Kill Me Again (1989)

In co-writer/director John Dahl's visually-stylistic neo-noir crime drama-thriller - the sleeper film (rated R mostly for graphic violence) was Dahl's debut feature film. He would go on to direct two other exceptional neo-noirs within a few years: Red Rock West (1993) and The Last Seduction (1994). This one featured most of the main staples of film noir - characters including a femme fatale and a private investigator in a dysfunctional love triangle with an abusive boyfriend, and elements such as greed, deception, double-cross, doomed love, stolen money, conspiracy, murder, and a surprise film-ending plot twist. The body count totaled 5 dead. The film's tagline explained: "Her last request was his first mistake."

In a predictable and typically-structured noir story, a femme fatale and her violent and abusive boyfriend robbed mobsters of gambling profits at a Nevada casino. Then, she double-crossed him, knocked him out, and fled with the money to Reno, NV, where she adopted a new identity to escape from his expected vengeance. She also hired a feckless, small-time, needy PI (who was already in debt to demanding loan-sharks) to successfully help her to stage her own bloody death, and then betrayed him too and fled to Las Vegas, NV. The police naturally suspected that the PI was involved in her 'faked' death, so to clear himself, he pursued her to Las Vegas. Together they found themselves evading the mobsters, the police, and pursuit by her enraged boyfriend. The female suggested the same strategy that had worked before - fake their deaths in a staged drowning (hence the title Kill Me Again) before retrieving the cash that the PI had buried nearby on Indian reservation land. Would their plan succeed without further double-crosses or betrayals?

The familiar and derivative classic noir plotline of crooked lovers-on-the-run - in some aspects similar to Jacques Tourneur's exceptional noir Out of the Past (1947), was filmed on location mostly in the stark and arid desert areas of Nevada (first seen during the opening title credits). The well-crafted, low-budget film initially bombed during its opening theatrical run in late 1989 due to a lack of publicity, but subsequent reviews and promotion by star Michael Madsen led to a second-run reissue and appearance in early 1990. On a budget of $4 million, the film made only $284,000 dollars, but performed better on home video.

• in the film's opening set in the hot sun of the dry and remote town of Winnemucca, NV, femme fatale Fay Forrester (Joanne Whalley-Kilmer) (from Cleveland, OH) and her partner in crime - 29 year-old psychopathic and violent boyfriend-ex-con Vince Miller (Michael Madsen) staked out a casino in their maroon-colored 1976 Chevrolet 4-door Monte Carlo (with Virginia plates); Fay and Vince confronted and ambushed two Las Vegas mobsters, Sammy (Pat Mulligan) and Marty (Nick Dimitri) leaving the facility with gambling profits - carried in a suitcase full of cash; Vince brutally shot and killed Marty (Body Count: 1) before absconding with the money; as they sped off and escaped, Vince opened the briefcase containing green-banded packets of $100 bills; Fay was exhilarated: "We hit the jackpot!", but Vince was worried that they would face certain retaliation if they didn't flee the state: "We gotta get out of Nevada, honey. That's what's wrong" - and couldn't proceed to Las Vegas as she had been promised, and should head north to Idaho and lay low for six months
• sick and tired of his control and disagreeable treatment of her, and determined that she wouldn't be ordered around any more by the abusive Vince, Fay insisted that they split the money and go their separate ways; when he refused, they got into a tense argument and wrestled each other for the suitcase and control of the car as Vince demanded: "You ain't goin' anywhere without me. If I thought that money was gonna come between us, I'd just as soon burn it up. We're gonna stay together, baby, right?"; the lustful Vince forced her to kiss him and she reluctantly surrendered - for the time being
• at an isolated rest-stop bathroom area while Vince was standing at a urinal, Fay betrayed and double-crossed him - she knocked Vince unconscious from behind with a large rock (the doorstop), took the car keys and his gun, and drove off with the suitcase toward Reno (171 miles away) - on her way to Las Vegas, NV
• the next scene was introduced with close-ups of Reno, NV casino gambling machines and activity
• in the local downtown, seedy office building of down-on-his luck private investigator Jack Andrews (Val Kilmer, married to his co-star Whalley), two loan-shark enforcers-mobsters (or Collection Agents # 1 and # 2 in the credits) (Robert Schuch and Duane Tucker) were there to collect of a debt of $10,000 owed to them; they ransacked the shelves and drawers for money as Jack sat passively at his desk; when he told them to stay out of his personal drawer (one of them noticed a glass-framed picture of him with his deceased young wife in front of an Echo Bay Motel sign), the two rough goons attacked him and threatened him as they broke his right hand's little finger: "You took out a loan, Jack. You gotta pay it back. Ten grand. Next Wednesday. Don't f--k it up"

