Al Pacino’s Only Good 80s Movie Is Steaming Up Netflix
For as many times as Al Pacino has played the head of a criminal empire, he’s played someone on the other side of the law just as many, if not more times. One of Pacino’s better outings as a member of law enforcement is 1989’s Sea of Love. The steamy neo-noir is available to stream right now on Netflix.
Sea of Love follows New York City homicide detective Frank Keller. Keller is the reason the term “hot mess” was coined. Frank is a divorced, burned-out alcoholic lamenting his 20 years on the police force. If that wasn’t bad enough, Keller’s wife got remarried to one of the other cops who work with Frank.
The only movie Pacino shot in the ’80s that wasn’t nominated for a Razzie.
Frank is tasked with solving a series of murders and, along the way, becomes emotionally and physically involved with a woman who just might be the murderer he’s looking for.
Harold Becker directed Sea of Love from a script by Richard Price. It was inspired by but not based on writer Richard Price’s 1978 novel Ladies Man. Price was the one who made the choice to deviate so much from his original novel. The writer has stated that he wanted to explore the same ideas that he did in Ladies Man but wanted to “make the protagonist cooler to an audience.,” which he claimed to have done by making the main character a cop and giving him a gun.
Dustin Hoffman was originally in negotiations to play Detective Frank Keller before Al Pacino showed interest in the project. Hoffman demanded too many re-writes from Price, leading to him being replaced by Pacino. Al Pacino was originally hesitant to take the role in Sea of Love following a string of bombs in the ’80s.
Pacino’s ’80s output prior to Sea of Love was so bad that it made Pacino question whether he wanted to continue acting or not. As a result, the actor was on a four-year hiatus when offered the film. Ultimately, Pacino was convinced to do the movie, which became the only movie he shot in the ’80s that wasn’t nominated for a Razzie.
The rest of the Sea of Love cast includes Ellen Barkin as Frank’s love interest/suspect, Helen Cruger, John Goodman as one of Frank’s fellow detectives, and Michael Rooker as Terry Cruger, Helen’s ex.
For Ellen Barkin, the Sea of Love set was a nightmare. The actress recounted in a 2011 interview that she was uncomfortable filming a scene set in a grocery store where she was made to sensually fondle produce in an attempt to seduce Al Pacino. Barkin pleaded with the director to cut the scene, but Becker insisted she do it.
Later in an interview earlier this year Barkin revealed a separate incident where Becker allegedly ripped off her merkin—a pubic wig meant to cover a woman’s genitals during a scene with full frontal nudity—during a sex scene with Pacino.
“What was I going to do when Harold Becker on Sea of Love walks over and literally rips my merkin off, taking some pubic hair with him and saying: ‘What do you need this for? Nobody’s looking at you,'” Barkin said in an interview with the Huffington Post before adding sadly that in a pre-Me Too era, the only choice was to do nothing.
Ellen Barkin was made to sensually fondle produce in an attempt to seduce Al Pacino.
The movie was released on September 15, 1989, and was an immediate hit. The film ended up grossing $110.9 million on a budget of only $19 million, earning Universal Pictures a hefty profit. Critics liked Sea of Love even more than audiences. The movie’s current Rotten Tomatoes standing is 75% critics score vs a 66% audience score.
Sea of Love proved to be the catalyst Al Pacino’s career needed to get a renaissance started. After a four-year period of feeling sorry for himself, the Godfather actor was finally back on the Hollywood A-list. Without Sea of Love, who knows if the iconic actor would have gone on to make Glengarry Glen Ross and Scent of a Woman—both in 1992—or the following year’s Carlito’s Way.
Sea of Love was just the jumpstart Al Pacino’s career needed and was also one of the first films in Hollywood’s erotic thriller phase that dominated the ’90s. Who knows if movies like Basic Instinct would have been so popular if Sea of Love hadn’t paved the way? You can—and should— stream Sea of Love right now on Netflix.
