the morgue. He then gets out of the body bag, removes the makeup simulating his death and exits out a window to escape. He is confronted by McCarthy. The film ends with Tyler impersonating DeFranco at the bank in Geneva and retrieving the $15 million in Mafia funds, after which he and McCarthy make a getaway with the cash. Cast Bryan Brown as Roland "Rollie" Tyler Brian Dennehy as Detective Leo McCarthy Diane Venora as Ellen Cliff De Young as Martin Lipton Mason Adams as Colonel Edward Mason Jerry Orbach as Nicholas DeFranco Joe Grifasi as Mickey Trey Wilson as Lieutenant Murdoch Tom Noonan as Varrick Josie de Guzman as Marisa Velez M'el Dowd as Miss Joyce Lehman Roscoe Orman as Captain Wallenger Martha Gehman as Andy Angela Bassett as TV Reporter Production The unsolicited screenplay was written by two novice writers, actor Gregory Fleeman and documentarian Robert T. Megginson. Producer Jack Wiener read their script, which was submitted as a low-budget television movie, and felt that it should be made into a theatrical release. Wiener and his co-producer Dodi Fayed hired Robert Mandel, an Off-Broadway director. They did not want to hire an action director, but instead wanted a director who would bring a realistic touch to the film and make the audience care about the main character having been impressed with Mandel's direction of actors in Independence Day. Mandel accepted the job because he wanted to dispel the perception that he was a "soft, arty director". Initially he was not impressed with the film's screenplay, which he felt was not well-crafted but felt that it provided for "a lot of action and a lot of things I did not have under my belt". In preparation for the film's action sequences, Mandel studied chase scenes from Bullitt and The French Connection. To pull off the film's special effects, the producers hired John Stears, who had worked on the first eight James Bond films and shared a special effects Academy Award for Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Principal photography took place during the summer of 1985 around New York City and in Rye, New York, as well as Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Toronto locations included Sherway Gardens Mall in Etobicoke. A preview screening in the San Fernando Valley produced some of the best statistics Orion Pictures had seen in some time. A week before its release, a film industry