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We have taken some photos of "Heaven's Prisoners". They represent actual movie quality.

• There should have been sequels posted on 20 Apr 2009

  The character of Dave Robicheaux would have been a fascinating one to follow in follow-up features, which is what Alex Baldwin at one time had in mind. But to date, Heaven's Prisoners is the only one made. Having read the James Lee Burke novels, there were a tremendous opportunity to have seen the New Orleans underworld in a way that had both an eerie attraction and a noir aspect that could have translated into a very powerful set of features. There is still something there that could be tapped, because a setting in the Crescent City is a natural for this type of movie. Heaven's Prisoners just scratched the surface. It certainly helped having one of my favorite nasty guys playing Bubba Rocque, in Eric Roberts, and Teri Hatcher showing off her butterfly, pre-Desperate Housewives. But then, Burke's novels have some of the weirdest evil-doers twisting Robicheaus every which way and Prisoners had its share. Makes for a great show.

• This desperate Housewive steals the show posted on 14 Apr 2009

  After rescuing an orphaned young girl in an air-plain crash and a visit from a DEA agent, Dave Robicheaux (Alec Baldwin) gets drawn into a rather unfortunate series of events.This film has about as much of a running time as "State of Grace", but at the same time feels a bit longer, as this movie doesn't flow quite as well as the aforementioned one. It could've definitely stood to have been trimmed up a tad. Yet the acting is adequate enough, there's a great chase sequence and Terri Hatcher has one of the more memorable entrances to say the least.Where I Saw it: Starz Mystery My Grade: B+ Eye Candy: Terri Hatcher pulls off The full Monty on a balcony

• Very depressing, very dumb posted on 12 Apr 2009

  An alcoholic ex-cop takes on the drug lords, and because of this macho mission, he stupidly gets his wife killed; for that we are to feel that he is a hero??

  For those of you that watch this movie just because Teri Hatcher bares all, you're going to be disappointed. That scene only lasts 2 seconds, and you will then realize that she looks a whole lot better with her clothes on.

• Another Pretty Solid Modern 'Noir' posted on 09 Apr 2009

  I guess you could call this a "neo-noir," which is a modern-day film noir. It has that atmosphere, especially in New Orleans which seems to always be pictured on the seamy side in films. After the devastation that took place there a few years ago ("Katrina"), perhaps filmmakers will be kinder to the city in future movies.
  
  Anyway, a seedy-portrayed New Orleans, some good blues music and five varied-and-all interesting lead characters make this a very watchable movie. Alec Baldwin, Kelly Lynch, Teri Hatcher, Mary Stuart Masterston and Eric Roberts all contribute with good performances All but Roberts are the "good guys" in this one.
  
  The movie keeps your attention and has you involved for most of the two hours. The action is well-dispersed. My only complaint is a small one: Baldwin with the southern accent doesn't sound natural. Otherwise, a good modern-day crime story.

• So, right about now I'm thinking' your head would make a real nice toilet brush. posted on 26 Jan 2009

  I love reading James Lee Burke's novels about Dave Robicheaux. I also love movies set in New Orleans or anywhere in Louisiana. They always have good music and interesting characters. This film is no exception.Now, I will not compare the movie to the book. Each has to stand on it's own as an art form. I just like seeing some favorite characters brought to life on screen.Don Stark (Bob from "That '70s Show"), Hawthorne James (Se7en, Amistad), and Oscar nominee Eric Roberts (Runaway Train, The Dark Knight, A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints) played bad guys and they had a New Orleans flavor about them. Oscar-nominee Alec Baldwin (The Cooler) seemed a little forced in his attempt to be Cajun.Teri Hatcher ("Desperate Housewives") was hot as usual, especially when she was standing starkers on the balcony.Joe Viterelli (Analyze This, Analyze That) was perfect as a mob boss.Kelly Lynch, Vondie Curtis-Hall ("Chicago Hope") and Mary Stuart Masterson (Benny & Joon) rounded out a great cast in a good movie.

