REVENGE (1990)
Starring Kevin Costner, Madeline Stowe and Anthony Quinn
It’s Mexico. It’s hot and Tibby (Quinn) owns quite a lot of it. He is respected, feared and dangerous. Oh, and he is married to a breath-taking beauty named Miryea; played by Madeline Stowe.
Enter Jay. He has left the army after 12 years. He is impulsive, a little rebellious. He is old friends with Tibby and being bored with his life, he decides to pay Tibby a visit.
Imagine a woman married to a guy older than twice her age. Physically, he is not the least bit attractive. But possibly she was younger, stupid and he probably treated her better than the other guys around her. Charismatic and rich, he tempted her.( I wouldn’t have been tempted by Quinn, but wouldn’t have said to Brosnan, Gere, etc…). He doesn’t exactly mistreat her, but she is more of a modern and rich slave. She looks good and groomed. She hosts her parties and pretends she doesn’t notice that her husband cheats on her. And then she meets his friend. A tall, dark blond, blue eyed friend who is absolutely gorgeous, about her age and who actually has more in common with her than she could ever imagine.
Would you have gone for it if it were you? Hell, I would and so do Miryea and Jay.
So the movie is about an affair? Yes. Is it a romantic drama lasting 2 hours? No. So when Jay can’t restrain himself any longer, M and Jay get to be happy for a very short while. They get busted, resulting in a Jay beaten (almost) to death and Tibby stabbing his pretty wife in the face, comdemning her to a whorehouse where….you can imagine. The movie is filled with action,starting when Tibby busts them and then during Jay’s quest to find M, no matter what. I think you are going to find an entertaining movie with great scenery,good performances and two great-looking leads.
Yes,it is OK to cheat on a scumbag of a husband when you meet a hunky nice guy. But maybe it would be better to think of an escape route before jumping heads on…
Just a thought…
P.S: OK-maybe I should give some tips. For instance, if you are going to watch it with a date who is not that into romance, you should see the director’s cut. It is raw,has less affection and less romance, and more detailed sex scenes.
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Madeleine Stowe
Your article is very funny, Pinar… though, as I said, I really enjoyed this movie. It was one of Kevin Costner’s best performance. Madeline Stowe was simply great and Anthony Quinn was superb !!!
Thank you, Patricia:) I am glad you enjoyed the article. I love this film. Great performances all around. Stowe is one of my favorite actresses, and Costner is one of my favorite actors and well, 90s hunks;) Got to respect Quinn, the Scott direction and everything. If you liked the style of the article, you might want to read the ones on The Scarlet Letter and The English Patient. They belong to the same series:
https://pinartarhan.com/blog/when-adultery-is-okay-part-3-the-scarlet-letter/
https://pinartarhan.com/blog/when-adultery-is-okaypart-2-the-english-patient/
Great review, The one thing with this movie among many good and very believable scenes, is the one near the end when both husband and lover understand and respect, then forgiving each other for what there part was in destroying the wife. Starting with the husband and his way over the top punishment on them and the lover realizing he should not have put her in such danger and betraying his friend by sleeping with his wife. I also could not believe with the man of her husband that love trumped both of there safety and well being.
Yeah, but I believe the husband was sort of a mobster.So I think that in all of this, the wife was the least to blame. She was already being cheated on by her controlling, over-70 husband. She probably couldn’t have been able to leave him safely, even if she hadn’t cheated. And Kevin Costner in that movie…Wow. I don’t always find him hot, but in Revenge, he looked every bit the sexy & passionate stranger a woman would risk everything for…
The worst is the husband. I mean with The English Patient, we can at least forgive Colin Firth to a certain level- thinking he went insane for a bit. There he is, trusting his wife more than anyone, being all nice and sweet and trusting, and she shags this Hungarian dude. But here, Tiby wasn’t a good husband. Any guy who cheats on his wife but goes berserk when his wife does the same deserves a serious kick in the butt.
Kevin Costner should have talked to M, before bedding her. They should have come up with a better plan than a lousy weekend getaway. Hormones got in their way, but M. paid the ultimate price.
But despite how rash the characters are, it is so well-acted and well-shot… you can’t help but root for the lovers. But I have to say, as humane as the scene seemed, I really wish Kevin’s character got violent with Tiby. He so deserved it…:)
No one should blame anybody, I just understood what was done by all three parties. It was not smart at all for them to think they could do this for a long time. They underestimated or did not consider the consequences if caught, especially the wife. Tibby did what he did because they showed absolutely no respect in his eyes and the ultimate price was death. You have to understand a man as Tibby is made on the pact of respect and he will take no prisoners if it is not given. I did not like it, but again understood it. He agonized what he had to do, but to enjoy the film, as hard as it was i had to look past what happened to the wife and focus on the whole movie and it’s meaning. In the end they both lost. Neither of them will be O.K. as long as they live. Costners character had to humble himself that he put her in that position and Tibby lost his wife to a death he had no choice but to carryout….. The movie was about respect, That is what took place at the end.
Well, I still can’t empathize…Sorry. Regret, guilt, empathy…Maybe. Respect? I just don’t see it. I mean could you ever respect a friend who slept with your spouse, or a man who indirectly killed your lover?
I think it was more about passion and consequences, but that is just my take.