The Long Kiss Goodnight. 1996. USA. Directed by Renny Harlin. With Geena Davis, Samuel L. Jackson, Craig Bierko. 35mm. 121 min.
A small-town Pennsylvania homemaker is secretly a government assassin with traumatic amnesia. That high-concept hook landed writer Shane Black a record payday in 1994, and the ensuing film paired Geena Davis with Jackson in an entertaining E-ticket ride from director Renny Harlin. Jackson’s down-on-his-luck, Newport-smoking, booze-swilling private eye Mitch Henessy is among the actor’s favorite roles, and it’s an early example of his knack for creating crowd-pleasing characters in big, crowd-pleasing movies.