• A Good Try to Bring a Great Book to Screen posted on 09 Aug 2008

  I have read all of James Lee Burke's David Robicheaux novels. They are fantastic and I highly recommend them to anyone looking for some good reading.

  While reading the books I have often tried to pictures which actors could play Robicheaux. A few come to mind: Bruce Willis, Tommy Lee Jones, Harrison Ford and Alec Baldwin. In fact, Baldwin was the guy I pictured the most in the role. And I was amazed to find out he actually was starring and producing the film.

  For whatever reasons the film does not fully work. The acting, casting and direction are great. But the film just does not cut it.

  If you are fans of the books, the movie is interesting just to see visually what we have been picturing in all these novels. If you are unfamiliar with the books you will find the movie average at best.

  My advice is to read some of the books and then check out the film.

• The movie would be much better if followed the book: posted on 16 Jun 2008

  Now, I know the above sounds cliche, but in this case, it's really true. I give the movie four stars for atmosphere and for really trying. I watched this movie twice and enjoyed it both times, for the cinematography alone-- which captures everything from the dense, powerful nature of the Louisiana swamps and bayous; to the gothic power of Louisiana Roman Catholic churches; to the cracked, decaying but colorful beauty of New Orleans itself. And where the movie stuck to the book, it was a very good adaptation. Baldwin falls a bit short in his characterization of Robicheaux, looking more often like he was having "digestive" problems than internal angst, but he obviously loves the character and does his best to depict a very internalized personality. Eric Roberts, by no means matching the physically imposing power of the novel's Bubba Rocque, gives his character the dark, attractive charisma and vitality that author James Lee Burke so often infuses the "gray" characters Robicheaux encounters in the novels, and adds some fun and zing to it, as well. Teri Hatcher is damn nasty, beautiful and seductive in the femme fatale role, and Masterson pulls off her role with just the right amount of sympathy and sass (though physically, each actress matches her opposite character in the novel, but it's not a problem here). It's unfortunate that Kelly Lynch doesn't give Robicheaux's doomed wife such memorable character, but in the novel series the character has one entire book behind her before her tragic end. The real problems come with the Hollywood ending-- why they did this instead of the more realistic and affecting ending in the novel, I'll never know (I recommend you read the book to find out-- it's a much more satisfying and telling conclusion). And the connection to the Giacano family, a recurring Robicheaux nemesis in some of the novels, but not the one on which the movie based, was unnecessary. However, the highly action-packed trolley car and rooftop chase, a purely cinematic addition to the novel's plot does work, very well, in my opinion. These kind of additions are needed for the big screen and I appreciated it. Lastly, the production was very good (Baldwin was one of the producers of the film), just as in Baldwin's "The Shadow" movie, which suffered ultimately from a poor script, and I have to commend him-- this movie very much seemed a labor of love. I wish this film had been more successful, because seeing other installments of James Lee Burke's Robicheaux series on the big screen would be very welcome to me, but alas, despite the "good ol' college try" this will never be. But do pick up the movie and watch it for what it does offer, and then get hold of the Burke novels and you'll really be in for a treat.

• Fantastic stuff! posted on 10 Feb 2008

  Not exactly faithful to the book but the film certainly delivers as an enjoyable thriller.Alec Baldwin is superb as Robicheaux, Lynch, Masterson and Hatcher are rather pretty and give the film what is needs but are mainly forgotten about as the film progresses. Roberts shows that he does have a great deal of talent to offer when it comes to a juicy part like this.The film isn't brimming with action thankfully but it has a number of lengthy and exciting action sequences. It seems to me that Baldwin is becoming something of the thinking mans action hero. Whilst Willis is off doing the brainless actioners Baldwin manages to get the intelligent movie. This is a fine example as is The Edge.Baldwin makes this movie stunningly enjoyable and the supporting actors help a little but Baldwin manages to carry the whole thing single handedly.

