Submitted by GodFlintstone t3_10ukkra in movies
Periodically I see posts on this thread asking about bad movies that didn’t need or shouldn’t have spawned sequels. I’m asking the opposite: What are some examples of really good films that could have spawned sequels if the stars had aligned differenty?
My pick is Devil In Blue Dress(1995) with Denzel Washington.
For those unfamiliar, the film was based on the novel of the same name by Walter Mosley. Washington plays Easy Rawlins, a WWII vet and day laborer in late 1940s Los Angeles. Fallen on hard times and desperate for some quick cash, Rawlins agrees to seek missing White woman and becomes embroiled in a complex mystery.
The film overall was excellent and Washington(who is apparently incapable of giving a bad performance) was arguably at the height of his popularity at this point in his career. It helps that that the film was directed by Carl Franklin who’d made a splash a few years earlier with another great noir thriller, One False Move. Washington was also supported by stellar supporting cast whose highlight is Don Cheadle in an early performance as Easy’s old pal Mouse.
Cheadle literally steals every scene as a Mouse a character that could have easily been a walking trope if played by a lesser actor. Mouse is a little guy with a capacity for outsized violence, a hair-trigger psycho in the tradition of Goodfella’s Tommy Devito or Trainspotting’s Francis Begbie.
With all these ingredients and considering the novel Devil In the Blue Dress was actually the first of a long-running series of Easy Rawlins’ mysteries, the film seemed perfectly positioned to kick off a franchise that could have run for years. So what happened? The film underperformed at the box office underperformed at the box office, grossing only $22 million against a $27 million killing what could have been an amazing franchise in the cradle.
Any other thoughts on films that at absolutely could – and should – have spawned sequels in a better world?