Just Pillow Talk’s Birthday Nightmare: Revenge (1990)
After a very, very rough couple of decades, Just Pillow Talk looks at the 1990’s, I’d imagine, with a bright-eyed sense of optimism. He’s got a couple of actual good films coming up soon in Silence of the Lambs and Wayne’s World, but before that he’s got to negotiate the potential pitfall that is Revenge, a film I’ve never seen.
This is how he got on:
Can I match my longest streak of movies rated higher than 2 with….two? A tall order to be sure, but one that will easily be matched if I can only get over the Revenge hurdle….
Jay Cochran (Kevin Costner) has just retired from the pansy bed wetting Navy and heads down to Mexico to spend some time with his friend Tiburon Mendez (Anthony Quinn), a mafia type who Jay had once saved during an Alaskan hunting trip. Once there, Jay feasts his eyes on the quite smoking hot wife of Tiburon, Miryea (Madeline Stowe), who has already worn some very sexy clothing. We also learn that Miryea wants children, but that Biron wants nothing of the sort.
He’s invited to a dinner party by Tiburon with a couple of business associates, who he brings into another room to discuss a few things with, leaving Jay and Miryea alone to converse. There, Jay finds out that it was an arranged marriage, and that Miryea’s father did business with Tiburon. The meeting doesn’t go well for the two ‘associates’, since Tiburon didn’t like how things went down with them and has a bullet put into the head of one of them. Miryea questions her husband, what happened to one of the men since she only saw one of them leave. He of course tells her nothing happened.
Jay and Miryea spend some more time at the beach house Jay is staying at, nothing happens since Jay is able at that point to keep it in his pants. However, at a party she continues to pursue him and they find a place where they can shag without being disturbed and they dance with his wolf. This goes on for a bit, and Jay decides it’s time to bail. But alas, the power of a woman compels him to stay. Miryea calls her sister to tell her to lie to her husband and say she’s staying with her in Miami and that she’s in love with someone. Tiburon has her phone tapped and hears this. He doesn’t confront her, but instead goes to see Jay and tell him to fly the plane for him on his business trip, almost pleading with him to take it. He declines saying he’s got his heart set on going to his cabin and besides, he’s done with flying.
I’d like to take time again to say that Madeline Stowe had a mighty fine ass (her ass is mighty, not that Quinn guy).
So they have a day and night of passion…and then Tiburon shows up with his goons and quite rudely blows away his dog, beats the snot out of Jay and deposits him along a roadside, burns down his cabin, and bring Miryea to a whorehouse after slicing her face open. Jay is picked up by a good Samaritan and brought back to a house where a sort of medicine woman brings him back from the edge.
Along the way, Jay runs into Texan (James Gammon) and Rockstar (Sally Kirkland), each time happening to run across some of the goons who fucked him over. He also, through his acquaintance of the good samaritan, comes into contact with Miguel Ferrer and John Leguizamo who have their own reasons for going after Tiburon. Meanwhile Miryea is all drugged out of her mind in the whorehouse wishing she was dead.
They finally track down Tiburon, but instead of killing him, Jay asks forgiveness for stealing his wife from him. Tiburon tells him where she is now, a convent, and Jay goes to see her where they say their love you’s, and she dies in his arms.
So, much like the Mighty Quinn not being very mighty, Revenge really didn’t have much revenge in it. I had seen this movie before, not too long after it had come out, and remembered it being meh. The same issue I had with it before, I have now, and that is Costner sort of stumbles across the first goon and kills him with a knife. He was just looking to get out of Mexico, but the thought of revenge took over and he killed him. So, as luck would have it yet again, he runs across yet another goon with plans to just waltz in to a bar with a gun and pop him. From this point on, it’s actually Ferrer and Leguizamo who take out the couple other goons, not Costner. It’s them who get the information as to where Tiburon is, not Costner’s character. Much like with Quinn, Cochran doesn’t do enough as the main character for my tastes. The acting is fine, it was just missing some juice, the movie should have been more than what it was, more of a hard revenge tale. Instead, we get a lite version from Tony Scott.
That being said, I still give it 2 attractive Stowes out of 4.
Next up: The winning streak continues big time with Silence of the Lambs, and then Wayne’s World. I must embrace the present and very near future….because what follows….