• Dynamic and intriguing thriller! posted on 08 Feb 2008

  Phil Janou proves once his admirable gifts as Director thanks to his powerful visual narrative and daring shot angles.
  
  
  In this case, a retired cop is an involuntary witness of an airplane crash that almost kills him and his wife since they were fishing in a sunny day. Without thinking it twice, he drowns to save possible survivors and gets to rescue a lovely child. This fact will be the dramatic overture which will work out as a violent premise that will be related with dealers. Violent and very effective thriller. Baldwin is superb, but Jill Stuart Matheson didn't achieve the expected results, she looks like some distant and inexpressive of this secondary character.
  
  

• Give it a chance.... posted on 21 Jan 2008

  I for one love the flick. I thought that Alec Baldwin played Dave Robicheaux very well. Also I thought that Eric Roberts as Bubba Rock was an inspired choice. And it wasn't the actor's fault that the film sat on a shelf for years. They just got caught in the crumbling of Orion Studios. Thus no promotion was assigned to the film when it finally emerged. The saddest thing that may have occurred was that it cooled the creation of further films based upon the other Dave Robicheaux novels. I always felt that John Goodman would have made a grand Cletus Purcell!

• Heaven's Prisoners posted on 21 Jan 2008

  Excellent movie.. I had been looking for this movie for a long time.. Got it on Amazon at a great price. Amazon is the place to be...

• Another Pretty Solid Modern 'Noir' posted on 21 Dec 2007

  I guess you could call this a "neo-noir," which is a modern-day film noir. It has that atmosphere, especially in New Orleans which seems to always been pictured on the seamy side in films. After the devastation that took place there last year, perhaps filmmakers will kinder to the city in future movies. Anyway, a seedy New Orleans, some good blues music and five varied-and-all interesting lead characters make this a very watchable movie. Alec Baldwin, Kelly Lynch, Teri Hatcher, Mary Stuart Masterston and Eric Roberts all contribute with good performances All but Roberts are the "good guys" in this one.The movie keeps your attention and has you involved for most of the two hours. The action is well-dispersed. My only complaint is a small one: Baldwin with the southern accent doesn't sound natural. Otherwise, a good modern-day crime story.

• Is This A Drinks Commercial ? posted on 19 Oct 2007

  Dave who is a former cop and former drunk takes his wife on a fishing trip and sees a plane crash and rescues a young girl from a watery grave which sets up the plot Did I mention Dave is a a former cop and former drunk ? Good because this might be important apart from Dave being a former drunk . In fact the director and the screenwriter thinks it's so important that Dave used to have a drink problem they drown the audience with a subtext involving alcohol . Umpteen scenes take place in bars even when it's not all that necessary to the plot while nearly every scene not featuring a bar involves characters drinking or referring to alcohol and all the scenes look like they're shot ala booze commercial . Bar scenes look like beer commercials , office scenes look like bourbon commercials and scenes shot on boats off the coast look like rum commercials . I don't know if I'm reading too much into this but since the message that Dave is a former alcoholic is hammered home it drew this reviewer's attention to the number of scenes featuring drink The problem with HEAVEN'S PRISONERS is not only the amount of scenes that seemingly promote drink it's the number of scenes in general . This is a screenplay that needed streamlined in the first draft since nothing much really happens in the first place and when they do they don't really progress the plot very much . Of course it's a character driven story but it's also film noir in nature and the film noir genre isn't known for it's character development so when a character is introduced we know who they are and there's no need to go over the same ground to explain who they are . This is a movie that last for well over two hours when in fact chopping off a good 45 minutes would have been a very good thing . No doubt Baldwin , Roberts and Hatcher had high hopes with this movie improving their careers but it's a damp squib for all involved

• Waiting for DVD posted on 30 Jul 2007

  Hey, Terri Hatcher is definitely the main attraction. Granted, no academy award winner for sure but, I loved it. I wish they would hurry up and put it on DVD. There is so much worse material out there on DVD. I just don't know how all that works.