Down-and Out PI Jack Andrews (Val Kilmer) - In His Ransacked Reno, NV Office, Left With a Broken Finger, and a Shattered Framed Picture of Him With His Deceased Wife

• meanwhile, Fay drove into Reno's casino strip with glittering lights flashing, and booked a room in the Golden West Motor Lodge; she registered under the name 'Vera Billings' from Cleveland, OH, to establish a new identity to avoid the vengeful Vince; as she was filling out the form, the female desk clerk was commenting on the front page stories in a tabloid newspaper The National Inquisitor - [Note: In the corner of the front page was a box basically summarizing the film's plot --- "Wife Fakes Death and Disappears With Hubby's Money"]
• in the rest-room, Vince regained consciousness and wielded a large knife to threaten a family man (Daniel Dorse) and his young boy (Dominic Dinino) who had driven up in a station-wagon to provide him with a ride; in her motel room, Fay counted the cash in the suitcase and was unexpectedly shocked that the mobsters' stolen gambling profits totaled $875,000 dollars
• Fay searched in the yellow pages of a phone book and selected "JACK ANDREWS" as a licensed private investigator to help her escape and hide from Vince's dogged pursuit [Note: The address of Jack's office was on "Dahl Av" - the last name of the film's director]; she scribbled the PI's name on the inside cover of a matchbook - it would emerge as a crucial and fatal flaw in the characters' schemes; the camera zoomed in for a close-up of the 'teaser' plot summary on the front page of her borrowed tabloid-newspaper

Phone Book Yellow Pages - Licensed Investigator Jack Andrews (on "Dahl" Ave.)

Jack's Scribbled Name and Phone Number on a Matchbook Cover

Newspaper 'Teaser' - "Wife Fakes Death and Disappears With Hubby's Money"

• in Jack's office, he and his secretary Terri (Bibi Besch) were looking through folders to find any unpaid accounts from "deadbeats" in previous cases; Terri suggested he leave the debt-causing state: ("Reno's eaten away at you, for Christ's sake. There's nothin' here for you anymore"), and head toward Maine - to a place known as "Safe Harbor" where he and his deceased wife Kathy (Debby Lynn Ross) used to visit; Jack visited the gravesite of his 26 year-old wife who died a few years earlier in 1987, and laid flowers there on their anniversary
• Fay entered Jack's office, introduced herself with her real name, and meekly described how she was an abused and unprotected female on the run from her crazed, psychotic male partner whom she once loved, but now he was threatening to pursue and kill her: ("He's not right in the head. He's trying to kill me"); she admitted she had no proof or evidence that the police could use to arrest him; she bluntly proposed an "extreme," risky and fraudulent escape strategy: "I want you to kill me. I mean, I wanna make it look like I've been killed" - and then she added that she wanted to take on "a new identity"
• the desperate Jack was tempted - and accepted her proposal after begged and became teary-eyed, and offered him $10,000 dollars in two installments - $5,000 up front, and $5,000 afterwards, plus expenses; it would be a perfect way for him to pay off his debt; he didn't trust or believe her, but hoped that her promise to be honest with him was genuine
• over beers in a local bar, the needy, still-grieving, widowed Jack described his "nice-guy complex" acceptance of the deal offered by a "skirt in trouble" to his good-natured friend Alan Swayzie (Jonathan Gries); Alan was dubious of his baby-faced friend's judgment, but agreed to be recruited to help and assist him; Alan was told to acquire a pint of Type A-negative blood (in a plasma bag) to match Fay's
• the set-up to fake her death was already in progress in the next scene; wearing a low-cut dress, Fay acted flirtatiously with the young front-desk clerk Tim (Michael Sharrett), a high-school student, in another cheap motel in Reno to make herself memorable - she registered herself as "Fay Forrester"; Jack had arranged to produce a new fake identity for her (with a new ID and an official-looking BIRTH CERTIFICATE as "Vera Billings" born in 1961 in Ohio County in West Virginia)
• the night of her deceptive, planned "death," Fay gambled at the craps table in The Sands Hotel-Casino; afterwards, a beer-guzzling Jack (wearing a collared-jacket, sunglasses and a face-concealing cowboy hat) escorted her back to her motel room - making sure that Fay waved to Tim who was on-duty in the front office; in her room, after Jack donned plastic gloves, he began to stage her death as a crime scene by having her leave finger and lipstick prints on a glass of alcohol, as she role-played being seduced by him (Fay: "We gotta make it look real"); she became sexually stimulated while acting out her own murder ("Kill the bitch and take her money"), and encouraged him to rip open her dress and get on top of her on the bed; with a large knife, Jack slit open the bag of blood, poked some stab-wound holes into her dress, but then accidentally spilled much of the contents of the bag onto her dress and mid-section; as she played with the blood, she thought to herself: "I always wondered what it'd be like to die a really violent death"

