Nostalgia Kinky

Arrow Home Video has released an extraordinary 4K edition of The Long Kiss Goodnight, the classic 1996 action film starring an astonishing Geena Davis. Featuring hours of new supplements on an added Blu-ray bonus disc, The Long Kiss Goodnight arrives armed to the max. With its sparkling director-approved original negative restoration, Arrow’s 4K of The Long Kiss Goodnight is one of the best releases of the year. It is available to order directly from Arrow or here in the States from MVD.

I will never forgive the Hollywood studio system for the way it has treated the great American actresses that appeared in my youth throughout the eighties. As Geena Davis noted around the time of The Long Kiss Goodnight, if you are a woman in Hollywood turning 40, you are pretty much finished. How messed up is that, and why does it seem to be getting worse?

The Long Kiss Goodnight is about misogyny and sexism as much as it is about guns and spies. The fact that it was made by two men who few thought would ever deliver a feminist-driven film but The Long Kiss Goodnight very much exists. Screenwriter Shane Black even originally had a male lead in mind for his script but then realized while writing that his lead really had to be a woman. In fact, it was the only way for the film to distinguish itself and become something surprisingly vital.

Geena Davis turned 40 while she was making The Long Kiss Goodnight. At the time, she had an Oscar on her shelf, and the kind of varied filmography most would kill for. For the fat pigs behind the desks at the studios, Geena Davis was still one of the hottest women on the planet for the Viagra-driven suit-and-tie desk freaks at the studio, but all they could see was that number: 40. In the wake of The Long Kiss Goodnight, one of the most talented and beautiful actresses in the world could barely get a job. Wanna see how unbelievably sexist Hollywood can be? Just look at Geena Davis’ filmography leading up to The Last Kiss Goodnight and then after.

Geena Davis appears in nearly every scene of The Last Kiss Goodnight. Nearly every moment. It is one of the great performances of the nineties and one of the most physically demanding. Davis handles the materal like Stallone and Willis combined, maintaining a remarkable level of emotional and physical strength throughout. Without Geena Davis, The Long Kiss Goodnight would just be another silly American action flick but with her it becomes and remains something much more powerful and subversive.

Screenwriter Shane Black is, admittedly, not the kind of writer that holds much interest for me in general. That said, the man has two scripts to his credit that I count amongst my favorites, Lethal Weapon and The Nice Guys, and at his best Black has a really interesting voice. Like, trust me, I’d slice off part of my ear and mail it to a long lost love if I could write something as good as The Nice Guys so Shane Black is okay by me. His script for The Long Kiss Goodnight is not one of his strongest on a basic narrative level, but it doesn’t matter. Davis’ performance, along with Black’s endlessly amusing dialogue, makes the script’s faults seem almost kind of charming.

Finnish director Renny Harlin seemed like an even less likely figure to work on a Feminist action film than even Shane Black. After all, the long-haired Harlin was best known for his very testosterone-driven films, including even a vehicle for Andrew Dice Clay! But his personal connection to Davis, combined with the film they made a year previously together, Cutthroat Island, made Harlin the perfect choice for The Long Kiss Goodnight. A very capable and at times inventive action director, Harlin delivers the goods for Davis, Black, and New Line Cinema. The Long Kiss Goodnight remains the highlight of his directorial career.

While rewatching The Long Kiss Goodnight on this delightful new 4K edition, I kept trying to remove Geena Davis from the equation. Would this film hold any interest for me without her? Perhaps a little, as just an action film from my youth, but it is a pointless exercise. Geena Davis is The Long Kiss Goodnight. The film exists and is remembered for no other reason, and it is more than enough.

Of course, Geena Davis isn’t alone on the screen in The Long Kiss Goodnight. In fact, the film has quite an incredible cast, including the likes of Samuel L. Jackson and Brian Cox. Jackson is strong as usual and I think he’s named this as his favorite film he was in. That said, Jackson is, in fact, my biggest issue with the film. Not due to any fault of his own, but his character seems more like a Tarantino leftover than anything else. The Tarantino influence honestly damages the film throughout. Tarantino never wrote anything as good as the first Lethal Weapon script but by the mid-nineties it is so obvious that the studios are doing everything they can to ape his successes, often to the detriment of their own films. Of course, The Long Kiss Goodnight soon became one of hundreds included as a ‘homage’ in one of Tarantino’s films.
She’s not there, indeed.

A recounting of The Long Kiss Goodnight’s ridiculous plot involving a superspy with amnesia living as a housewife is as silly as the story itself. To say this is a film that hinges on its star player is an understatement, and the cool thing is that everyone involved with the project seems to understand this. Even the usual scene-stealer Sam Jackson seems aware that he’s not walking away with anything here save for a memorable line or two of dialogue. Jackson appears to have a real reverence for Davis as an acting partner, and who can blame him?

On a purely technical level, The Long Kiss Goodnight is exceptional. The film’s biggest star outside of Geena Davis is probably cinematographer Guillermo Navarro, who photographs the film and its star in breathtakingly colorful and striking ways. Navarro’s photography helps bring out the kick-ass side of Davis, and goddamn, doesn’t she look spectacular here with trend-setting bleached blonde hair and a powerful physique. The Long Kiss Goodnight is ultimately as spectacular-looking as its 40-year-old star.

The Long Kiss Goodnight should have been one of the biggest hits of 1996. A critical hit, the film failed to make back even half the healthy budget New Line Cinema bravely sank into at the US Box-office. Despite Geena Davis’ Oscar-worthy performance, her career, as predicted, tanked even though she was in the best shape of her life and at the peak of her talent.

Geena Davis wasn’t alone. Nearly all of the favorite American actresses from my youth began to vanish from the big screen by the late nineties, buried by ageism, sexism, and Weinstein. It was all so distinctly American.
I will be angry about it forever.

I need someone to put me in contact with Bridget Fonda.

Arrow’s 4K edition of The Long Kiss Goodnight is pretty perfect. Yes, it’d been nice to have new contributions from Geena Davis and the rest of the core creative team, but regardless, this is a fantastic release. The spectacular 4K disc is accompanied by two new critics’ commentaries. Of these, I especially enjoyed Walter Chaw’s informative and entertaining talk.

The bonus Blu-ray disc houses the many extras Arrow has gathered together for this release. We get more than hours’ worth of new cast and crew interviews, along with two new fairly lengthy video-essays. I really dug Josh Olson’s look at cinema’s long obsession with amnesia as plot device, especially. Archival-wise, we get EPK footage, a BHS reel and cast interviews, along with a large amount of original promotional material. Most interestingly, we are treated to two alternate scenes that only appeared in international releases. Finally, this limited set comes with a booklet and slipcover. Highly recommended in every way.

Geena Davis has continued to kick major ass in the decades since The Long Kiss Goodnight failed to become the hit it should have. I like to imagine her repeating her famed line from The Long Kiss Goodnight, “Suck my dick, every one of you bastards,” each time a door has been shut in her face. Geena Davis is still one of America’s best actors, and at seventy she’s still the most beautiful-looking person in the room.
Don’t mess with her.

-Jeremy Richey, August 2026-