Pillow out
The Nightmare so far…
1973 The World’s Greatest Athlete 1 / 4
1974 Deranged 0.5 / 4
1975 Shampoo 1.5 / 4
1976 Taxi Driver 3 / 4
1977 Black Samurai 1.5 / 4
1978 The Betsy 0 / 4
1979 Quintet 0 / 4
1980 Hero at Large 2/4
1981 Dogs of War 2.5/4
1982 The Beast Within 0/4: The Orangutan of Doom
1983 King of Comedy 3/4
1984 Blame it on Rio 0.5/4
1985 Lost in America 0/4
1986 Quicksilver (1/ 4)
1987 84 Charing Cross Road (1/ 4)
1988 Shoot to Kill (1/4)
1989 The Mighty Quinn (2/4)
1990 Revenge (2/4)
I think La Stowe is half Venezuelan or something like that. But yes, she was tidy back in the day.
La Stowe mother is from Costa Rica according to Wiki.
Knew it was somewhere in Latin America.
If you are ever looking to travel to a great place in Central America I highly recommend Costa Rica. Great beaches, jungles, stable government and about 75+% of the population speaks English. In your case it isn’t a problem because of Mrs Jarv but if you are separated it makes things easier if you no habla espanol
I know a few people who have gone there and swear by it. Not La Stowe, but Costa Rica.
Costa Rica is very nice Belize is also great those are the two best places to visit in Central America. For me Belieze just edges out CR but you can’t go wrong with either.
I don’t know anyone who has been to Belize, but I think one of the guys was choosing between there and Costa Rica and picked CR instead.
I had a thing for Madie Stowe back in the early 90’s. Stakeout was a personal fav.
Haven’t seen this for some reason. I like Costner though, so I should see it some time. Good to see you’ve at least begun the 90’s with a watchable movie.
Blink FTW!
I seem to remember that being a pretty good movie, but I can’t remember it at all. Did it have Andy Garcia in it? Or was that Jennifer 8?
Jennifer 8 had Garcia in it.
Blink had Aidan Quinn in it. I seem to remember her unleashing the sweater puppies in it as well. I could be imagining things there.
Yeah I’ve been meaning to see this for forever.
I’ve got ‘Blink’ in my ‘Birthday Series’.
Lucky lucky bastard
The only reason I watched this was for Madeline Stowe man is she a good looking slice of split tail.
That skin tight white dress she wears…oh my…
Madeleine Stowe… Also gets naked in Unlawful Entry I believe. Another good thriller, with the great guys Kurt and Ray.
La Stowe naked (god bless the internets):
blink
China moon
Tropical Snow
Not Unlawful Entry? Am i imagining things?
Apparently not. I wouldn’t be surprised if she had.
I think you’re sort of right Droid…I seem to remember her in bed, showing that glorious ass and she half turns when I think Ray bursts into their bedroom? I could be mistaken about that though…
I’m convinced there’s some nudey shenanigans going on and Liotta’s gawking at her with his sinister scowl. I should check that movie out again. Good thriller that one.
I just can’t remember if we see the pups out for a stroll or not.
Write a review Droid!
“La Stowe in La nude” series.
He’ll go blind if he takes that on.
This is true. Although it’d be worth it.
Further investigation unearths more Stowe nudity in:
Short Cuts
The two jakes
Worth Winning
And (yes) unlawful entry.
That’s an impressive 6 films or more with nudity in them. Dedication like that should be applauded.
Pillows- was the version of this you saw edited/ censored? I’ve just found pictures from this film of her breasts.
Note to self- delete browser history before Mrs Jarv sees.
No, she got the pups out in these too, though all too briefly.
That’s EIGHT separate films with nudity.
I’m going to check her imdb because I bet there’s more
Um, what does she look like nowadays? She could potentially have a cameo in our movie, sort of a lifetime achievement award for getting the fun bags out so many times.
Not great. She’s 52.
I’ve found several more candidates that I haven’t seen but seem to also contain nudity. That’s well over a third of her full film career
She’s had a LOT of bad plastic surgery as well from what I understand.
Tis a shame.
She looked OK in 2003. I think it’s since then it went wrong.
