The Bodyguard (1992 film)

The Bodyguard is a 1992 American romantic thriller drama film directed by Mick Jackson,^[5] written by Lawrence Kasdan, and starring Kevin Costner, Whitney Houston (in her movie acting debut), Gary Kemp, Bill Cobbs, and Ralph Waite. The film follows a former United States Secret Service agent turned bodyguard who is hired to protect a famous actor and singer from an unknown stalker. Kasdan wrote the film in the mid-1970s, originally as a vehicle for Steve McQueen and Diana Ross.^[6]

The Bodyguard
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Mick Jackson
Written by	Lawrence Kasdan
Produced by	Kevin Costner Lawrence Kasdan Jim Wilson
Starring	Kevin Costner Whitney Houston Gary Kemp Bill Cobbs Ralph Waite
Cinematography	Andrew Dunn
Edited by	Donn Cambern Richard A. Harris
Music by	Alan Silvestri
Production companies	Tig Productions Kasdan Pictures
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release dates	November 23, 1992 (1992-11-23) (Mann's Chinese Theater[1]) November 25, 1992 (1992-11-25) (United States)
Running time	129 minutes[2]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$25 million[3]
Box office	$411 million[4]

The Bodyguard was theatrically released by Warner Bros. Pictures on November 25, 1992. The film grossed $411 million worldwide, becoming the second-highest-grossing film of 1992, but received mostly unfavorable reviews from critics. The film's accompanying soundtrack by Houston became the best-selling soundtrack album of all time, with sales of over 50 million copies worldwide, and won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, while the singles "I Have Nothing" and "Run to You" received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Original Song.^[7] The film received seven nominations at the 13th Golden Raspberry Awards, including for Worst Picture, Worst Actor (for Costner) and Worst Actress (for Houston).^[8] In spite of the Razzies, Houston received best acting nominations at the People's Choice Awards, MTV Movie & TV Awards and the NAACP Image Awards. Billboard later listed Houston's performance in the film as the 27th best performance of a musician in a box-office film.^[9] The film and soundtrack cemented Houston’s status as a pop culture icon.

Plot

Rachel Marron, an Academy Award-nominated actress and music superstar, is being sent death threats by a stalker. After a bomb explodes in her dressing room, her manager Bill Devaney seeks out professional bodyguard Frank Farmer, a former Secret Service agent who served on the Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan presidential details, to protect her.

Frank reluctantly accepts Devaney's offer, but feels Rachel is a spoiled diva, oblivious to the threats against her life. She soon accuses Frank of being paranoid, complaining that his extensive protection techniques are intrusive. However, he and Rachel grow closer when he rescues her from danger after a riot erupts at one of her concerts. Her existing bodyguard, Tony, resents Frank's presence, leading to a brawl between them in Rachel's kitchen.

Though Frank tries to remain professional, he and Rachel sleep together. The next day, he breaks off the affair, realizing it compromises his ability to protect her. Hurt, she begins to defy Frank's security measures. Then, to make him jealous, Rachel flirts with his former Secret Service colleague, Greg Portman, whom she meets at a Miami party.

When her stalker threatens her with a phone call, Rachel finally recognizes the seriousness of the situation and her need to trust Frank completely. Frank, Rachel, her son Fletcher, her older sister Nicki, and her driver, Henry, then travel to a large lakefront cabin in the mountains, the home of Frank's father, Herb.

The next day, Frank rescues Fletcher from a small motorboat just before it explodes. After he secures the house for the night, a drunken Nicki, upset that her nephew could have died, admits she had hired a hitman to kill Rachel during a fit of jealousy. However, the letters from the stalker had come before that. Nicki has already paid in full and does not know the killer's identity.

Abruptly, the hitman breaks into the dark house and fatally shoots Nicki. Frank pursues the killer into the woods; he shoots at them, misses, and the assailant escapes. He then learns that the stalker had been apprehended earlier that day and was in custody when Nicki was killed.

A few days after Nicki's funeral, the Academy Awards ceremony occurs. Frank gives Rachel a panic button in the shape of a cross to immediately alert him to any trouble. Despite this, many backstage technical issues hamper Frank's efforts to monitor the proceedings closely. While presenting an award, Rachel freezes and runs offstage, angry at Frank for embarrassing her with overprotective measures.

