Saints and Sinners (1994 film)

Background

The film stars Damian Chapa as Pooch, Jennifer Rubin as Eva, and Scott Plank as Big Boy. It was first premiered in France in September 1994 at the Deauville Film Festival and later saw a proper theatrical release in the country on 19 April 1995 via the distributor Les Films Number One, whilst in the UK the film's video premiere was during May 1996. In France, Kinemastar was the film's publicity company.

On February 20, 1996, the film was released on VHS in America via Live Home Video/Lions Gate. In Brazil, it was released on VHS via Look Filmes and via Videosonic Arts in 1995 in Greece. A UK VHS release was also issued. In Germany it was released on DVD, whilst a Scandinavian DVD release was also issued. The film was issued in America on Amazon Video in recent years.

The film's main tagline reads "Guns. Drugs. Sex. Anything two can do, three can do better."

For the film, Paul Mones was nominated in 1994 for the Critics Award of the Deauville Film Festival, whilst in 1995, Mones won the Special Jury Prize for the film by the Cognac Festival du Film Policier.

Plot

After many years Pooch returns to his old New York neighborhood and teams up with his old high school friend Big Boy to run the local rackets. Big Boy realizes that Pooch is a valuable and trustworthy asset in his plans of becoming local crime lord, and the two get involved with the local drug trade of the neighborhood. With the help of their pal Juanito, the pair continue to get close to having total control and will be able to make a proposition to the mob behind it all. However Big Boy doesn't know that Pooch is a cop being charged for corruption, who was given one last chance to avoid jail by going undercover to clean up his old neighborhood. To Pooch, this reunion is painful because as an undercover cop, he is working as an informer within Big Boy's gang, with plans to bring Big Boy down. While Pooch is undecided about whether he should help them, or help himself, as well as struggling between loyalty and betrayal, the two friends relationship is further tested with an arrival of aspiring-model and pathological-liar Eva, who Pooch meets in a health food restaurant. Both men fall in love with her and it isn't long before all three of them are sleeping together, whilst each have their own agenda.

Cast

Reception

Sandra Brennan of Allmovie gave the film three out of five stars, calling it a "gritty crime thriller".

Uncle Scoopy's Movie House rated the film a C-, commenting that "Saints and Sinners" aimed for a gritty feel which ultimately contributed to its shortcomings. The critique highlighted an excessive amount of overacting with a lack of subtlety. Additionally, it was noted that the script failed to adequately develop and convey the friendship between the characters Plank and Chapa, lacking the necessary time and effort.

The 2005 book VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever gave the film one and half out of five stars.

On February 16, 1996, Susan King of the Los Angeles Times, described the film as a "sleazy, erotic thriller".

On March 23, 1996, Roanoke Times stated "A screwy supercharged energy drives "Saints and Sinners," a crime drama/buddy flick/romance about two childhood friends and their adventurous girlfriend."

Dragan Antulov of rec.arts.movies.reviews gave a rating of 6 out of 10.