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Sea Of Love | 
 enlarge | Director: Harold Becker
Actors: Manny Alfaro, Rafael Baez, Ellen Barkin, Patricia Barry, Barbara Baxley
Studio: Universal Studios
Category: DVD
List Price: CDN$ 12.95
Buy New: CDN$ 6.71
You Save: CDN$ 6.24 (48%)
New (13) Used (5) from CDN$ 6.71
Rating:  22 reviews
Sales Rank: 12796
Format: Collector's Edition, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), Spanish (Original Language), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), French (Dubbed)
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.1 x 0.6
MPN: MCAD23303D
ISBN: 078328067X
UPC: 025192330322
EAN: 9780783280677
Theatrical Release Date: September 15, 1989
Release Date: September 2, 2003
Availability: Usually ships within 1 - 2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Ships from U.S.A, takes 6-11 days for Delivery! BRAND NEW PRODUCT Factory Sealed.
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From Amazon.co.uk
After a career slump that plagued him through most of the 1980s, Al Pacino made a stellar comeback in this taut 1989 thriller, playing a weary New York police detective who falls in love with the woman (Ellen Barkin) who is the prime suspect in the murder case he's investigating. Expertly written by Richard Price and directed by Harold Becker, the story is designed to keep its central characters (and the viewer) in a state of constant suspicion and arousal--an emotional combination that sends dangerous sparks flying between Pacino and Barkin. Their chemistry is intense, and their love scenes are some of the hottest of any movie of its decade. But Sea of Love is not merely concerned with cheap titillation. It's a riveting whodunit with scenes of nail-biting suspense and memorable dialogue that make it as interesting to listen to as it is to watch. Barkin had made a similarly sexy impression in The Big Easy, and here she gives one of the best performances of her underrated career, matching Pacino's excellence scene for scene. The ending's a bit of a letdown because the murder solution comes somewhat out of the blue, but it's the acting and suspense that you'll remember most--qualities that make Sea of Love one of the best films of its kind. --Jeff Shannon
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| Customer Reviews: Read 17 more reviews...
 A steamy, genuinely suspenseful thriller September 5, 2006
Daniel Jolley (Shelby, North Carolina USA)
Sea of Love is certainly a better than average steamy crime thriller, but it didn't really bowl me over. Pacino's very good, of course, and Ellen Barkin more than holds her own against him, but Pacino's character can become tiresome after a while, and what I regard as a pretty sizeable red herring thrown into your lap midway through the story makes the ending a little less dramatic. I'm not saying the mystery is predictable - it's just not that shocking of a surprise.
Frank Keller (Al Pacino) isn't exactly Steve McGarrett material when it comes to his career as a detective, mainly because the guy is basically pretty pathetic. His wife left him for another detective on the force, and he's not handling that very well - drunken calls in the middle of the night to his ex-wife are not uncommon. The guy drinks like a fish all day and all night, whether he's on duty or not, he gets into serious shoving matches with other cops, and he spends more time getting under the skin of his fellow detective (and ex-wife's new man) than investigating the crime at the scene of the film's opening murder. Later on, he gets into a serious relationship with one of the murder suspects, which has to break a lot of rules in the old code of conduct. About all he gleans from the first murder is the fact that someone plugged a fat naked guy in the back of his head and that the killer was apparently a big fan of the song Sea of Love. Fortunately for him, a Queens detective (played by John Goodman) working on a similar case teams up with him on a two-man task force to find the mutual killer. The common thread linking the murders together is the fact that each victim had recently placed a poetic personal ad in the newspaper. Since no one seems to have bothered looking at any of the evidence too closely, Keller and Detective Sherman (Goodman) decide to place a similar ad in the paper, meet all of the women who respond, get their prints and compare them with those found at the murder scenes, and break the case wide open.
Keller meets Helen (Ellen Barkin) at one of these undercover dates. She blows him off early on, before she even comes close to leaving a fingerprint on anything. When they meet accidentally soon thereafter, though, a spark is lit, and the two are lovers before you can say Jack Sprat. Frank puts his feelings for Helen above his job, thereby leaving Helen hanging out there as a possible murder suspect. This is where all of the suspense comes in; is she or isn't she? The story zigs and zags both ways on the question, leaving the viewer in a measure of doubt until the very end. The whole thing turns into a weird love story for the most part, with Frank trying to avoid losing Helen even as he sometimes wonders whether she's the killer he's looking for. It is quite suspenseful, largely thanks to Ellen Barkin's very strong performance. The ultimate ending's a little weak, but that takes nothing at all away from the sustained mystery that will command your rapt attention all the way up to that point.