• Baldwin Could've Been Hard-Boiled But Ends Up Soggy posted on 18 Jul 2007

  I remember going to great lengths to fit a matinée showing of HEAVEN'S PRISONERS into a busy Saturday afternoon during its 1996 theatrical release. Considering the source material and the talent behind and in front of the camera, our little filmgoing party of detective-film fans and Alec Baldwin groupies (a.k.a. my mom, my stepfather, and me) found this contemporary film noir to be a big disappointment. Baldwin, who also served as co-producer, brought James Lee Burke's New Orleans ex-cop/recovering alcoholic hero Dave Robichoux from the printed page to the big screen. While Baldwin and the rest of the cast did well in fleshing out Burke's characters and have some tangy tough-guy/gal dialogue, they're hampered by two things: 1.) The film's slo-o-o-ow pacing. Maybe the Louisiana heat got to everyone, not just Baldwin. Of all the actors, Long Island native Baldwin sweats the most, so much that it began to remind me of the sweating-bullets gags with Albert Brooks in BROADCAST NEWS and Robert Hays in AIRPLANE! 2.) A plot that, as rendered in the film (whether it's the fault of the screenwriter or the editor, I can't be sure), never quite follows through on any of its elements. It's too bad, because these elements could've made for an exciting movie: drug dealing, illegal alien smuggling, rival crime bosses (one is played colorfully by Eric Roberts before he became a parody of himself, essentially playing a Southern-fried version of his character from director Phil Joanou's 1992 thriller FINAL ANALYSIS), an adorable little Salvadoran orphan girl (named "Alafair" by the Robichouxs, after Dave's mom. Late in my pregnancy at the time, I liked the name Alafair so much, I nearly changed my mind about naming my then-unborn daughter Siobhan!), and a bevy of beautiful, beguiling women, including earth mother Kelly Lynch, vampy Teri Hatcher in a full-frontal nude scene that was much ballyhooed at the time, and Mary Stuart Masterson, looking like a young Jessica Lange in what was then a change-of-pace role for her: a troubled stripper who loves Robichoux. Despite the sexy promises in the movie's ads, none of the ladies share anything with Baldwin but dialogue and some kisses and/or embraces. Maybe the climate was already so hot, the filmmakers didn't want to add any further steaminess for fear of poor Baldwin collapsing from heat prostration! As my mom put it at the time: "I thought the height of my day would be seeing sexy, dashing Alec Baldwin, but he came up sweaty, rumpled, tired, depressed, and moving as if he was in slow motion. If he'd made love as many times as he got beaten up, it would've been the sexiest picture of '96!" To be fair, there *are* a number of strong characterization and action scenes, but there's just too darn much talky, molasses-paced lag time between them -- and yet, oddly, some of the scenes end abruptly just as they're about to become intriguing! Perhaps Joanou, Baldwin & Co. could've dredged a tighter, more involving thriller out of this if they'd whittled the 140-minute running time down to 105 minutes or so. As HEAVEN'S PRISONERS is now...well, read James Lee Burke's books instead.

