Next of Kin

"A Chicago cop from the hills of Kentucky. Hunting his brother's killer. Seeking justice country style."

1989 1h 48m EN

😐

5.9

MID

★5.9TMDB · 260

ActionCrimeDramaThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Truman Gates, a Chicago cop, sets out to find his brother's killer. Meanwhile, another of his brothers, Briar (a hillbilly) decides to find the killer himself.

“A Chicago cop from the hills of Kentucky. Hunting his brother's killer. Seeking justice country style.”

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Cast

Patrick Swayze
Truman Gates
Liam Neeson
Briar Gates
Adam Baldwin
Joey Rosselin
Helen Hunt
Jessie Gates
Ted Levine
Willy Simpson
Bill Paxton
Gerald Gates
Michael J. Pollard
Harold
Andreas Katsulas
John Isabella

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: John Irvin
Writers: Michael Jenning
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 6

ERA

Did you know

37 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 6

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by John Irvin, shot by Steven Poster. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 6

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Peter Honess shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 6

CAST

Did you know

Patrick Swayze and Liam Neeson and Adam Baldwin carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 6

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "A Chicago cop from the hills of Kentucky. Hunting his brother's killer. Seeking justice country style.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 6

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0097967 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

Cinephile deep dive

The take

John Irvin directs. Steven Poster behind the camera. Peter Honess cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

137 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
2Directed by John Irvin, shot by Steven Poster. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Editor Peter Honess shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
4Patrick Swayze and Liam Neeson and Adam Baldwin carry the top of the cast.
5Marketing tagline: "A Chicago cop from the hills of Kentucky. Hunting his brother's killer. Seeking justice country style.".
6IMDB entry: tt0097967 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
7Classified under 8 themes, including "chicago, illinois", "kentucky", "cop", "revenge".

The technical file

Cinematography: Steven Poster
Editing: Peter Honess
Production design: Jack T. Collis
Costume design: Donfeld
Makeup / hair: Jerry Turnage
Sound: Franklin Jones Jr.
Stunt coordinator: Walter Scott
Runtime: 108 min · 1h 48m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $12,000,000
Box office: $15,942,628
Return: 133% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Next of Kin (1989)

Also by

John Irvin

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

tmdb275103952018-07-26
★ 4/10
Well, without reviewing the entire movie I will suggest this. Liam Neeson, God love him, should never again do a movie with a hillbilly accent.
John Chard2020-08-30
★ 6/10
Appalachian Clan vS. The Chicago Mob Patrick Swayze stars in an action revenge thriller in the same year that he also made Road House, the following year he made Ghost, these were two years after he had made a sensual splash with Dirty Dancing. Thus it's safe to say that Patrick did not pigeon hole himself. Next of Kin holds no great hidden gem rewards, but it's a rock solid thriller boasting a splendid cast list featuring Liam Neeson, Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton, Adam Baldwin, Andreas Katsulas, Ben Stiller (in a serious role), Michael J. Pollard, Ted Levine and Paul Greco. Plot finds Swayze as a Chicago cop who after the murder his younger brother desperately tries to uphold the law while one of his brothers from the "sticks" would rather enact all out revenge on the mobsters that killed the younger sibling. Suffice to say things go pear shaped and blood, loyalty and life altering decisions do follow. The trajectory is simple , honest cop tries to do the right thing by the law in spite of the hurt in his heart, hillbilly brother (Neeson getting the best role in the film) would rather deliver some "deliverance" type justice - all while the rest of the "Gates" family clan await the call to come wading down from the hills to aid the retribution flow. The action scenes are well enough staged by director John Irvin, there's a whole bunch of fun in the characterisations - even if they are standard 101 scripted - while if you can get past Swayze's ponytail you will find a very restrained and cool performance. Hardly a must see, but definitely no stinker and worth your time as a time filler, if only to see such a fresh faced young cast of well knowns turning tricks before bigger things awaited. 6/10
tmdb280390232022-09-03
★ 5/10
Like its hero, Next of Kin is an anomaly — a thriller about a family feud between hillbillies and wiseguys that brings together Patrick Swayze, Liam Neeson, Adam Baldwin, Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton and Ben Stiller. Truman Gates (Swayze) is as elusive a cryptid as the Frozen Caveman Lawyer; born and raised in Appalachia, Truman emigrated to Chicago where he is now a plainclothes cop with a violinist wife (Hunt), a sports car, and a mullet that's pompadour on the front and a ponytail on the back; what we have here is a Civilized Redneck. And yet Swayze makes the character work, precisely because he is the last person we would imagine as a hillbilly; thus, the otherness that Truman projects when he returns to Kentucky for the funeral of his younger brother Gerald (Paxton) feels genuine. Elsewhere, Neeson is one of the few actors who could convincingly play a both a Highlander as well as a hillbilly; Paxton unfortunately only appears in a couple of scenes, and like Stiller has the thankless task of being a sacrificial lamb; as for Hunt, she is predictably reduced to a Damsel in Distress). On the mob side, Baldwin is effective as main villain Joey Rossellini, playing him something like Full Metal Jacket’s Animal Mother back home from Vietnam. Being at least a head taller than the rest of the cast except Neeson, Baldwin looms menacingly over everybody else. By contrast, Johnny Isabella (Andreas Katsulas) is one of those mob bosses who hasn't forgotten his humble origins and, accordingly, isn't too proud to roll up his sleeves and cook himself some traditional Italian dish — but with a nickname like Pappa John, what could you expect? (to be fair, Katsulas wasn’t copying Paul Sorvino in Goodfellas, which was released a year after Next of Kin.) This is possibly the first of the now seemingly unending films where Neeson becomes a lone vigilante who decides to take the law into his own hands, in this case as Briar, Truman and Gerald's older brother not named after a former president. Following Gerald's funeral, Truman and Briar return to Chicago separately; without the restrictions of the penal code, the latter’s investigation progresses more quickly than the former. Everything comes to a head in a graveyard shootout that includes throwing knives, bows and arrows, dogs and snakes, and which may or may not have inspired the climax Sam Rockwell envisions for the movie Colin Farrell is writing in Seven Psychopaths. All things considered, Next of Kin is like those oddball relatives we all have; as such, we can’t help love it even if we don't always like it.