Fay Enthusiastically Simulating Being a Crime Victim During Sex in Her Motel Room with Jack: (Fay: "We gotta make it look real...")

• then, he wrapped her bloodied body in the bed coverings and dragged her onto his shoulder; as he picked her up, he accidentally overturned her purse - and unknowingly would leave behind crucial evidence that would incriminate himself (the matchbook); he carried her draped figure to the trunk of her Monte Carlo car, and conspicuously drove slowly past the clerk in the motel's front office; once they were on the road, she confessed she originally thought he was a "loser," but now congratulated him for being a "great murderer"
• Jack dropped Fay off at the 7/11 Motor Lodge that she had arranged earlier in the day, before driving a few hours to submerge her car in Pyramid Lake to destroy evidence; Fay invited him to return to her room to celebrate when he returned, and promised to pay him the second half of his fee that she owed to him; she then enticingly kissed him
• Jack drove into Deepwater Indian Reservation land (reportedly "sacred Indian land"), and watched as he sent the car into the lake, but it didn't sink entirely [Note: The scene paid homage to schizoid Norman Bates' attempt to sink his latest victim Marion in the trunk of her car in a similar sequence in Psycho (1960).]; he experienced a disturbing flashback of a similar incident a few years earlier of a car crash that he had survived; he had swerved to avoid a deer in the road, and crashed through a barrier and plunged into a body of water, resulting in the drowning death of his wife Kathy ; he had recurring feelings of guilt and responsibility for her demise, since he failed to save her life
• Jack's friend Alan was there to give him a ride back to his own car in Reno; he then drove over in his white 1964 Cadillac Coupe DeVille to Fay's 7/11 Motor Lodge and found her room empty; he was told by the elderly desk clerk (Stanley Brown) that she had checked out two hours earlier when she ordered a cab to take her to the airport - Jack realized she had betrayed him; an airport ticket agent (Dan Sturdivant) identified Fay from a picture and confirmed that she had taken Flight #405 to Las Vegas, NV
• the next morning, Jack was awakened by two police officers - a uniformed cop (Jeff Morrell) and arresting cop (Jeff LeBeau) - (filmed from his POV) and presented with a warrant for his arrest as a suspect for the 'murder' of Fay Forrester; after he was harshly interrogated at a police station by Lieutenant Sam Hendrix (Michael Greene) and a second suspicious detective (James Henriksen); Tim - the young desk clerk at the motel where Fay was 'murdered', was brought in but couldn't conclusively identify him; as a result, Jack was released by Lt. Hendrix, but warned that he was "forbidden by law from leaving Washoe County without permission in writing"
• meanwhile, in the Las Vegas Quality Cafe (the sign was readable from inside the restaurant rather than from the outside!) while sitting at the counter, Vince saw the newspaper report about Fay Forrester's feared murder in Reno, NV, and how PI Jack Andrews had been questioned about the case; he reacted violently by breaking dishes before storming off

