Stormy Monday (Widescreen/Full Screen)

One American is Melanie Griffith as a cocktail waitress and vaguely defined moll (or former moll) of the other, Tommy Lee Jones, a ruthless moblike businessman who plans on making Newcastle, England his own--commercially, of course. (Political takeover is a little hard to imagine circa 1988). Melanie emits a sexy blend of sensuality and innocence, pretty much irresistible. The British are Sting, as the owner of a club (a role he neatly reprised in Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels), and Sean Bean as his cleaning person/gofer. Both are civil and, as it happens, tough as well. And Sting's coolness is in the ultra category, a real neat piece of work.

Sean and Melanie meet and then do a whole lot more; they do the romantic thing, all the while being pursued, as is Sting, by Tommy's henchmen. Tommy plays rough, as it turns out. The mingling of Yank and Brit romantically (Melanie and Sean) is paralleled by battling of Yank and Brit commercially (Tommy and Sting).

The Polish element? Melanie's character is half Polish, and, as well, the band slated to play in Sting's club has an accident so the Cracow Jazz Ensemble (or some such), all Poles, steps in instead, among which is Andrej, a sympathetic band manager, the only one who speaks English. Andrej is destined to play a critical role in the film, but rather than provide a spoiler here, see the film to understand what this means.

Violence plays a large part in the proceedings, as is obvious from the above description. This is a well-plotted film that put Mike Figgis on the map. Doesn't hurt that he not only wrote and directed it, but also composed the music for it, an effectively moody jazz score.

Recommended.

Tommy Lee Jones gives his typical wry bad guy performance as a developer involved in politics who wants to take over an entire town in England. The only thing left standing in his way is jazz nightclub owner Sting. Sting gives such a cool performance here you've got to believe he spent hours watching Steve McQueen films. Tangled up in this battle of wills is drifter Sean Bean (Boromir in Lord of the Rings) who meets waitress Melanie Griffith, who may do more than just waitress. As Irish drifter Bean begins a tentative romance with Griffith things turn dangerous and when Bean thwarts an attempt on Sting's life he goes to work at the club.

There are a couple of suprises in this film. Melanie Griffith tones down that sex kitten persona and gives a realistic performance as she tries to change her past and stick with Bean. The real revelation is Sting, who nearly steals this film with his ultra cool and natural performance. Maybe being in his home town of Newcastle brought out his best, not wanting to let the blokes down. He certainly doesn't.

There are solid performances from the always great Tommy Lee Jones and Sean Bean, and a memorable noir atmosphere. This has always been hard to find, and little known, but now that it is coming out on DVD maybe it will find the audience it deserves. This is a terrific film and you'll want to take a look at this one...