Heat, Peggy Sue Got Married, Romancing the Stone, The War of the Roses, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Prizzi's Honor...

, but never happened after the film was a critical and commercial failure. The film was based on a series of books

V. I. Warshawski

Victoria Iphigenia “Vic” “V. I.” Warshawski is a fictional character in a series of detective novels and short stories written by Sara Paretsky. She is a gritty, independent private investigator from Chicago...

 by Sara Paretsky

Sara Paretsky

Sara Paretsky is a modern American author of detective fiction.-Life and career:Paretsky was born in Ames, Iowa and raised in Kansas, graduating from the University of Kansas with a degree in political science. She did community service work on the south side of Chicago in 1966 and returned in...

. Screenwriters Edward Taylor, David Aaron Cohen, and Nick Thiel adapted only one of Sara Paretsky

Sara Paretsky

Sara Paretsky is a modern American author of detective fiction.-Life and career:Paretsky was born in Ames, Iowa and raised in Kansas, graduating from the University of Kansas with a degree in political science. She did community service work on the south side of Chicago in 1966 and returned in...

's novels, Deadlock, for the script to the film. This script took at least one liberty with the story: whereas Paretsky had written the original novel as a serious mystery, Taylor, Cohen, and Thiel took an almost comedic approach.

Plot

Victoria "V.I" Warshawski is a Chicago based private detective who agrees to babysit for her new boyfriend; then he is murdered. Being the detective type, she makes the murder her next case. In doing so she befriends the victim's daughter, Kat, and together they set out to crack the case.

Principal cast

Actor	Role
Kathleen Turner Kathleen Turner Mary Kathleen Turner is an American actress. She came to fame during the 1980s, after roles in the Hollywood films Body Heat, Peggy Sue Got Married, Romancing the Stone, The War of the Roses, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Prizzi's Honor...	V.I. Warshawski
Jay O. Sanders Jay O. Sanders Jay Olcutt Sanders is an American character actor.Sanders was born in Austin, Texas, to Phyllis Rae and James Olcutt Sanders. He is noted for playing Mob lawyer character Steven Kordo in the 1986–88 NBC detective series Crime Story...	Murray Ryerson
Charles Durning Charles Durning Charles Durning is an American actor. With appearances in over 100 films, Durning's memorable roles include police officers in the Oscar-winning The Sting and crime drama Dog Day Afternoon , along with the comedies Tootsie, To Be Or Not To Be and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, the last two...	Det. Lt. Bobby Mallory
Angela Goethals Angela Goethals Angela Bethany Goethals is an American actress. She is known for her recurring guest appearance on 24 and her roles in the TV sitcom Phenom and the movie Home Alone.- Early life and career :...	Kat Grafalk, Bernard's Daughter
Nancy Paul	Paige Wilson Grafalk
Stephen Meadows Stephen Meadows Stephen Meadows is an American actor.-Early life:Meadows was born on November 6, 1950, in Atlanta, Georgia.-Career:...	Bernard 'Boom-Boom' Grafalk
Stephen Root Stephen Root Stephen Root is an American actor. He is best known for his comedic work on the TV sitcom NewsRadio, in the film Office Space and as the voice of Bill Dauterive and Buck Strickland in the animated series King of the Hill...	Mickey

Critical reception

Janet Maslin

Janet Maslin

Janet Maslin is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for The New York Times. She served as the Times film critic from 1977–1999.- Biography :...

 of The New York Times

The New York Times

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

had mixed thoughts about the film but commended the acting:
Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert

Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...

 of The Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3 out of 4 stars and also praised Turner's performance:
Turner's performance as the title character was the one detail Sara Paretsky

Sara Paretsky

Sara Paretsky is a modern American author of detective fiction.-Life and career:Paretsky was born in Ames, Iowa and raised in Kansas, graduating from the University of Kansas with a degree in political science. She did community service work on the south side of Chicago in 1966 and returned in...

, who had created the character and written the film's source novel, Deadlock

Deadlock

A deadlock is a situation where in two or more competing actions are each waiting for the other to finish, and thus neither ever does. It is often seen in a paradox like the "chicken or the egg"...

, found fit to praise, criticizing the majority of the other elements.

Film rating

• The film is rated  R13  in New Zealand.

External links