Vince and Alan Both Noticed the Newspaper Report of the Feared Murder of Fay Forrester

• Jack's pal Alan also read the news-report in Jack's presence in his office; Jack was furious and vowed: "She owes me and I'm gonna collect"; Jack paid Alan in advance to search for the missing female in Vegas: "I want you to check all the hotels in Vegas. She's probably under the name of Vera Billings"; as the two left Jack's office, the two loan-shark debt enforcers (from earlier in the film) arrived and demanded debt re-payment; Jack reached in his pocket for the remainder of Fay's $5,000 that she had paid him, and handed over $3,400 dollars plus the rest of her down-payment that he had, and then promised: "You'll get the rest in three days" - with the implication that he would catch up to Fay and collect from her
• Vince drove up across the street and watched as the two mobsters left Jack's office building; as Jack was calling his bank and being notified that his checking account balance was $7.32, Vince entered and mercilessly roughed up Jack by grabbing him and tossing him across his desk; he ground his boot into Jack's neck as he interrogated him: "What'd you do with Fay Forrester?"; Jack denied everything and was clever enough to handcuff Vince to metal bars on his heavy desk; Jack rifled through Vince's wallet where he discovered the ex-con had a wallet full of fake IDs; Jack proceeded outside to his car to pursue and track after Fay in Las Vegas
• with his two enforcers, boss "Big Jim" Peterson (Lee Wilkof) phoned powerful crime family mobster William Maranot in Las Vegas and informed his son-in-law Stanley "Jonesy" Jones (Joseph Carberry) that the money Jack Andrews had paid his two Collections agents had been matched with the green-banded bills stolen from Maranot's two thugs at a Winnemucca, NV casino (the opening scene); he vowed: "That Andrews is dead meat"
• the next morning in Las Vegas, Jack phoned Alan back in his Reno office from a pay phone booth; there was visible evidence that Vince had broken free from the desk and fled; Alan reported on his background research: "There was no Vera Billings registered anywhere. But there was a, uh, Virginia Billingsly registered at the Hilton. What do you say pal, this babe is one of the most cunning criminal minds of this century"
• in the Las Vegas Hilton lobby, Jack was unable to contact 'Virginia' in her room through the desk clerk (Roy Kieffer), so he awaited her arrival in the hotel bar by conversing with the bartender (Victoria Hirsch); the flashy 'Virginia' (sporting red-hair) was nearby betting large sums of cash at the hotel's craps table where the suspicious pit boss - Spiv the Informer (Ralph M. Cardinale) - spotted her green-banded bills (mob money) and reported her
• Jack noticed 'Virginia' and demanded she lead him to her luxury Hilton Hotel suite, where Jack told her: "Met your boyfriend"; she apologized and gave an excuse for deserting him - it was to draw Vince away from him: "I'm sorry. I didn't want to run away from you. But, I was scared. I didn't want anything to happen to you. I'll pay you the rest of your cash"; as she reached for another stack of bills to pay him the remaining $5,000, he saw her hidden briefcase loaded with green-banded cash bundles
• a knock on the door from 'Housekeeping' resulted in two Vegas mobsters, Sammy (involved in the original hold-up) and 'Jonesy', barging into the room; Sammy pointed and shouted out - but misidentified Jack as the female's partner-in-crime: "That's the son of a bitch who shot Marty. And she's the one who drove away in the car"; as the two mobsters retrieved the suitcase, 'Virginia' reached into her purse for a gun and shot 'Jonesy' dead (Body Count: 2) as Sammy fled the scene (without the cash); 'Virginia' looked helplessly at Jack and told him: "I don't wanna go to jail, Jack"

(l to r) in 'Virginia's' Hilton Vegas Hotel Room: Mobster Sammy and "Jonesy"

