Hollywood Homicide

Hollywood Homicide
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Ron Shelton
Written by	Robert Souza Ron Shelton
Starring	Harrison Ford Josh Hartnett Lena Olin Bruce Greenwood Isaiah Washington Lolita Davidovich Keith David Master P Dwight Yoakam Martin Landau
Music by	Alex Wurman
Cinematography	Barry Peterson
Editing by	Paul Seydor
Studio	Revolution Studios
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	June 13, 2003 (2003-06-13)
Running time	116 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$75 million
Box office	$51,142,659

Hollywood Homicide is a 2003 American action comedy film starring Harrison Ford and Josh Hartnett.

The film also features Lena Olin, Lolita Davidovich, Martin Landau, Bruce Greenwood, Isaiah Washington, Keith David, Dwight Yoakam and Master P in supporting roles, with Eric Idle making a cameo appearance. It was written by Robert Souza and Ron Shelton, directed by Shelton and produced by Lou Pitt.

The film is based on the true experiences of Souza, who was a homicide detective in the LAPD Hollywood Division and moonlighted as a real estate broker in his final ten years on the job.

Plot

Sergeant Joe Gavilan (Ford) is a financially strapped Hollywood homicide detective who for several years has been moonlighting as a real estate broker. His partner is K. C. Calden (Hartnett), a much younger officer who teaches yoga on the side and wants to be an actor.

The duo is assigned to investigate the murders of four men, members of a rap group called H2OClick who were gunned down in a nightclub by two unidentified assailants. While investigating, the detectives discover there had been a witness who escaped unnoticed. Gavilan is distracted by a looming real estate deal that may be the key to getting out of debt, while Calden pursues his acting dreams by trying to attract talent agents.

Unknown to the detectives, Antoine Sartain (Washington), the manager of H2OClick, has his head of security eliminate the two hitmen they had hired to carry out the murders of H2OClick. Gavilan and Calden initially had believed the murders to be gang-related, but Gavilan sees the bodies of the hitmen at the morgue and concludes they were killed by someone else.

Gavilan learns from an undercover officer (Phillips) posing as a prostitute that the songwriter for H2OClick, a man named K-Roc, has gone missing. Gavilan believes he is the murder witness. It proves difficult to track down K-Roc when they cannot determine his real name. K-Roc is later revealed to be Oliver Robideaux, the son of Olivia Robideaux (Knight), a former Motown singer.

The arrival of Lieutenant Bernard "Benny the Executioner" Macko (Greenwood) from Internal Affairs at headquarters unnerves Gavilan -— they have a bad history ever since Gavilan proved him wrong on a case years ago. Gavilan's love interest, a psychic named Ruby (Olin), used to date Macko, who is intent on taking away Gavilan's badge, going so far as to try to frame him.

Gavilan and Calden form a closer bond. Calden reveals that his father Danny Calden, also a cop, had been mysteriously gunned down during a sting operation gone wrong. The elder Calden's partner at the time, Leroy Walsey, was implicated in the murder, but later released on lack of evidence.

K-Roc is tracked to his home, where Olivia Robideaux professes her son's innocence and claims Antoine Sartain, the manager of the group, was the real culprit. Sartain had been embezzling money from H2OClick, whose members found out and threatened to hire lawyers to nullify their contracts. Sartain hired the hitmen as a "lesson" to all clients of his record label. It also turns out that Sartain's head of security is none other than Leroy Walsey, and that Macko was in cahoots with him, as well.

The detectives prepare to arrest Sartain and Walsey, but cannot locate them. Gavilan enlists the help of Ruby, who, after a brief meditating session, leads him and Calden to a Beverly Hills clothing store. Sartain and his men, including Walsey, happen to drive by the store, so Gavilan and Calden follow in a wild car chase through the streets of Los Angeles.

After a crash, and subsequent shootout in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Gavilan catches up with Sartain, while Calden pursues Wasley. During a struggle, Gavilan manages to throw Sartain off the top of a building, killing him. Meanwhile, Claden traps Walsey in an alley, and Wasley draws a gun on Calden. Wasley admits to killing the detective's father. Calden utilizes his acting skills to beg and plead for Wasley to spare him, which distracts Walsey enough, just as he is about the pull the trigger, for Calden to knock the gun away and wound Wasley with his duty weapon. Overcoming his desire to kill the man who murdered his father, Calden arrests him.

Gavilan and Calden reunite as LAPD officers swarm the scene in the background. Macko appears and calls for the arrests of the two officers, but Macko is arrested for his association with Wasley and Sartain.

The case over, Gavilan and Ruby (wearing a dress she bought at that clothing store) attend a production of A Streetcar Named Desire, in which Calden is furthering his acting ambitions by playing Stanley Kowalski. It is implied that Gavilan has successfully brokered the real estate deal. Cops to the end, though, both receive calls from headquarters, causing them to leave after the play.

Cast

• Harrison Ford as Detective-Sergeant Joe Gavilan
• Josh Hartnett as Detective K. C. Calden
• Lena Olin as Ruby
• Bruce Greenwood as Lieutenant Bennie Macko
• Isaiah Washington as Antoine Sartain
• Lolita Davidovich as Cleo Ricard
• Keith David as Leon
• Master P as Julius Armas
• Gladys Knight as Olivia Robidoux
• Lou Diamond Phillips as Wanda
• Meredith Scott Lynn as Det. Jackson
• Tom Todoroff as Det. Zino
• James MacDonald as Danny Broome
• Kurupt as Oliver "K-Ro" Robidoux
• Eric Idle as the Celebrity
• André Benjamin as Silk Brown
• Dwight Yoakam as Leroy Wasley
• Martin Landau as Jerry Duran
• Jennette McCurdy as the Van Family daughter

Reception

The film was not well received by critics. On the film review website Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 30% approval rating based on 155 critics' reviews. One of the few major critics to give it a positive notice was Roger Ebert, who awarded the film 3 out of 4 stars.

Box office

The film did not perform well at the box office, covering only $51 million worldwide of its $75 million budget. It opened at #5 and grossed $11,112,632 in the opening weekend. The film wrapped up its box office run after 12 weeks, grossing $30,940,691 in Canada and the United States and $20,201,968 in other markets for a worldwide total of $51,142,659.

External links

• Official website
• Hollywood Homicide at the Internet Movie Database
• Hollywood Homicide at Rotten Tomatoes
• Hollywood Homicide at Box Office Mojo
• Josh Hartnett interview for Hollywood Homicide