Desperate Measures

Frank Connor is a San Francisco police officer whose young son is gravely ill and needs a bone marrow transplant. The only compatible donor is Peter McCabe, a convicted killer serving a long prison sentence. Connor arranges for McCabe to be taken from prison to the hospital where his son is being treated, but McCabe uses the trip as a chance to break free, turning the hospital into a violent scene of pursuit. Connor then faces a conflict that pulls him in two directions: he has to stop the manhunt from killing McCabe, because the fugitive is the one person who can save his son, while also trying to keep McCabe from escaping altogether.

Barbet Schroeder directed the film, which came out in 1998 and sits between Before and After and Our Lady of the Assassins in his filmography. David Klass wrote the screenplay, and Gary Foster, Schroeder and Susan Hoffman produced. Michael Keaton plays McCabe and Andy Garcia plays Connor, with Brian Cox, Marcia Gay Harden, Erik King and Efrain Figueroa in supporting roles. The production cost about 50 million dollars and took in roughly 14 million worldwide, a return well below its budget.

Audience response has been moderate: on TMDB it holds a rating of 6 out of 10 from 334 votes, while film critics were less favorable, giving it 4.3 out of 10 across 31 reviews.