It's not hard to see why the movie was so successful. It just goes to show what good acting and a reasonably strong script can do for a movie. There are probably two camps when it comes to the ending, I should note - but it's not a hate it or love it thing. Some will not find it all that surprising, while others may feel as if it comes right out of left field. Either way, Sea of Love is a film that all fans of steamy thrillers can lose themselves in and, at the very least, come out feeling reasonably satisfied.
Ellen Barkin is on the prowl June 1, 2004
When "Sea of Love" comes to mind, it's difficult not to think about the powerful sexual attraction between Al Pacino and Ellen Barkin that consumes both actors and makes their characters believable. Pacino has the right mix of a burned-out veteran cop who's lonely and bitter at losing his ex-wife to a fellow police officer, and Barkin's Helen is a sexy, tough and complex business woman and single mother with a hard-edged exterior who's also lonely and reaching out for love. Barkin, as always, is great to look at, with her crooked, predatory smile and seems like a tigress hunting for prey, which two scenes illustrate perfectly. The way Helen glides up to Frank Keller in her tight skirt when he enters her shoe store is one of the film's best moments, and the way she materializes out of the shadows and approaches Keller in his dark hallway is high drama and very powerful. Helen also seems to have the better of it in her sex scenes with Keller and has him back on his heels, her hunger for sex palpable and credible. It's a shame that Barkin doesn't appear until the movie is 43 minutes old but she certainly makes the most of her remaining screen time. The film takes its time in establishing the characters and has some dull stretches but the two stars make it work very well. The surprise ending is bit of a letdown, perhaps because there's no suggestion that it's coming. Phil Phillips' 1959 hit gets several reprises here and is, of course, the film's title.
STYLIZED EROTICA March 4, 2004
Gregory Saffady (Michigan)
With the exception of 1983's SCARFACE,the 80's were a bust for Pacino. This was his comeback outing and it is a stylized erotic journey that would have been grossly misplaced outside NYC. These are New York characters. No other way to describe them, no other need to. Harold Becker is an under rated American director and this is best best work since THE ONION FIELD (1979). The music is seductive (save for 3 versions of the title track). And wickedly sexy Ellen Barkin literally works off with the film when she meets Pacino in a West Side supermarket wearng only a trenchcoat and heels. It was enough to make me shop there.
 Great thriller! February 12, 2004
Michael A. Newman (New Hyde Park, NY)
I really liked this well-directed movie that is full of suspense throughout. Barkin absolutely sizzles. She has never looked better.Writers of personal ads seem to be getting murdered. Pacino investigates and finds a pattern in the ads in that they are all poetic. Pacino hopes to trap the killer by placing a similar ad. Barkin happens to be one of the ladies that answer his ad and he gets involved with her. All the time he is not sure if she is the killer that he is tracking. This movie was before the Internet explosion, so the idea of a personal ad in a newspaper may seem dated. However, the movie still works well.
Barkin, baby, where'd you go? February 5, 2004
littlecaspian (edge of the world)
This is one of those films I love- the kind that sits on my shelf, I forget about for a while, and when I finally remember it one rainy day and put it on, it seems like new all over again... and I remember why I got it in the first place.Pacino is Frank Keller, a NYC cop who is a little beat by life, doesn't get all his daily recommended allowance of beauty sleep, and who, on occassion, has a wee problem with the drink. Maybe not the sort of a man you'd be beating down mama's door to show off, but, ya know, a decent kinda guy. He's working on a murder investigation, assisted by the always reliable John Goodman, and due to circumstances and the trouble with 3am, becomes romantically involved with one of the suspects. Enter Ellen Barkin- as the tagline reads, she may be the love of his life... of the end of it. Either way, she is definitely working the celluloid charm that made "The Big Easy" so steamy- although here it's more edgy and direct than bashful. The film rolls along at a good pace, never quite spelling anything out for sure so you're thankful that it's on DVD and don't have to throw things at the TV when commercials cut in. Beyond the intensity of his scenes with Barkin- and there is some damn fine sizzle to 'em- there are some great moments that really help bring out Pacino's character and make him more human- vulnerable, profane, sore, sweaty- than other roles I've seen him in since; when he tells a guy the "Yankee's meet'n'greet" is all booked, and his mutterings when he sees one of the blind dates still at the bar don't have the theatrics of some of the more "Al Pacino movie" characters, and are all the better for it. Also, the scratchy, tense relationship his Frank Keller has with his co-worker nicely sets off the easy partnership he strikes up with Goodman's Queens detective; their camraderie and somewhat comical difference in stature made for an unexpectedly great part of the film. Altogether, a terrific watch, and makes you wonder just how the hell Barkin ended up playing a Minnesota beauty queen's mom. Musta been 3am somewhere then.
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