OHHH FUCK Yeah she’s banging Brian Benben.
1970’s average rating: 1.07
1980’s average rating: 1.25
I think the 90’s will keep the upward trend intact thanks to the first 3 films.
Well, if I was rating it then the first three would average three. What have you got for the rest of the decade?
1999 – Blast From The Past 2.5
1998 – Sphere 0
1997 – That Darn Cat 0
1996 – Mr. Wrong 0
1995 – Heavyweights 0
1994 – Blank Check 0.5
1993 – The Temp 1
1992 – Wayne’s World 3
1991 – Silence of the Lambs 4
1990 – Revenge 2
Awful for the most part.
If I was doing this it would average 1.3
Slightly up but nothing to brag about
What’s on the 21st Century list?
Horrendous, and may take the prize for lowest average score…
2000 The Beach
2001 Down to Earth
2002 John Q
2003 Dark Blue
2004 50 First Dates
2005 Son of the Mask
2006 Firewall
2007 Daddy’s Little Girls
2008 Step Up 2: The Streets
2009 Friday the 13th
2000 The Beach – 2 Changs
2001 Down to Earth – 1 Chang
2002 John Q – Angry Ape
2003 Dark Blue – 3 Changs
2004 50 First Dates – 1 Chang
2005 Son of the Mask – Unseen (but dreadful I’m guessing)
2006 Firewall – Zero Changs
2007 Daddy’s Little Girls – Never heard of it
2008 Step Up 2: The Streets- Unseen (but dreadful I’m guessing)
2009 Friday the 13th – 1 1/2 Changs
A couple of really shitty movies on there. Dark Blue is the only actual good movie.
Fuck John Q right in the ear.
1999 – Blast From The Past – 2 1/2 Changs
1998 – Sphere – 0
1997 – That Darn Cat – Unseen (but shit I guess)
1996 – Mr. Wrong – Never heard of it
1995 – Heavyweights – Never heard of it
1994 – Blank Check – Unseen.
1993 – The Temp – Never heard of it
1992 – Wayne’s World – 3 Changs
1991 – Silence of the Lambs – 10 Changs!
1990 – Revenge – Unseen (La Stowe en La Nude so it has a reason to exist at least)
2000 The Beach – 1 Chang
2001 Down to Earth – 1 Chang
2002 John Q – Orangutan of Doom. Possibly a social working one
2003 Dark Blue – Is this the one with the sharks?
2004 50 First Dates – 1/2 Chang
2005 Son of the Mask –Orangutan of Doom. Possibly a social working one
2006 Firewall – AAAAARGH. SHIT
2007 Daddy’s Little Girls – Never heard of it
2008 Step Up 2: The Streets- Unseen
2009 Friday the 13th – Not seen
Awful, awful list.
Dark Blue is the the cop movie with Kurt set during the LA Riots.
Oh. That one.
Meh. 2 Changs.
It’s all gone Wrong for Pillows on that list of the seven films I’ve seen he’s got a mighty total of 4.5 out of a possible 28.
That’s well below a 1 chang average per film.
Yeah, that’s the one. I’ve been meaning to see that Kurt one, so I actually got lucky with that one.
8.5 from 7 films in the 00’s.
9.5 from 4 films in the 90’s (counting Silence as 4)
Course I haven’t seen a lot of the guaranteed low scores.
No, no, no…I must refrain from looking ahead and letting the sadness and dispair overwhelm me. Perhaps I should save Silence as my ace in the hole, my lifeline if you will, and view only when things seem their most bleakest…
Store your Silence dvd in a glass case, with “Break in case of emergency” printed on it. The Mrs Pillows can use it to settle you down when you appear to finally be going off the deep end.
Yeah, John Q pissed me off too. I think Denzel was Ok in it (as he is in everything), but the preachy tone, and black & white politics pissed me off.
And it wasted Eddie Griffin, who played the role Jarv loves to see the most, ie Comedy Black Guy.
Bah!
Awesome. Can’t wait.
*curses Gods while shaking hand at sky*
Stylish movie. Always had a soft spot for ‘Revenge’, haven’t seen it in ages – dunno if I’d still feel the same way. I like that ‘back from the brink to get even’ kind of stuff and I’ve always found Costner watchable.