Bitter Vengeance is a TV Movie from 1994, it’s a Thriller and, for fans of Virginia Madsen it’s actually got a bit of a twist, sort of.
Jack (Bruce Greenwood) works as a Security Guard for a bank and part of Jack’s job is to dispose of old money at the bank. But, unhappy with this lot in life he comes up with a plan to steal it instead so that he can run off with the Bank Teller he’s been having an affair with, Isabelle (Kristen Dalton (credited as Kristen Hocking)) and fake his own death to help get away with the crime.
And the twist?
Well, for once Virginia Madsen’s character, Annie, is the victim. (OK, not exactly a twist but for this kind of movie at this point in her career, it kind of is.) Jack plans on framing Annie for the theft, and his death while he runs off into the sunset and a new life.
And, for a while at least it looks like his plan might just work.
Of course, we know Annie is innocent but she has to prove it to the rest of the characters in the film.
Now. If all of this seems just a little familiar, then you’re right. But you can be excused, Bruce Greenwood did also star in Double Jeopardy, a film where his character (Nick) commits a crime so he pulls a disappearing act leaving his wife Libby (Ashley Judd) to get the blame for his murder while he goes off into a new life.
But, Bitter Vengeance did it first with Double Jeopardy coming out in 1999.
Which did it better? Well, in all honesty I’d argue Bitter Vengeance, even though it’s a lower budget TV movie without Tommy Lee Jones. And, if you do want to see Virginia Madsen and Tommy Lee Jones together on screen then you can always check out the rather excellent Gotham. Bitter Vengeance is a competent enough film, it’s obviously made for TV, it just has that vibe to it. But it throws its punches well enough and the casting of all the roles is spot on.
Virginia plays the victim well, she must have learnt well from the other actor’s on the receiving end of her normal roles. It’s actually quite fun to see, especially as I rewatched this in the middle of all her other 90’s roles.
Bitter Vengeance also reunites Virginia Madsen with Tim Russ who she starred with in the 80’s classic (?) Fire with Fire, and would also work with again in Star Trek: Voyager further down the line.
Availability:
Nope. You can find a copy on YouTube but it’s low quality (See the captures). Other than that you’re out of luck.
Blue Tiger is another of my favourite Virginia Madsen films. I’ve seen it numerous times over the years and it remains one of those films I can just watch when I can’t find anything else.
Mrs Madsen takes the headline role of Gina Hayes, an average city single Mom who is raising her 5 year old son, Darin.
On one particular day she’s enjoying a day out with him at a local park, Darin is playing in the park and Gina is spending her time drawing her son. Having some proper decent Mother / Son quality time. It comes time to go but Darin doesn’t want to, so Gina offers him ice cream and a chance to buy a Halloween costume. Once at the shop we see a man arguing with the clerk behind the counter, he’s here to collect some medicine as he always does but the clerk insists that the man whose name is on the prescription must be the one to collect.
Gina picks up some supplies while Darin looks for a costume, he comes back with two he can’t decide on. A Wolfman mask and a Skull mask. He’s picked out a skeleton costume but prefers the Wolfman mask, because, kids. Gina sends him to put the skull mask back but while he’s there he comes across a man putting on a Japanese mask, rather ominously. Back at the store counter a dispute has broken out about the collection of the medicine, the man whose name is on the prescription, Henry Soames, has had to come and get it himself. We see the man in the mask creep up behind and take shots at Soames. A gun fight breaks out and Soames runs off. As he runs down an aisle to make his escape the masked gunman shoots him from behind.
As we see him drop to the floor we see Darin standing in front of him, he’s covered in blood. The bullet passed through its target and hit Darin in the chest. Darin is in a state of shock as he looks down at the wound in his chest unable to comprehend it.
The man flees the scene amid gunfire, Gina finds Darin and tries to comfort Darin but he’s in a state of shock, she takes her son in her arms and holds him as he dies.
She watches the masked man make a dramatic exit from the shop by shooting out a window and jumping through it. As he turns to make sure he’s not being followed, his shirt comes open and Gina is able to spot a Blue Tiger on the man’s chest.
The police aren’t able to do anything and she finds herself going out of her mind with grief and the hopelessness of it all. Unable to reconcile the events Gina finds herself trashing Darin’s room as she tries to remove the hurt from her, she throws his things into a pile, dowses it with petrol and lights a match.
Meanwhile we learn that Soames himself has survived the shootout and that it was the Yakuza that tried to take him out in the shop to settle a score.