Later, Rachel is announced as the winner for Best Actress. Still, as she comes on stage to accept the award, Portman is revealed to be the hitman, masquerading as the bodyguard for the ceremony's host. Frank notices Portman pointing a gun disguised as a camera at Rachel and preparing for the fatal shot. He runs onstage, leaps in front of Rachel and takes the bullet meant for her. As chaos erupts amongst the audience, Portman targets Rachel again, only to be shot and killed by Frank. While Rachel urges Frank to remain conscious and calls for help, he slowly passes out.

Frank recovers from the shooting and bids farewell to Rachel at the airport, both knowing their relationship would never work out. After the plane starts to take off, Rachel suddenly orders the plane to stop, jumps out, and runs to Frank for one last passionate kiss.

Some time later, Rachel performs "I Will Always Love You" on a stage, while elsewhere Frank is at an annual dinner, keeping a vigilant eye on his next assignment. A minister is seen holding a cross similar to the one he gave Rachel.

Cast

• Kevin Costner as Frank Farmer
• Whitney Houston as Rachel Marron
• Gary Kemp as Sy Spector
• Bill Cobbs as Bill Devaney
• Ralph Waite as Herb Farmer
• Tomas Arana as Greg Portman
• Michele Lamar Richards as Nicki Marron
• Mike Starr as Tony Scipelli
• Christopher Birt as Henry Adams
• DeVaughn Nixon as Fletcher Marron
• Gerry Bamman as Ray Court
• Tony Pierce as Dan
• Robert Wuhl as Oscars host
• Richard Schiff as Skip Thomas
• Chris Connelly as himself
• Debbie Reynolds as herself
• David Foster as Oscars conductor

Production

Lawrence Kasdan was the original writer of The Bodyguard.

Lawrence Kasdan was an advertising copywriter who wanted to get into filmmaking. He wrote eight scripts in eight years, including The Bodyguard, which Kasdan says was inspired by Yojimbo with Steve McQueen as the lead.^[10] "I was interested in what kind of a guy would do that kind of work: to be willing to lay down his life for a salary, for someone he may care nothing about―maybe even have negative feelings about," said Kasdan.^[11] Kasdan says it was the first really good script he wrote:

I loved all my early scripts and I expected everybody else to love them. It wasn't until I wrote The Bodyguard and sensed it was different that I realized I was writing an increased level of density. A good script has levels of action going on, unexpected turns. Movies are an economical form. Your script must communicate in the tersest possible way an emotional feeling, imply it in a mosaic of tiny scenes. An unknown screenwriter selling a speculative script must deliver a delight. An established writer gets a lot of rope. The producer reads his script and says, 'I don't feel any delight but he must know what he's doing.' A lot of times he doesn't, and you have a lousy movie.^[12]

Kasdan wrote it in 1975 and the script succeeded in getting him an agent, but it took the agent two years to sell the script—he says 67 people passed on it. Eventually, the script was sold to John Calley for $20,000. Calley brought in John Boorman to direct. Kasdan admired Boorman and went to Ireland with the director where they did a treatment for a new movie. "He completely changed it, but I still loved him," said Kasdan.^[13]

McQueen nearly won the leading role of Frank Farmer in the film as Farmer had been based on him.^[14] But by 1977, McQueen was already being beset by health problems, which made working on a film almost impossible though he would appear on three more films before his death from an inoperable cancer in 1980.^[15]

In November 1978, the film was going ahead with American actor Ryan O'Neal and American singer and actress Diana Ross, after a suggestion of Ross was made by O'Neal himself.^[16][15] O'Neal and Ross had been involved in a romantic affair that began shortly after Ross amicably divorced her first husband, Robert Ellis-Silberstein. Ross, who had earned an Academy Award nomination for Lady Sings the Blues, was dealing with negative reviews from her role in the critical and commercial bomb, The Wiz, when she was offered the role. Ross had multiple issues with the script, disapproving nude scenes, violence, the use of music and even the title of the film.^[15]

In August 1979, Ross pulled out of the movie which went back into development hell.^[13][17][15] Not too long afterwards, O'Neal ended their affair and later blamed Ross for why the film failed to be produced, claiming the Motown artist was "playing off her reputation as a diva".^[15]