'Virginia'/Fay Shot "Jonesy" Dead

• Jack fled Las Vegas with 'Virginia''/Fay in his white Cadillac; a few moments after leaving the hotel, he forced her to confess where she acquired the money by pulling up next to a Highway Patrol car with numerous officers mingling around, and she gave him a shortened, semi-factual summary of how with Vince, they had robbed skimmed casino money from Vegas mobsters (led by Maranot) and then she betrayed Vince and took the money from him:
  • Vince stole the money, and I stole it from Vince. These guys in Winnemucca, they were workin' for the mob. Stealing money from casinos somehow. Vince killed one of them. I was there. It was awful. The other guy was the one who was just in the hotel room. So, we took off. I tried to get away, but he'd have killed me for sure! So, I - later, he fell asleep, and I hit him. I hit him on the head.
• during a quick stop at a grocery store after leaving Vegas, she bought dark-hair dye and stole clothes from a nearby clothesline, while he replaced his rear Nevada license plate with a stolen one; Jack booked a room together for them at the Echo Bay Motel - a remote Nevada motel (on the upper shore of Lake Mead) familiar to Jack; he used one of his $100 dollar bills to pay the elderly manager (Darrel Wayne) who attempted to dissuade him from staying there, mentioning a broken A/C system and ice machine; the manager thought he recognized Jack from a previous visit [Note: Indeed, Jack had stayed there with his newly-wed wife Kathy before tragedy struck their lives]
• during a sudden, late afternoon rainstorm, Jack and Fay became affectionate and made love together, afterwards that evening, Jack recalled a place in Maine called "Safe Harbor" where he had worked in the past for an insurance company; he had planned to move there from Reno with his newly-wed wife, but now thought that the two of them could hide out there for a "second chance": ("I figure you and I have a chance to start over"); but he also expressed his distrust of her: "I think you're a greedy, two-faced bitch...There's no reason I should trust you, but I want to. If you're straight with me, maybe we could help each other"
• the next morning, their room radio was broadcasting news of the previous day's "brutal slaying" in the Hilton Casino-Hotel in Las Vegas: "...Stanley Jones, son-in-law of prominent Las Vegas businessman William Maranot. Police are searching for a woman using the name Virginia Billingsly. The male suspect has been identified as Jack Andrews, a resident of Reno. A manhunt for these suspects is currently underway and roadblocks have been set up at checkpoints around the state"
• due to pursuit by the police (with roadblocks everywhere entrapping them) and by the double-crossed powerful Maranot crime family, Fay (now again red-headed, a continuity error) suggested a familiar tactic to escape and evade capture: "Kill me. Kill me again. You did it before! You could do it again. We could die together" (obviously the film's title)
• from a payphone, Jack telephoned Alan about leaving the area, and didn't care about any of his stuff after being evicted from his PI office; Alan asked: "Are you doing this for her?"; Jack promised to send Teri and him some money; after hanging up, Alan returned a call to the operator and was told the call originated from Overton, NV (on the northern tip of Lake Mead)
• Jack was plotting with Fay his multi-step plan to stage their deaths; on a rented boat on Lake Mead, he proposed staging a double-drowning due to their boat's sinking at one of the deepest areas of the lake, followed by a 20 minute swim to the shoreline and a 5-mile hike to where the money (and other supplies) had been previously buried on Indian reservation land at Indian Rock ("the drop point"); then they'd take another 15-mile trek across the state line to Dalton, AZ where they would buy a used car to continue onto Maine; he promised Fay: "Well, this time, it's for keeps"; as he was leaving to buy supplies and bury the money, Fay objected to being left behind for a few hours: ("I'm afraid you won't come back"), but he insisted ("Trust me"); she whispered under her breath as he drove off: "You better come back, you son of a bitch"

