By Brian Myers
| Revealed
Hollywood legend Denzel Washington has notched a large number of memorable movies in his 4 a long time as an actor. From his Oscar-winning performances in Glory (1989) and Coaching Day (2002) to his critically acclaimed roles in Fences (2016) and The Tragedy of MacBeth (2021), there’s arguably by no means been a extra versatile star within the final two generations. However a largely passed-over movie from Washington’s early days is Satan in a Blue Costume.
Satan in a Blue Costume follows WWII veteran Straightforward Rollins (Denzel Washington), a lately unemployed Los Angeles resident who’s searching for some quick money. He’s employed to seek out the lacking lover of one of many metropolis’s mayoral candidates, following leads that take him to a number of the metropolis’s seediest areas. Alongside the way in which, Rollins discovers the lacking girl’s connections to organized crime, prompting him to reconnect with a harmful particular person from his pre-war days.
The movie slowly builds right into a terrific entry within the neo-noir style during which Rollins turns into caught in a homicide plot and a political scandal. Satan in a Blue Costume efficiently combines the ominous setting and sophisticated plotlines integral to a noir movie whereas bringing in identified performers like Denzel Washington for knowledgeable touches.
Denzel Washington might need acquired reward on the time from critics, however the general reception was a blended bag. Those that evaluated Satan in a Blue Costume appeared to all lend a hand with the story’s tone and visible attraction however panned a number of of Washington’s co-stars.
The movie wasn’t the box-office success TriStar Footage had hoped for. It solely introduced in $22 million in international field workplace receipts towards a $27 million manufacturing price range.
Satan in a Blue Costume has acquired much more love within the 30 years since its theatrical launch. The Denzel Washington movie has a stable 92% rating throughout 118 critics on Rotten Tomatoestogether with 88/100 on Metacritic. Followers of noir and neo-noir have managed to seek out the movie after its launch on VHS (and later DVD) within the late Nineteen Nineties, with bodily media serving to to construct a stable fan base.
Whereas Denzel Washington’s efficiency in Satan in a Blue Costume shouldn’t be neglected, one side of the movie that comes near overshadowing the gamers on display screen is the music. The eerie rating by Elmer Bernstein perfects the tone, and the movie’s soundtrack is likely one of the better of the last decade. That includes a number of the greats of blues and jazz, the songs from the period during which the movie was set dropped at life the moods of the late and nice Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington, and Bull Moose Jackson.
Alongside Denzel Washington, Satan in a Blue Costume co-stars Tom Sizemore, Jennifer Beals, Maury Chaykin, and Don Cheadle. The movie was additionally a car for actor Carl Franklin to spice up his profession as a director. Franklin had beforehand been on the helm of the movies Nowhere to Run and One False Transfer. Franklin can be credited with creating the screenplay from the 1990 Walter Mosley novel of the identical title.
Satan in a Blue Costume was the brainchild of director Franklin, who had learn and beloved Mosely’s novel. The creator beloved the script that Franklin penned and agreed to function an affiliate producer of the movie.