''Heaven's Prisoners'' is a 1996 American

crime thriller Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professiona ...

film directed by Phil Joanou and starring

Alec Baldwin Alexander Rae Baldwin III (born April 3, 1958) is an American actor and film producer. He is known for his leading and supporting roles in a variety of genres, from comedy to drama. He has received List of awards and nominations received by A ...

, Kelly Lynch,

Mary Stuart Masterson Mary Stuart Masterson (born June 28, 1966) is an American actress and director. After making her acting debut as a Child actor, child in The Stepford Wives (1975 film), ''The Stepford Wives'' (1975), Masterson took a ten-year hiatus to focus on ...

, Teri Hatcher and Eric Roberts. It is based on a Dave Robicheaux homonymous novel by James Lee Burke. Harley Peyton and Scott Frank wrote the screenplay. The film was followed by '' In the Electric Mist'' (2009), starring Tommy Lee Jones as Dave Robicheaux. In the sequel, Robicheaux still lives in

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

and has come out of retirement as an Iberia Parish sheriff's detective.

Plot

A former police detective and Vietnam veteran in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

and a recovering alcoholic, Dave Robicheaux, is living a quiet life in the

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

lands of

with his wife Annie. The couple's tranquility is shattered one day when a drug

smuggler Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. More broadly, soc ...

's plane crashes in a lake, right before their eyes. Robicheaux succeeds in rescuing a lone survivor from drowning, a female Salvadoran child, whom Annie quickly pulled up onto the boat to seal her jaws over the little girl's mouth and nostrils, administer rescue breathing until she coughs out the lake water. With the arrival of a DEA officer named Dautrieve and an inherent connection to Bubba Rocque, the leading drug kingpin in the area and Robicheaux's longtime friend from New Iberia, Dave becomes involved in solving the case and consequently, finds himself, his wife, and their new adoptive daughter, Alafair, in danger. Robicheaux is assaulted by two thugs as a warning. With help from his former girlfriend Robin, an exotic dancer who still has feelings for him, he continues to investigate. His longtime acquaintance Bubba denies any involvement, but Dave warns him and Bubba's sultry wife Claudette that he is going to find out who is behind all this and do something about it. He tracks down one of the men who attacked him, Eddie Keats, and splits his head open with a pool cue in Keat's own bar. Killers come to the Robicheaux home late one night. Robicheaux is unable to prevent his wife Annie from being killed. He falls off the wagon and neglects the young girl they adopted. Robin comes to stay with them. Clearing his head, Robicheaux seeks vengeance against the three killers. He first goes after a large man called Toot, chasing him onto a

streetcar A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some include s ...

and causing his death. Bubba and Claudette reassure a local mob boss named Giancano that they will not let this vendetta get out of hand, and Bubba gets into a fistfight with Robicheaux, falsely suspecting him of an affair with Claudette. Eddie Keats is found dead before Robicheaux can get to him. Going after the last and most dangerous of the killers, Victor Romero, he knows that someone else must be giving them orders. He finds Romero and kills him. Then, going to Bubba's home, Robicheaux discovers that Claudette planned the hit. After overhearing Claudette confessing her plan to take over the drug business, Bubba appears and shoots Claudette, and Robicheaux calls in the crime. When he returns home, Robin has left forever, and all Robicheaux has left in his life is his daughter Alafair.

Cast

as Dave Robicheaux * Kelly Lynch as Annie Robicheaux *

as Robin Gaddis * Teri Hatcher as Claudette Rocque * Eric Roberts as Bubba Rocque * Vondie Curtis-Hall as Minos P. Dautrieve * Hawthorne James as Victor Romero * Badja Djola as Batist * Joe Viterelli as Didi Giancano * Paul Guilfoyle as Detective Magelli * Don Stark as Eddie Keats * Carl A. McGee as "Toot" * Jacob "Tuck" Milligan as Jerry "Fallout" * Samantha Lagpacan as Alafair * Patricia Huston as Older Nun

Production

Teri Hatcher recalled a awkward situation that happened while she was shooting her frontal nude scene on a balcony. "We were shooting at a beautiful old plantation house which is also a popular museum in New Orleans," said Teri. "I had been doing the scene all afternoon. I was standing on the balcony and I walked past these huge glass doors. Out of the corner of my eye I saw about 20 men and women in their seventies, just standing, staring at me as I walked past them completely naked. All I could do was burst into laughter. They were on a museum tour - caught in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Reception

The film opened in fifth place grossing $2,308,797 its opening weekend playing in a total of 907 theaters at its widest point. The film was a box office failure, grossing only $5,009,305, far below its $25,000,000 budget. The film also received generally negative reviews with a 16% "rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 19 reviews. Teri Hatcher's performance earned her a

Golden Raspberry Award The Golden Raspberry Awards (also known as the Razzies and Razzie Awards) is a parody award show honoring the worst of cinematic failures. Co-founded by University of California, Los Angeles, UCLA film graduates and film industry veterans John ...

nomination for Worst Supporting Actress.

References

External links

* {{Scott Frank 1996 films 1996 crime drama films 1996 independent films 1990s American films 1990s English-language films 1990s erotic thriller films 1996 psychological thriller films American crime drama films American erotic thriller films American films about revenge American independent films American psychological thriller films Films about alcoholism Films about murder Films based on American crime novels Films based on works by James Lee Burke Films directed by Phil Joanou Films scored by George Fenton Films set in Louisiana Films set in swamps Films shot in New Orleans Films with screenplays by Scott Frank Savoy Pictures films English-language independent films English-language crime drama films English-language erotic thriller films Southern noir films