• Decent posted on 15 Jun 2007

  Heaven's Prisoners (1996) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Former New Orleans detective Dave Robicheaux is forced into retirement after accidentally killing three people. While all of this was going on Dave was also suffering from an alcohol problem, which nearly cost him his life. Two years after retirement he and his wife Annie (Kelly Lynch) move to the Bayou where they open up a bait shop and seem to be living the perfect life. One day while the couple are out on the Bayou a plane crashes nearby their boat. Dave grabs the scuba gear and goes to the sunken plane where he saves a young Mexican girl.Dave and Annie take the young girl to the hospital where they tell the officials that the child is there's and she was in a simple boating accident. The couple takes the young girl back to their place where they plan on raising her but one day Dave gets a visit from DEA officer. The officer informs Dave that the plane crash wasn't an accident but a murder plot, which Dave has messed up. For some unknown reason he goes to visit a former friend turned stripper (Mary Stuart Masterson) who in return leads him to another former friend turned gangster Bubba Rocque (Eric Roberts). Dave is also introduced to Bubba's former prostitute wife (Teri Hatcher) who seems to have plans outside of her husband's affairs. Not only this but we get another mob boss and three hit men all involved in this mystery, which must be solves by Dave so he can keep the child he rescued.Heaven's Prisoners is based on the novel by James Lee Burke and while I haven't read this I've heard it's a lot better than the actual movie. The film is an interesting mis-fire, which is so incredibly stupid that one will want to stick through the whole thing just to see how much dumber things can get. The plot is full of so many wholes it's really hard to know what the director or screenwriters were going for. At first it appears to be a political thriller and then we get a Charles Bronson wannabe side plot, which just adds to all the confusion. I mentioned a few of the characters involved in all of this but there are actually more that pop in and out of the movie.I knew the film was in a lot of trouble within the first ten minutes. After the plane crashes the couple leaves the accident with the child. Within minutes they are at the hospital where they tell everyone that this child is their daughter, although the kid doesn't speak a bit of English. The people in charge are stupid enough to buy all these excuses thrown at them but what I don't understand is why this couple would just take this girl. Perhaps had the screenplay shown them talking about it they could have convinced me but this doesn't happen. We go from a plane crash to them taking the child for no reason, which just leads to more mindless subplots.Alec Baldwin is an actor I've always enjoyed watching but this here has got to be the worst job in his career. This wannabe character drama is so badly acted by Baldwin that you can't help but laugh when the film is trying to make you feel sorry for him. We get a lot of scenes of him crying but It's so badly done we can't help but laugh. The tough guy cop attitude that Baldwin brings is also very laughable. Worst of all is that incredibly bad Southern accent, which goes in and out throughout the film. Eric Roberts gives a wonderful performance however and he's one of the few reasons to actually sit through this film. Teri Hatcher got a Razzie nomination for Worst Actress and I'm rather shocked she didn't win. Bad acting aside, her infamous full frontal nude scene is worth the price of a rental.Heaven's Prisoners is a very bad movie yet it thankfully gets laughable, which makes it easier to watch. Running over two hours the film certainly could have used some editing or a longer running time. There's just so many plot holes that I can't help but think the screenplay lost a few pages and the director simply forgot to film the scenes. Imagine reading a book yet only reading every other chapter. By the time you read the end of the book you'll have many unanswered questions and that's how the movie made me feel.

• Imperfection with a Flavour posted on 10 Jun 2007

  If every movie were perfect, if every script were flawless, if every actor were Humphrey Bogart and every actress were Lauren Becal, if every director were John Huston then what fun would there be on Oscar night? I am a `B' movie fan and this is a really fine example of a `B' detective movie. Plenty of action, plenty of beautiful scenery and people, a halfway decent plot, plenty of logical unpredictability, and it plays well on the small screen. It has more grit than "The Big Easy" and a fairly good cast. And it has an honesty that saves us from suffering through an ending with a dime store moral. This is a good one for one of those evening when you have nothing else to do and no one special to do it with. So warm up the VCR/DVD, pop up a big bowl, dump on the butter and salt, pop the top on a cool one and enjoy.