Jack on Lake Mead with Fay, Plotting The Complicated Staging of Their Deaths

Alan's Interrogation and Torture by Vince

Jack Momentarily Considering Taking Off With the Money at the Border

• meanwhile, Alan was tied up in a chair and was being threatened with a baseball bat, beaten, and tortured by Vince with a lit cigarette; Vince had been seen earlier waiting outside Jack's office; after Alan was eventually pressured to reveal Jack and Fay's location at Overton, NV, Vince brutally slashed Alan's throat (Body Count: 3)
• after leaving Fay at the motel, Jack drove to the tiny state border town of Last Chance, NV, where he stopped at a gas-station convenience store where he bought supplies (a dark-green backpack, a shovel and other items) from the friendly proprietor (Sheldon Haun); for a few moments, he considered driving off and absconding with the money (since he was beyond the state check-point) and make a clean getaway, but then changed his mind
• in a "No Trespassing" area within an Indian reservation, Jack was seen digging a hole; he then proceeded back to the motel where Vince had already tracked him; he was ambushed by Vince who was armed with a gun, and had already tied and bound Fay on the bed; he wanted the money and threatened to kill Jack, but Jack was unphased - he held a valuable bargaining chip (the location of the suitcase); when Vince also turned his gun on Fay ("Tell me where the money is, or I'll shoot the bitch"), Jack also calmy replied: "Go on, kill her"
• then, Jack took charge and offered a deal to split the money -- he would leave with Fay and half of the money, and then after two day's head-start, he would tell Vince where the 2nd half was located; while Vince thought about the offer, he tied Jack up with electrical cord and stashed him in a closet, while he assaulted and raped Fay; Jack watched through the closet's slats as she found an opportunity to defend herself, grabbed Vince's gun on the nightstand, aimed at him, and pulled the trigger three times; Fay released Jack from the closet and vowed: "That bastard's never gonna hurt me again!"; and they fled in his Cadillac to avoid encountering the manager pounding on their door
• with Fay nervously watching at the briefcase's burial location (and looking back down the road), Jack dug it up and just as he pulled the case from the hole, Vince (unharmed) appeared from behind some rocks; Fay raised Vince's gun - revealing to Jack that he had been set up by both of them; she fired at Jack, and then sarcastically quipped: "Guess we won't be going to Maine after all, huh, Jack?"; after Vince encouragingly told Fay: "Finish him off," Jack attempted to run off; she shot again and this time connected - he tumbled backwards into the lake; Vince wanted to guarantee that Jack was dead ("Let's make sure") and fired two more shots at Jack under-water, but then they were scared off by two young Native American youth (Jeri Arredondo and Hubert Ergenbright) firing a rifle into the air to warn them about trespassing

The Ultimate Betrayal: Double-Crossing Fay Fired Vince's Gun Twice at Jack

• after grabbing the briefcase (and ignoring the half-buried backpack next to it), Vince and Fay fled in Jack's Cadillac, leaving Vince's blue Ford pickup truck behind; upon opening the briefcase, they discovered that Jack had also tricked and deceived them with a 'decoy' case, weighed down with two thick Nevada telephone directories, a can of peaches and a can of SPAM
• it was a fatal mistake for Vince to choose to drive off in Jack's distinctive white Cadillac rather than his own truck - the motel manager had undoubtedly reported Jack's car to the police; a chase patrolman (Jeff Smolek) spotted the car, activated his siren and lights, and pursued them, as Fay fired back at the patrol car
• the two young Native-Americans helped to drag Jack (with a serious gunshot wound in his left arm) from the water, and agreed to get him to the reservation hospital where they promised: "There won't be any trouble" - it was beyond the jurisdiction of the Nevada state police

Two Native-American Youths Helping the Wounded Jack

Fiery Explosion After Car Crash Into a Propane Tank

The Flaming 'Decoy' Suitcase

• Vince and Fay attempted to make it to the Arizona border at Last Chance, NV but their speeding car went out of control when they evaded the police road-block and crashed into a propane gas fuel tank; the two double-crossers died in a fiery blast that engulfed the car in flames (Body Count: 4-5); the flaming 'decoy' suitcase was propelled away from the car by the immense explosion
• the Indian boy and girl drove Jack (wrapped in a blanket) to Arizona in their white pickup truck as he sat in the back and observed the aftermath of the explosion in the town of Last Chance; Jack partially opened up his backpack next to him - where he had stashed the bundled money for safe-keeping