Extreme Measures (1996)

Director:

Michael Apted

Writers (WGA):

Michael Palmer (book)
Tony Gilroy (screenplay)

Release Date:

27 September 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Not all surgery is intended to cure. Don't move a muscle.

Plot:

Thriller about Guy Luthan (Hugh Grant), a British doctor working at a hospital in New York who starts...

Plot Keywords:

Hospital | Emergency Room | Doctor | Ethics | Medical

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Hugh Grant	...	Dr. Guy Luthan
Gene Hackman	...	Dr. Lawrence Myrick
Sarah Jessica Parker	...	Jodie Trammel
David Morse	...	FBI Agent Frank Hare
Bill Nunn	...	Det. Bob Burke
John Toles-Bey	...	Bobby
Paul Guilfoyle	...	Dr. Jeffrey Manko
Debra Monk	...	Dr. Judith Gruszynski
Shaun Austin-Olsen	...	Claude Minkins
André De Shields	...	Teddy Dolson
J.K. Simmons	...	Dr. Mingus
Peter Appel	...	Det. Stone
Diana Zimmer	...	Helen
Nancy Beatty	...	Ruth Myrick
Gerry Becker	...	Dr. Gene Spitelli

MPAA:

Rated R for violence, language, some nudity and graphic ER activity.

Runtime:

118 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:14 (theatrical rating) | Iceland:16 (video rating) | Brazil:14 | Canada:A (Ontario) | South Korea:15 | Philippines:PG-13 | Australia:M | Finland:K-14 | Germany:12 (bw) | Netherlands:16 | Portugal:M/16 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R | Norway:15

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Castle Rock Entertainment

Trivia:

In the movie, security for the illegal medical experiments is provided by two supposed police officers named Hare and Burke. In reality, William Hare and William Burke were two men in the business of supplying human cadavers to medical schools in 1820s Edinburgh - until it was learned that the ones they hadn't stolen from graveyards, they had murdered themselves.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Guy is told he severed his spine at C6 and was paralyzed from the neck down. In reality an injury to the C6 vertebrae would result in paralysis from the chest down - meaning he'd still be able to move his arms (although finger function would be impaired).

Quotes:

[repeated line]
Dr. Guy Luthan: Triphase...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Nanny: The Rosie Show (#4.4)" (1996)

Soundtrack:

ON MY MIND

Bloody wonderful and totally underrated

When I saw "Extreme measures" for the first time I didn't expect anything special from it. Just a basic thriller among others and that's pretty much it. However as it turned out, "Extreme measures" has a certain place in my top 10 of "the best suspense movies of the 90's". I think this movie has never received all the recognition it deserves. "Extreme measures" delivers excellent acting, fascinating plot, cool action and lots of excitement and most important of all, it gives birth to a rather interesting ethical question.

The story gets deeper and deeper and film really keeps the viewer in the edge of the seat. In the end even the bad guy (splendidly played by Gene Hackman) turns out to be, how should I put it...a "good" bad guy. If you haven't seen this thriller yet, I must say that I envy you because naturally the experience is the most impressive in the first time around when you haven't heard too much about this and haven't got a slightest idea what to expect. The less you know about this film in advance, the better. Actually I feel that even the mere trailer uncovers too much. Watch it, enjoy it.