Gina has found herself in a Hospital for her mental health after her episode, but she’s despondent. She is desperately trying to remember the tattoo that she saw on her killer’s chest and spends her day trying to draw it. It comes to her one stormy night while she’s asleep and she’s able to draw the tattoo she saw, finally.
She manages to escape the Hospital and makes her way to a tattoo parlour where she can learn more about the tattoo imagery. After trying several parlours she comes across a parlour in a dark back alley, where she’s able to find a man called Smith (Harry Dean Stanton), a retired tattooer who has dealt with the Yakuza before.
Smith tells her the legend of both the Yakuza and the Blue Tiger tattoo. The legend is Chinese, not Japanese. The Blue Tiger is always seeking the Red Tiger. Fate sees to it that the two will always meet, but not necessarily under good circumstances.
He agrees to tattoo Gina with the Red Tiger so that she might go on her quest to find the Blue Tiger.
And, from there we see Gina follow clues and infiltrate the Yakuza the best way she can, looking for the man with the Blue Tiger tattoo. She learns all she can while working at a known Yakuza bar as a waitress and takes risks to find her target. Virginia is a tour de force in this movie, I’d call it “peak Virginia Madsen”, but the film doesn’t justify it. I know I called it one of my favourite Virginia Madsen films but it’s pretty far from an actual favourite film. She puts in a lot of effort for little reward here.
It is notable though for the first time Virginia appears on screen with her brother, Michael. Albeit in a cameo role you could easily miss. Shortly after starting her tattoo work she buys a gun from him in a shady pawn shop. He’s out of focus for the most part but you can see it’s him if you know him, and of course he’s got *that* voice. As well as Michael she also got to work with Harry Dean Stanton again in this movie after Slam Dance. And, I’d bet it was much better working on an actually OK film this time.
Virginia has fond memories of working on the film, even if she doesn’t really expect anyone to have seen it.
“That was a period of time—around the early ’90s—when a lot of independent films got a green light, like Slam Dance and Reservoir Dogs, and a lot of really cool movies started being made outside the system with very small budgets. And I found that very exciting because, frankly, they didn’t want me in the mainstream. I was not considered… well, for many reasons, that’s just not where my career was. That didn’t make me bitter, because I saw opportunity elsewhere. If I was in a mainstream movie, I was a blond bombshell. I was the chick. Nobody wanted me to have anything to say. In the independent films, I was an actress.”
It’s not hard for me to recommend this one to watch, as I’ve said – it’s not brilliant, by any means but the story is good, the acting is decent and as a revenge kind of movie it’s one of the better ones I’ve seen.
Availability: Good, no shortage of DVD’s for this one. Lots of copies on VHS as well. Even on Laser Disc if you look. Streaming, not so much. Amazon do have it to buy on Prime but it’ll depend on your country, or your use of VPN.
Versions: Blue Tiger is known as American Yakuza 2 in Germany, for reasons. It’s not related to the original American Yakuza aside from two actors who are also in Blue Tiger, Ryo Ishibashi and Yuji Okumoto, but they play different characters. Best I can determine is that one of the European Distributors of the film wanted more of a hook to sell the film and that’s what they went with. Made even more confusing as there actually is a proper American Yakuza 2 film.
What is special about the German version is that it has an anamorphic widescreen version of Blue Tiger, on that isn’t included on the US, UK or French versions of the DVD.
Ahhhh. Earth 2. This is one of those that separate the Men from the Boys when it comes to collecting, I guess.
Why?
Because Virginia is basically an extra in one episode in this show. She makes her appearance in Season 1 Episode 8.
I say Season 1, but there was only one season. The show was cancelled before it got the chance to get going. It aired in the US between November 1994 and June 1995.
The show is set in 2192, the human race has abandoned planet Earth and started setting other colonies in the galaxy in space stations. The show follows one of these expeditions known as The Eden Project on their to an Earth like planet known as G889.
It’s one of those shows that people always complain got cancelled before it’s time. Those Networks, we’ve all had shows cancelled on us we care about it and it royally sucks.
It’s obviously hard to comment on Virginia in this one, I mean – Yeah – She dances well enough…
Availability:
Not bad as it goes. It can be found quite easily on Region 1 and 2 DVD’s. It’s worth noting that the episode order is wrong on the Region 1 release but correct on the Region 2.
(Fan Made) Trailer:
Jack plans on framing Annie for the theft, and his death while he runs off into the sunset and a new life.
Bitter Vengeance is a competent enough film, it’s obviously made for TV, it just has that vibe to it. But it throws its punches well enough and the casting of all the roles is spot on.