• Prisoners of Confusion posted on 16 Apr 2007

  ****SPOILERS**** Highly overdone thriller that could have cut about a half hour and have three or four sub-plots taken out of it to make it really interesting and effective instead of putting you to sleep and leaving you numb by the time that it ended. It's complicated Film-Noir plot has a recovering former alcoholic New Orleans policeman Dave Rebocheaux, Alec Baldwin, and his wife Annie, Kelly Lynch, adopting a little girl Alafair, Samantha Laqpacan. Alafair survived a plane crash that was the result of a bomb hidden on it by the Bubba Rocque, Eric Roberts, mob who got wind that a DEA informant was on the plane smuggling illegal aliens into the US. The ex-cop Dave gets involved with the Bubba Rocque mobs operations as well as with Bubba's hot and sexy wife Claudette, Teri Hatcher, even though Dave had no reason to since he was no longer in the New Orleans Police department. By him foolishly doing that Dave put his wife adopted daughter and himself in a whole lot of danger which in the end cost his wife's, Annie's, life. It also turns out that both Dave & Bubba are good friends going back to when they were both in high school.Dave to leave his quiet and peaceful little business selling fish-bait in the Southern Louisiana Bayou country for the pressures and dangers of the big city wasn't that bright of an idea in the first place. The pressures of the city can easily drive him to drink which Dave has done his best to avoid.The local mob tries to knock off Dave but ends up killing his wife, Annie, which makes Dave even madder and more determined to get revenge. Dave tracks down and kills two of his wife's killers Toot & Romero, Carl A. McGee & Milligan Hawthorne. The third killer is found electrocuted in his bathtub when someone from the Rocque mob, I guess, threw in a turned on radio to keep him from talking. Dave and the audience finds out in the end of the movie who's really behind, together with the Mafia, all this carnage. The ending leaves you cold and jaded because the movie was so long and confusing with so many blind alleys that you just lost interest in it by the time the big surprise was thrown on you. In fact the movie reviled the culprit long before it ended making the whole ending anticlimactic. Alec Baldwin as Dave Rebocheaux does his best to put some believability in his role as well as in the movie but he falls flat on his face since he had no reason at all to be so involved in what was happening on the screen. Dave was no longer a part of the police department and it was theirs and the DEA's job to solve the crimes in the film not his.Dave's actions put people that he loved and were close to him in jeopardy for no reason at all. The movie "Heavens Prisoners" would have been more effective if it stuck to one story like keeping the Mafia and Rocque mob from getting their hands on little Alafair who was the only survivor of the plane crash. Alafair may have known something about who was behind blasting the plane out of the sky as well as it smuggling drugs and illegal aliens into the US. That danger would have Dave and Annie protecting her and keeping the gangsters from killing or kidnapping her to keep her quite. Instead the film went off in some half dozen different directions and by doing that getting everybody in the audience lost following it.The one good thing that Alec Baldwin did in the film besides taking care of the bad guys and doing, or having done, in the person who was responsible for all the chaos, including his wife's brutal murder, was that he did his best not to take a drink in the movie; even though there were one or two exceptions.

• As close to modern day Greek Tragedy as it could get posted on 08 Mar 2007

  This movie was as close to a modern day Greek Tragedy as it could get: the characters' own flaws were the cause of their downfall. I felt the plot moved along quickly, the characters were well written as well as acted, and the music was very good in creating changing moods (in fact, I bought the soundtrack!). I especially loved Terri Hatcher's character. This movie did not get the good press it deserved.

• Against most reviews of this film, for the genre it is it is one of the best. posted on 24 Feb 2007

  I put this film up there with "Two Days in the Valley", as one of the most entertaining of its genre of cops-excops-drugs-mob type movies. I think the main criticism of it has to do with the ruthless violence along with the revenge theme of Baldwin's part. But violence is as violence does in film. Although it ends abruptly, Baldwin's acting was still superb, and so was everyone else's acting. All the female actors did superb job, not just Teri Hatcher. The writers could have put more meaningful time and script into the DEA agent's role as he also had added some positive "good guy" vibe to it, although "good-guy vibe" was not 100% present in his role. It was unclear as to why he kept showing up the way he did in the movie. Writing further revelation of that into the movie could have been done and helped round out the movie more. They had a good actor in the role of the DEA agent, as well. Good acting in the role of Baldwin's Bayou employee.