SOMEONE TO DIE FOR

US, 1995, 98 minutes, Colour.
Corbin Bernsen, Ally Walker.
Directed by Clay Borris.

Someone To Die For is a routine thriller with a twist. Corbin Bernsen plays a violent cop, accused of unnecessary killings in his work. As the film opens, he draws his gun on what proves to be a man with a toy pistol and kills him. He is suspended from his work but wants to be involved all the time. When he takes his daughter to the scene of a crime, an escape vehicle crashes into the car and kills her. He then pursues the case, trying to bring killers to justice. His life is complicated by his next-door neighbour, Alex (Ally Walker) who in fact is a journalist wanting a story, but who changes her attitude as she gets to know him better. The other is a young woman at the institution where Bernsen is sent to recover. She begins to pursue him, trying to be seductive, but he rejects her. She then wants to wreak violence on him and is killed.

The twist is that Bernsen is the killer all the time, tracking down the detective that he considers responsible for his daughter's death and eliminating them. The film ends with a violent confrontation.

1. Police thriller? Murder mystery with a twist?

2. The popularity of police dramas, crooked police, investigations? This film as a routine example with a twist?

3. The title, the focus on Jack, his love for his daughter, her death, his revenge?

4. The portrait of Jack at work: tough, disdain for his partners, for authority? The special case, the confrontation, his shooting the young man dead? Police investigations and his being suspended? His continuing to investigate? His taking his daughter to the crime scene? The impact of her death? His collapse, in the institution, with the young woman, seductive, resisting her? Her following him home, coming to his house? His relationship with Alex, as a neighbour, finding out that she was a journalist, rejecting her, the bond growing between the two? The deaths of the police associated with his daughter's death? The visit to his daughter's grave, Alex finding the badges, the revelation that he was the killer? The build-up to the confrontation, the shootout?

5. Jack's daughter, his estranged wife, love for his daughter, taking her out, her death, the motivation for his killings?

6. Alex, professional work, her ruthless boss, wanting the story, exposes? Her refusal? Relationship with Jack? Her discovery of the truth?

7. The young woman at the institution, caring for her grandmother, the story of her being abused as a child, her throwing herself at Jack, the irony of his using her case for his alibi? Her death?

8. The police, authorities, their work, clashes with partners, investigations, the men responsible for Jack's daughter's death, their being found in compromising situations, killed?

9. Popular entertainment exploring the revenge theme, justice and violence?