Houston's association with The Bodyguard dates to the mid-1980s when production was briefly explored again. According to the December 20, 1986 edition of Billboard Magazine, "press reports indicate that Houston will make her film debut opposite Clint Eastwood in The Bodyguard."^[18] Though the Houston-Eastwood casting was press speculation, Houston was said to have remained the preferred choice for the leading role.^[15]

After Kasdan made his successful directorial debut with Body Heat, he was asked to direct The Bodyguard, but he was reluctant, preferring to make The Big Chill. Kevin Costner read the script when making Silverado with Kasdan and became enthusiastic about it. The two men decided to produce it together.

The producers had also agreed with casting Houston in the role of Rachel Marron as a new rewritten script started to be worked on in the late 1980s. Houston wouldn't be contacted until 1990 by Costner himself on taking the role. According to the artist, who had only taken brief acting cameo roles in television sitcoms such as Gimme a Break! and Silver Spoons, she had wanted to take on smaller roles and moved her way up. However, she did agree on reading the script. Upon reading, however, the singer was reluctant to accept. Only after Costner assured her he would help her during the film's making that she finally accepted. After Costner became a major star with the success of The Untouchables and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, among others, he had the clout to make The Bodyguard.^[13] In April 1991, Costner announced that he would star in the film alongside Houston.^[19]

Filming began in Los Angeles in November 1991, with other locations including Long Beach, California, Miami, Florida, and California's Fallen Leaf Lake.^[1] For the climactic Academy Awards sequence, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences permitted the film to use the award name, but not any of the trophies themselves.^[1] On January 3, 1992, a fatal accident occurred on set in Downtown Los Angeles, when 33-year-old grip driver William Vitagliano was pinned between two cranes carrying lighting equipment, and died from his injuries at a nearby hospital.^[1][20][21] Legal action was later brought against the manufacturers of the lifts, which resulted in an out-of-court settlement.^[1]

Reception

Critical response

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports an approval rating of 38% based on 50 reviews, with an average score of 5.2/10. Its critical consensus reads: "The Bodyguard is a cheesy, melodramatic potboiler with occasional moments of electricity from Whitney Houston."^[22] On Metacritic the film has a score of 38 out of 100 based on reviews from 20 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".^[23] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade of "B+" on scale of A+ to F.^[24]

Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly wrote: "To say that Houston and Costner fail to strike sparks would be putting it mildly." He added that "the movie gives us these two self-contained celebrity icons working hard to look as if they want each other. It's like watching two statues attempting to mate."^[25] Roger Ebert gave it three out of four stars and wrote: "The movie does contain a love story, but it's the kind of guarded passion that grows between two people who spend a lot of time keeping their priorities straight."^[26]

The film is listed in Golden Raspberry Award founder John Wilson's The Official Razzie Movie Guide as one of The 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made.^[27]

Box office

In the United States and Canada, The Bodyguard opened on November 25, 1992 in 1,717 theaters; it grossed $16.6 million in its opening weekend, ranking third.^[28] The film spent 10 weeks in the Top 10, ultimately grossing $121.9 million domestically, and $410.9 million worldwide.^[4] Its international gross was a record for Warner Bros.^[29] In the United Kingdom, it had a record Christmas opening, with a gross of $2 million for the weekend from 258 screens.^[30] In Australia, it set an opening week record of $A4.36 million from 144 screens, beating the record set by Crocodile Dundee II.^[31] It also set the opening weekend record in Denmark.^[32] It was the highest-grossing Warner Bros. film in Japan of all-time with a gross in excess of $21 million.^[33] It was the seventh-highest-grossing film of 1992 in the United States and Canada and the second-highest-grossing film of 1992, worldwide, behind Aladdin, which curiously opened on the same day as The Bodyguard.^[34][35] At the time, it was the tenth-highest-grossing film of all time.^[4]

The film was re-released in 2012 and grossed a further $61,020.^[4]

Accolades

Main article: List of accolades received by The Bodyguard (1992 film)

