Man On Fire (1987 Film) - Cast

Cast

• Scott Glenn as John Creasy
  • Creasy, a man from Northern California, is a former CIA agent who becomes a bodyguard. Lloyd Sachs of the Chicago Sun-Times said that the press materials indicated that Creasy became emotionally destroyed after a bomb killed children in Beirut, Lebanon. According to Sachs, the film "film fails to make clear".
  • Creasy originally has long hair and wire-rimmed glasses. Bill Kaufman of Newsday said that the "sullen and taciturn" Creasy appears "a bit shaggy" and "doesn't seem much like a tough guy." John H. Richardson of the Los Angeles Daily News said that in the beginning of the film, Creasy is "a morbid guy" who has an appearance "like a thinner Chuck Norris, but he has these huge bags under his eyes and a twitch in his cheek, and he tends to stare off into the distance with the cosmic gloom of someone who has Seen the Darkness in the Human Soul." Kaufman added that the actor, as Creasy, "is a bit reminiscent of Chuck Norris." Eleanor Ringel of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution said that the actor as Creasy, "with his scruffy beard and melancholy eyes", "calls to mind Max von Sydow as Christ in "The Greatest Story Ever Told."
  • Caryn James of The New York Times said that compared to other films he starred in, Scott "has less presence than usual here." Ringel concluded that "xcellent actor that he is, he lends power and authority to this disjointed work, but even he can't pull together a script that's heading off in opposite directions. After a while, you figure he took the part because the idea of a paid vacation in Italy was too appealing to pass up." Desmond Ryan of The Philadelphia Inquirer said that while "Glenn is quite capable of livening up humbler movie genres the muddle of pretension and largely incoherent action here is beyond his redemptive powers" and "t least Glenn has been asked to do something, which is more than can be claimed by anyone else in the cast." Kaufman said that Glenn "turns in a creditable performance as the driven man."
• Joe Pesci as David
• Danny Aiello as Conti, leader of the mafia
  • Conti is half-American, half-Italian. Sachs said that Aiello, as Conti, "sounds Italian when he's demanding dough and American when he's begging for his life." In the entire film, Conti has one scene where he speaks. Kaufman said that Aiello, as Conti, "is suitably sinister".
• Jade Malle as Samantha "Sam" Balletto
  • Sam had previously attended a school in Greenwich Village, New York City. James said "This gives her an excuse to speak English and to carry around Of Mice and Men, comparing herself and Creasy to Steinbeck's George and Lenny. Eventually this literary child breaks through Creasy's tough-guy defenses." Sachs said that Samantha "a survivor in her own right - of a troubled marriage, having no friends, etc." but that she is "too smart and adorable to resist." Richardson said "hey talk about the works of John Steinbeck and the fine points of jogging, and before you can say "Lolita", the pair are involved in a kind of romance." Kaufman said that Malle portrays Sam "with appealing, moppet-like charm".
• Jonathan Pryce as Michael
  • Ryan said "How - or why - anyone would recruit an actor of the caliber of and then give him just a few lines on the telephone is anyone's guess."
• Brooke Adams as Jane Balletto
  • Jane is Samantha's mother and Ettore's wife. Sachs said that the press materials indicated that Jane and Michael "are an item and Sam knows it." Sachs adds that in the film "we only see Brooke in the arms of" Creasy. Richardson said that Adams's role is a "cameo."
• Paul Shenar as Ettore Balletto
• Giancarlo Prati as Detective Satta
• Lorenzo Piani as Bruno Lezzi (servant)
• Inigo Lezzi as Bellu
• Franco Trevisi as Rabbia (mafia figure)
• Alessandro Haber as Sandri (mafia figure)
• Laura Morante as Julia
• Lou Castel as Violente

Eleanor Ringel of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution said that the director "obviously has an excellent eye for actors but no idea how to use them once he's cast them." Ringel said that the characters Jane Balletto and Michael, played respectively by Brooke Adams and Jonathan Pryce, each are in two scenes and have about four lines of dialog. Michael Spies of the Houston Chronicle said "As often happens in these international productions, actors make hello-goodbye appearances, including Brooke Adams, who has perhaps one line as the girl's mother, and Jonathan Pryce, who has maybe a couple more as a representative of the family business." James said "Blink a few times and you'll miss Brooke Adams as Sam's mother, and Danny Aiello as the American ringleader of the Italian terrorists." Sachs said that Adams and Pryce, who were two of the production's top-billed actors, "have approximately five lines between them", and that is " sure giveaway" that the production "has not enjoyed a trouble-free transition." Ryan speculated that the movie may have been severely edited and "what Pryce and his likewise-underutilized co-stars contributed ended up on the cutting-room floor."