Linkshoch Wonderful Movie

Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

Adeel Hail Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Derry Herrera Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

afilmaday I really wanted to like this movie, be invested on either how awesomely 90s it is or how interesting certain aspects were, but it fails. It's not a bad movie, it's a dull movie.Firstly, we have the sex scene in the Oval Office, which you can tell on how it's conveyed that director Dwight Little thought this was controversially awesome, and to tell us this is a mature movie. (Many 90s films had these shadowed sex scenes to signal this is going to be an intertwining tale of double crossings, sleaze and conspiracies.) We also have Harlan's introduction, using unorthodox methods to disarm a suicidal man with typical smart aleck. (Many 90s films couldn't shake off 80s cop maverick and were used not as a plot point or moment of hilarity like its predecessor, but as a quick ploy for character emphasis, only never to be used again throughout the movie.) Then a bombardment of clichés; Nina revolts against the Secret Service, Chief Spikings is heavily secretive and dismissive towards the detectives and Harlan is a 'man of the streets' with own problems but always gets the job done. Nothing original is presented.The closest we get to something a little different is Harlan's apartment where we see a miniature recreation of Washington in the 19th Century; he talks to Nina about his father being a "history buff" and through this he too is fascinated by American history but…this goes nowhere! He never talks about history, this trait quickly disperses and no reference is made later. I'm guessing the point is to emphasise his love for the city, but it needn't go to such lengths of making this.The cigar Harlan had throughout was a cheap, tacky attempt at conveying a hardened, maverick cop of the streets, a man with a problem with authority etc. because he never smokes it! It's not even alight, which you could forgive as Snipes is a non-smoker, but to have it there is really disjointing viewing.The performances from the surrounding cast weren't particularly memorable; none of them were bad or outwardly irritating but were just there. The closest to any intrigue was Dennis Miller who definitely tried to add humour to the script.Murder at 1600 is dull and unoriginal. Everything here has been done many times before and whenever its shows any signs of originality, it's quickly discarded for safer choices. A time-filler flick.

bkoganbing What happens when a homicide is committed at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the Presidential Mansion, the White House? My own guess is that it would fall under the jurisdiction of the FBI. But they don't enter the picture here because guarding the president and his family falls under the purview of the Secret Service. I think the FBI would have first jurisdiction because the White House is federal property sitting on federal land, a murder in a Post Office would fall under the same rule.But when a White House staffer who's been having an affair with the president's son Tate Donovan is murdered and her body left in the public bathroom there, the Washington, DC homicide squad is called in. That would be Wesley Snipes and he's partnered with Secret Service liaison Diane Lane. They are called in by White House National Security Adviser Alan Alda who wants due diligence and as much help as possible in solving the murder. And of course he's got an interest in his president Ronny Cox and first lady Diane Baker not to mention the institution of the presidency itself.Snipes and Lane start pursuing one line of investigation, but soon get sidetracked into another because the clues given them don't quite pan out. While this is going on, the country and the president are involved in a hostage crisis with North Korea, another Pueblo like incident. And it turns out they are related.Murder At 1600 is a nice political thriller whose pace doesn't let up at all. There are two other good performances of note in it, Dennis Miller plays Snipes's laconic partner who acts a whole lot like comedian Dennis Miller. And Daniel Benzali plays one creepy head of the White House Secret Service detail.As for Alan Alda those of you who know and appreciate Alan Alda as Hawkeye Pierce from MASH, you will see an Alan Alda in this film who would probably have Hawkeye shot as a traitor.I recommend Murder At 1600 very highly, try to catch it when broadcast.

Welshfilmfan As this begins...especially seeing as it's a Wesley Snipes movie, you expect a by-the-numbers Straight to DVD type film....but actually 'MURDER AT 1600' Is a very good Thriller overlooked on it's release in 1997.A young woman is found murdered in the Bathroom at 1600 Pennsylvannia Ave, otherwise known as 'The Whitehouse'.A woman murdered at the Whitehouse, not too dissimilar to the same year's Clint Eastwood Movie Absolute Power, though both Movies tanked at the Box Office....Anyway, Wesley Snipes plays DET. Harlan Regis who is the Homicide detective leading the investigation on the scene, he soon realises that the man the Secret Service have in custody is quite possibly innocent and there could be a Conspiracy leading right up to the Commander in Chief, Regis digs deeper along with help from Secret service agent Nina Chance (Diane lane) and they soon find that both of their lives are in danger as they are getting closer to the truth.As I said in my Summary, This has to be Snipes' best movie,before he went the way of Steven Seagal & Jean Claude Van Damme in Trashy straight to DVD Actioners that are on blockbusters bottom shelf, admittedly it flopped on it's release taking only $41m Worldwide, but I think It's very well written Conspiracy flick with a superb supporting cast that includes Ronny Cox,Dennis Miller,Alan Alda & Daniel Benzali.**** out of *****

Robert J. Maxwell Spoiler here. A beautiful young woman is found murdered in a bathroom at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. (That's the White House.) There is a jurisdictional dispute between the Washington, DC, police force, represented by Wesley Snipes, and the Secret Service, represented by Diane Lane. Before you know it, the pair overcome their natural rivalry and work together. That both are harassed and told to lay off by their superiors is by now a cliché.Suspicion falls on the President's son. Too bad for the President (Ronnie Cox) because now he's got his jewels in a vice. The North Koreans are holding some American hostages, which the Prez wants to negotiate for. Standing against him and in favor of military force are some of the President's chiefs of staff and his adviser, Alan Alda. It is constantly asked of President Cox how, if he can't protect the people in his own residence, he can possibly protect the country? The words in this question make it sound like an insoluble dilemma, whereas the facts of the matter are probably that, yes, somebody can be slaughtered in the White House and the President can still do a good job of protecting the country, as long as he's not sabotaged by his subordinates. It's a kind of bumper-sticker question that, when examined, makes little sense, but to the appealing simplicity of which, many Americans seem attracted. Surrender is not an option, and all that.Well, you ask, did the president's kid kill the beauty? It looks bad. The son admits he slept with her an hour before her death, and a condom has been found with his semen and her fingerprints on it. (Yukk.) However, as Snipes and Lane find out, the entire murder was a ploy to get the president to choose between saving his son by resigning or playing out a hand with no cards left in it. The President is only a few minutes away from announcing his resignation when the dynamic duo of Snipes and Lane, having squirmed their way through the White House maze of underground tunnels, show up and shout, "Mister President, your son is innocent and here is the evidence on this secret tape!" Alan Alda was behind the whole thing. He wanted to go in with Special Forces or whatever it took to free the hostages, so he had the woman murdered and the son framed. Informed of this plot, the President, no namby-pamby after all, socks Alda in the jaw and puts him under arrest.It seems to me that the President himself, having been given information relevant to the murder and deliberately withholding it from the investigators is himself guilty of obstruction of justice, accessory after the fact, first degree broodiness, and parking in a handicapped zone. But no matter. We don't care if Presidents fail in every little observation of the law, as long as they keep their pants zipped. There's an intermediate heavy, a bald guy, whom I find always an irritation. He seems to enjoy being on camera too much. And he has this little shtick that he always does, looking humorless and speaking in a hoarse whisper, and that's that. You want to see what a real heavy can do with his role? Watch anything that John Glover is in.It's an entertaining and distracting movie as long as you don't think about it too much. Action scenes with shoot outs alternate with a plot development filled with intrigue. But there's not much to distinguish this from a dozen other similar movies, except that this one has to do with a murder in the White House. It's as if somebody, maybe a teen-aged Mickey Rooney, suddenly brightened and said, "Let's have a murder mystery, only this one will be in the White House!"