Two songs from the film, "Run to You" and "I Have Nothing", were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song.^[36] The soundtrack was nominated for four Grammy Awards, winning three, including Album of the Year for its album of the same name.^[37] The film was nominated for several MTV Movie Awards,^[38] Image Awards,^[39] BMI Film & TV Awards,^[40] a Golden Screen Award in Germany and a Japan Academy Film Prize.^[41]

It received seven Golden Raspberry Award nominations, including Worst Picture, Worst Actor (for Costner), and Worst Actress (for Houston).^[42] Houston was also nominated for Worst New Star as was Kevin Costner's haircut, however the film did not win in any category.^[8][43]

In 2004, the American Film Institute ranked the film's version of "I Will Always Love You" as #65 on its AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs list.^[44]

Music

Soundtrack

Main article: The Bodyguard (soundtrack)

The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack Album became the best-selling soundtrack of all time and the best-selling album by a female artist of all time. It has been certified diamond in the United States (sales of at least ten million) with shipments of over 18 million copies.^[45] Worldwide, the sales are over 45 million copies.^[46] In addition, Houston's cover of "I Will Always Love You" sold over 24 million units worldwide, becoming the best-selling single by a female artist of all time.^[47]

The soundtrack features five songs which were hit singles for Houston: "I Will Always Love You" (a cover of the Dolly Parton song), "I'm Every Woman" (a cover of the Chaka Khan song), the two Oscar-nominated songs, "I Have Nothing" and "Run to You", and "Queen of the Night".

Other artists who appear on the soundtrack include fellow Arista recording artists Kenny G ("Even if My Heart Would Break", a duet with Aaron Neville), Lisa Stansfield ("Someday I'm Coming Back") and Curtis Stigers ("What's so Funny 'Bout Peace, Love and Understanding"). Also included is a cover of the Bill Withers standard "Lovely Day" by the S.O.U.L. S.Y.S.T.E.M.

Score

John Barry was initially brought on to score the film, but withdrew and was replaced by Alan Silvestri.^[1] In 2013, La-La Land Records released a limited-edition CD (3,500 units) of Silvestri's score.^[48]

Parodies

• The Simpsons – In the episode "Mayored to the Mob", Homer Simpson receives bodyguard training from an instructor who sings "I Will Always Love You" after the class graduates. Also in the episode, Mark Hamill gets carried by Homer in a fashion which parodies the way Costner carries Houston in the film.
• 30 Rock – In the episode "Hard Ball", Tracy Jordan is rescued from a mob by his entourage; his character sang "I Will Always Love You" during the scene.
• Bulletproof – A scene in the film parodies The Bodyguard with Adam Sandler's character singing "I Will Always Love You" and remarking that Damon Wayans's character can always be his bodyguard.
• The Venture Bros. – In the second-season episode "I Know Why the Caged Bird Kills", after having fallen in love with her charge, Dr. Venture, bodyguard Myra Brandish says she was taught "Never let them out of your sight. Never let your guard down. Never fall in love", the tag line from the film.
• In Living Color – Kim Wayans plays Grace Jones as Rachael Marron, and Jim Carrey plays Frank Farmer, complete with bad hair. The scene when Kevin Costner carries Whitney Houston off-stage from the original movie is reversed with Grace Jones carrying Frank Farmer off while singing "I Will Always Love You".
• The Hitman's Bodyguard – Teaser trailer featuring Houston's song "I Will Always Love You", and movie poster spoof.^[49][50]
• Family Guy – In the episode "Boopa-dee Bappa-dee", Chris Griffin thought that the American National Anthem is "I Will Always Love You" and sang it in front of the official, to get back American citizenship.

Cancelled sequel

Following the success of the film, Costner contacted his longtime friend, Diana, Princess of Wales, to star in a sequel. She agreed, and the first draft of the screenplay was completed the day before she died in 1997. Following her death, the film was scrapped.^[51][52]

Remake

In September 2021, it was reported that Matthew Lopez will be writing a remake of the film.^[53] In April 2025, development started anew with Sam Wrench to direct and Jonathan Abrams to write.^[54]

Musical adaptation

Main article: The Bodyguard (musical)

A musical adaptation of the film opened in London's Adelphi Theatre in the West End in the fall of 2012. David Ian, who produced the musical, received the stage rights from Kevin Costner and Lawrence Kasdan.