Basic Instinct (1992)

Director:

Paul Verhoeven

Writer (WGA):

Joe Eszterhas (written by)

Release Date:

20 March 1992 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

A brutal murder. A brilliant killer. A cop who can't resist the danger.

Plot:

A police detective is in charge of the investigation of a brutal murder, in which a beautiful and seductive woman could be involved.

Plot Keywords:

Erotic Fantasy | Cynicism | Murder Investigation | Hiding Under Bed | Psychological Thriller

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 5 wins & 16 nominations

Cast

Michael Douglas	...	Det. Nick Curran
Sharon Stone	...	Catherine Tramell
George Dzundza	...	Gus Moran
Jeanne Tripplehorn	...	Dr. Beth Garner
Denis Arndt	...	Lt. Philip Walker
Leilani Sarelle	...	Roxy
Bruce A. Young	...	Andrews
Chelcie Ross	...	Capt. Talcott
Dorothy Malone	...	Hazel Dobkins
Wayne Knight	...	John Correli
Daniel von Bargen	...	Lt. Marty Nilsen
Stephen Tobolowsky	...	Dr. Lamott
Benjamin Mouton	...	Harrigan
Jack McGee	...	Sheriff
Bill Cable	...	Johnny Boz

Also Known As:

Basic Instinct (France)
Ice Cold Desire (Singapore: English title) (censored version)
Love Hurts (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence and sensuality, and for drug use and language.

Runtime:

127 min | USA:128 min (unrated version)

Country:

USA | France

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR | LC-Concept Digital Sound (France)

Certification:

Finland:K-18 (theatrical rating) (1992) | Singapore:R21 (re-rating) (2007) | USA:R (certificate #31380) | Finland:K-16 (video rating) (cut) (1992) | Malaysia:(Banned) | Hungary:18 | Singapore:R(A) (cut) (1992) | Canada:R (Nova Scotia) (original rating) | Brazil:18 | Australia:M (TV rating) | Canada:18 (Nova Scotia) (re-rating) (2001) | Singapore:PG (video rating) (heavily cut) | Canada:R (Manitoba/Ontario) (also director's cut) | India:A | Argentina:18 | Australia:R | Belgium:KNT | Canada:18+ (Quebec) (also director's cut) | Chile:18 | France:-12 (re-rating) | France:-16 (original rating) | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:III | Ireland:18 | Italy:VM14 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R18 | Norway:18 | Peru:18 | Portugal:M/18 | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:Unrated (director's cut) | Mexico:C | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

1158 Montgomery St., Telegraph Hill, San Francisco, California, USA

Company:

Canal+

Trivia:

Paul Verhoeven briefly considered Peter Weller for the role of Nick Curran.

Goofs:

Continuity: When wheels on the black Lotus are different when it crashes through the barricade.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Gus: Who was this fucking guy?
Nick: Rock and Roll, Gus. Johnny Boz?
Gus: Never heard of him.
Nick: Before your time, cowboy. Hey, Ronny! Where they hiding?
Ronny: Upstairs to the right.
Nick: Mid Sixties he had five or six hits. Got a club down in Fillmore now.
Gus: Not now, he don't.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "I'm Alan Partridge: Basic Alan (#1.4)" (1997)

Soundtrack:

Blue

Thriller which achieves screen magic of the golden age.

Paul Verhoeven has created a masterwork from Joe Eszterhas' controversial script. Several sex scenes become a leitmotif, as the participants appear to pummel, rather than love, one another with their nether parts. But the most rugged and the most erotic scene occurs between Detective Nick Curran, Michael Douglas, and his colleague, Beth Garner, portrayed by Jeanne Tripplehorn. He throws her against a wall and then against the back of a chesterfield. That is only the foreplay. In this film sex is violence, and that is Verhoeven's theme.

But there is more. Sharon Stone as Catherine Tramell has a beautiful blonde form in that Beach Boy / California girl manner. She plays her 'flashing' scene in the police interrogation room with wit and a touch of class. Throughout the film she is arch, intelligent, electric. Her foil, Nick Curran, a troubled detective, realizes she might be a murderer, but finds her personality and her allure, irresistible. Douglas' performance is driven, masculine, affecting ... yet he would be well advised to keep his trousers on henceforth, for his sagging bottom is simply too comical.

There are several echoes of Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo (58). Both pictures have as a setting the picturesque San Francisco area. Jerry Goldsmith's music recalls Bernard Herrmann's symphonic score. The stairwell in Curran's apartment building resembles the vertiginous staircase of the Mission bell tower. And as with Hitchcock the dialogue is often simultaneously risque and humorous, although more vulgar in keeping with the tenor of modern times.

Eszterhas' script is carefully crafted, and it does not cheat. Life proves ambiguous at many levels, and so does art. The mystery is dark; the action, including a car chase, thrills; and the locale continually shifts, from a cop station to Catherine's lovely seaside house to a colorful bar where Catherine's jealous female lover and Curran engage in a sensual battle for her charms.

Day, night, sun, rain, streets, highways, scenery, ocean, sex, emotion, confrontations, death ... the film envelops everything, perhaps even love. Here, Verhoeven, Eszterhas, Douglas, Stone, have achieved some screen magic of the past.