The Screen Addict | Andrew Davis

I’ve been catching up on two involuntary omissions in my Andrew Davis collection – the Chuck Norris Action-Thriller 𝗖𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 (𝟭𝟵𝟴𝟱) and 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗕𝗶𝗴, 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗟𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 (𝟭𝟵𝟵𝟱), starring Andy Garcia. I say involuntary, because these titles have been quite difficult to track down, and not for lack of trying.

I’ll circle back to Chuck and Andy later in this piece, first let’s talk about Davis.

I first became aware of Davis when I saw 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝘂𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 (𝟭𝟵𝟵𝟯) more than three decades ago. At the time, we had what was called the riksbioscoop in Amsterdam. “riks” is Dutch slang for “rijksdaalder”, local currency equivalent to about three dollars. The name referred to the price of admission, which was of course a bargain compared to regular movie theaters. The riksbioscoop could afford to offer these low prices because they reran blockbusters in a so-called second theatrical window, two to three months after initial release. In today’s streaming-dominated world, this particular window has become premium pay for home entertainment, bypassing cinemas completely.

But I digress.

I saw 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝘂𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 for three bucks in the riksbiocoop and was completely blown away. I was already a fan of Harrison Ford after growing up with Star Wars and Indiana Jones, and 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝘂𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 made me an instant admirer of Davis as well. If there was such a thing as a gold standard for the Action-Thriller genre, it would be this film, 𝗗𝗶𝗲 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗱 (𝟭𝟵𝟴𝟴) and 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗲𝗱 (𝟭𝟵𝟵𝟰).

It was only after 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝘂𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 that I discovered 𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝗶𝗲𝗴𝗲 (𝟭𝟵𝟵𝟮). I wasn’t a huge fan of Steven Seagal, but when I found out that Davis directed this Die-Hard-on-a-Battleship, I couldn’t get to the video store fast enough. 𝗨𝗦 led to me finding out about 𝗡𝗶𝗰𝗼 a.k.a. 𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗮𝘄 (𝟭𝟵𝟴𝟴), and suddenly everything clicked – Davis had helped kickstart Seagal’s movie career!

After 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝘂𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲, Davis was fully on my radar. I remember being very excited about 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 (𝟭𝟵𝟵𝟲) after seeing the promo which featured Keanu Reeves on a motorbike being chased by a giant explosion. This was right around the time the game-changing trailer for 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗗𝗮𝘆 (𝟭𝟵𝟵𝟲) had come out, so big booms had become the norm for marketing campaigns. I liked 𝗖𝗥, but it wasn’t on the level of 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝘂𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲.

In ‘98 I fulfilled my childhood dream of coming to America, when I found a job working as a dishwasher at an all-boys camp in Eagle River, Wisconsin. There wasn’t much to do in Eagle River, except for drinking beer and going to the movies. Fortunately, 1998 was a formidable year for cinema, so I saw many.

A standout was Davis’ 𝗖𝗥 follow-up 𝗔 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗠𝘂𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿 (𝟭𝟵𝟵𝟴), a loose remake of Hitchcock’s 𝗗𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗠 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗠𝘂𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿 (𝟭𝟵𝟱𝟰). I personally can never get enough of Michael Douglas playing a narcissistic billionaire, so this was right up my alley.

And speaking of narcissistic characters – ever since I first discovered him in 𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗼’𝘀 𝗪𝗮𝘆 (𝟭𝟵𝟵𝟯), I was eager to see Viggo Mortensen play another shady lowlife. I’m sorry, but Mortensen just has a knack for playing ne’er-do-wells, and the deliciously deceptive David Shaw in 𝗔𝗣𝗠 certainly is one of ‘em.

I guess it was inevitable that Davis, who by the turn of the century had become one of Hollywood’s hottest directors, would at some point team up with Tinseltown’s biggest star – Arnold Schwarzenegger. That eventually happened with 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗗𝗮𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗲 (𝟮𝟬𝟬𝟮), a pretty dark tale about a firefighter who goes after the people behind an act of terror that killed his family. 𝗖𝗗 is a solid film, but it’s one of the very few in Schwarzenegger’s oeuvre that I haven’t seen a gazillion times. That says it all, I guess.

Davis last two feature films before he disappeared from the Hollywood scene, were 𝗛𝗼𝗹𝗲𝘀 (𝟮𝟬𝟬𝟯) and 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝘂𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗻 (𝟮𝟬𝟬𝟲). I haven’t seen either in a while, but the quality is always there in Davis’ pics. Especially 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝘂𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗻, an Action-Thriller about a traumatized US Coast Guard rescue swimmer (Kevin Costner) who takes a shine to a cocky rookie (Ashton Kutcher) really floats my boat, so to speak.

Now that I’ve finally seen Chuck Norris’ 𝗖𝗼𝗦, it seems to me that this film was more or less a dry run for 𝗡𝗶𝗰𝗼. Not only is the storyline very similar, much of the cast and crew reappears as well. The most notable recurring character is Henry Silva, the venerable actor who plays the big baddie in both pics. 𝗖𝗼𝗦 is just a very well-made Eighties Action-flick that was unfortunately overshadowed by the more high-profile entries of that era.

𝗦𝗕𝗦𝗟, Davis’ only attempt at Comedy to date, is a bit of an outlier in his filmography. Garcia plays twin brothers Ruben and Robby who find themselves clashing over their recently deceased adoptive mother’s estate. Davis wrote the script himself, and the result is a charming but pretty chaotic hotchpotch. Still – Joe Pantoliano, Alan Arkin, Rachel Ticotin and two Andy Garcias are never not engaging.

Davis hasn’t directed a movie since 2006, and I always wondered what happened to his career. Turns out that the Chicago native was actually co-authoring a novel titled Disturbing the Bones with acclaimed writer Jeff Biggers. According to IMDb, Davis is simultaneously developing this fascinating story about a Chicago detective and a young female archeologist who accidentally stumble upon a geopolitical conspiracy into a feature film. Sounds like a return to his Action-Thriller roots to me, I can’t wait.

So, what happened to the riksbioscoop? Unfortunately, the concept ultimately couldn’t compete with the rise of Pay TV and streaming platforms. The cinema disappeared, and the building briefly housed a location of Planet Hollywood before finally remodeling into a casino.

For me however, it will always be the place where I saw a timeless film and discovered a great director.

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Twitter (X): Robin Logjes | The Screen Addict