| 2 Days in the Valley | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | John Herzfeld |
| Written by | John Herzfeld |
| Produced by | Herb Nanas Jeff Wald |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Oliver Wood |
| Edited by | Jim Miller Wayne Wahrman |
| Music by | Anthony Marinelli |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | MGM/UA Distribution Co.[a][1] |
Release date |
|
Running time | 105 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $11 million[2] |
2 Days in the Valley is a 1996 Americanneo noircrimeblack comedy film written and directed byJohn Herzfeld. The film starsDanny Aiello,Greg Cruttwell,Jeff Daniels,Teri Hatcher,Glenne Headly,Peter Horton,Marsha Mason,Paul Mazursky,James Spader,Eric Stoltz, andCharlize Theron. Marketed in the UK asTwo Days in the Valley.
Two hitmen, Lee Woods andmafioso Dosmo Pizzo, walk into a bedroom where a sleeping couple, Olympic athlete Becky Foxx and her ex-husband Roy Foxx, are in bed. Lee injects Becky with a tranquilizer and then shoots Roy in the head. Lee and Dosmo then drive to an abandoned area offMulholland Drive, where Lee shoots Dosmo to set him up as thefall guy. Lee then blows up the car and flees the scene with his girlfriend, Helga Svelgen.
Dosmo survives, escaping the car and revealed to have been wearing a bulletproof vest. He takes shelter at the mansion of wealthy art dealer Allan Hopper, where he takes Hopper and his assistant Susan Parish hostage. Dosmo is unaware that Hopper has called his sister Audrey Hopper, a nurse, to come to the house. On her way, Audrey picks up Teddy Peppers, a down-and-out TV director contemplating suicide.
Meanwhile, Becky awakens and discovers Roy's body in bed beside her. She runs from her house and flags down two policemen, young, ambitious Wes Taylor and cynical veteran Alvin Strayer, who are driving by. Although sympathetic, Wes begins to suspect that Becky knows more than she is saying. Becky had hired Lee and Dosmo to kill Roy for $30,000 but was unaware that they would do it in her own house. Alvin later returns to his home and becomes frustrated after his window is broken by a golfer. Later that night, after wrapping a birthday present for his son, he reads a letter from his department for his resignation, making him more frustrated.
Meanwhile, Lee goes back to the house to get the money and kills Creighton and Valenzuela, the homicide detectives working the crime scene. Wes then arrives to see if he can offer any insight on the case. Masquerading as one of the detectives, Lee lures Wes outside, and knocks him out. At Lee's hotel, Becky and Helga argue and get into a fight, in which Helga is shot and wounded. Becky escapes with Helga firing after her. Helga finds her way to Becky's house, where Lee decides to kill Helga instead of taking her to the hospital, concluding that her wound is too severe to be treated, but his gun jams. He turns to retrieve Wes's gun but finds that Helga has escaped and has flagged down a passing car, where 2 people get out to try and help her. Another car approaches which happens to carry Dosmo and his hostages. Audrey jumps out and tries to help the dying Helga, but she dies on the roadside.
Wes is caught in the middle of a shootout between Dosmo and Lee and is shot in the leg. Just before Lee can kill Dosmo, Teddy shoots Lee, killing him.
A grateful Wes allows Dosmo to take the $30,000 and escape with Susan. The following day, Teddy shows up at an anniversary party that Audrey is attending. As Susan and Dosmo drive down a highway, Dosmo contemplates using the money to start a pizzeria in Brooklyn.
The film was given mixed reviews from critics, with a 62% rating onRotten Tomatoes, based on 58 reviews. The site's critics consensus reads, "A labyrinthine thriller with a host of memorable characters,2 Days in the Valley is an uneven but intriguing thriller/black comedy."[3]
Writing inThe New York Times,Stephen Holden wrote the film "lacks the humanity ofShort Cuts or the edgy hipness ofPulp Fiction, but it is still a sleek, amusingly nasty screen debut by a filmmaker whose television credits include anAmy Fishermelodrama."[4]Roger Ebert gave the film three stars out of four on his rating scale, saying that it "looks like a crime movie, but crime is the medium, not the message".[5]Teri Hatcher's performance in this film, as well as inHeaven's Prisoners, earned her a nomination forGolden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress at the17th Golden Raspberry Awards.[6]
Jerry Goldsmith composed an original orchestral score for2 Days in the Valley that was rejected in post-production. The released film features arock-oriented score composed byAnthony Marinelli. Goldsmith's score was released in complete form by the soundtrack labelIntrada Records in 2012.[7] A track from the soundtrack, "Rolling on the Sea", was taken fromWater Lily Acoustic's album,Mumtaz Mahal, featuringTaj Mahal,Chitravina N. Ravikiran and Vishwa Mohan Byatt.