Michael Madsen Movies

A drug runner finds his life is in danger when he becomes hooked on his own merchandise in this drama. Paul (Josh Evans) is a young hoodlum who falls in with Mr. Ball (Michael Madsen), a crime kingpin marketing a new street drug that he tells Paul is "more addictive than air." With few prospects, Paul agrees to act as Mr. Ball's bagman to help deliver the "product," but he makes the mistake of trying the new drug and soon he's hooked. Paul fails to make his deliveries and later becomes implicated in the murder of his friend and fellow drug runner D (Sticky Fingaz); now he has both the law and Mr. Ball's enforcers on his trail, with only his girlfriend (Charis Michelsen), a fellow addict, on hand to help him. The Price of Air also features Dick Van Patten, Alexis Arquette, and Michelle Phillips; British electronic music star Goldie wrote the film's original score and also played a supporting role. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

When four dudes find a magical necklace that summons four foxy women looking to have a good time, the sparks fly and the partying begins in this outrageous fantasy comedy co-starring Michael Madsen. With the sexpots on their arms and nasty things on their minds, the guys think they've hit horny heaven until they are attacked by hordes of ninjas, vampires, and other absurd evildoers. With music from pop-punk contemporaries MXPX and Face to Face, this wacky, low-budgeted flick turns every convention on its head as it barrels toward its ridiculously riotous ending. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide

Daniel Baldwin made his directorial debut with this feature, which blends dark comedy into an action-packed crime thriller. Jeremy (Michael Madsen) is a Mob lieutenant whose brother-in-law (Joe Mantegna) is an FBI agent. When a crackdown on organized crime threatens to put Jeremy behind bars, his brother-in-law arranges for him to become an FBI informant and enter the Witness Protection Program. What the FBI doesn't know is that Jeremy's boss is aware of his plans, and he sends two strong-arm men (Daniel Baldwin and Chad McQueen) to find Jeremy and bring him back -- or kill him if he's already told the Feds too much. Co-star Chad McQueen (whose father was movie legend Steve McQueen) also served as executive producer. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The regulars at a shot-and-a-beer bar in a decaying working-class town are the focus of Nick Stagliano's drama The Florentine. Michael Madsen plays Whitey, who owns a bar called The Florentine where most of the guys he knows hang out. His sister Molly (Virginia Madsen, Michael's real life sister) is soon to be married, and Whitey has been saving up for a nice reception. But when her old boyfriend Teddy (Tom Sizemore) comes back into town, bets for the wedding would seem to be off, which may be just as well -- Whitey's buddy Frankie (Luke Perry) got hold of the wedding cash and lost it to Billy Munucci (James Belushi), a con artist with a far quicker turn of mind. Whitey has other money problems; the bar has been mortgaged to a low-level gangster named Joe (Burt Young), who has been leaning on Whitey's friend Bobbie (Chris Penn) to pay off his mounting gambling debts. Bobbie is trying to stay one step ahead of Joe, which doesn't leave him much time to patch up his ailing marriage to Vicki (Mary Stuart Masterson). The screenplay by Damien Gray and Tom Benson was adapted from the Off-Broadway drama penned by Gray. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A serial killer with a singularly nasty penchant for peculiar mutilations makes a mistake when his next victim is the daughter of Tyler Pierce $Michael Madsen), a career bank robber who does not let a little thing like being in prison stop him from finding out who the killer is. Pierce escapes jail and begins to sniff out the killer by exploring the rural countryside where his daughter was slain. An ex-prostitute, Naomi (Jamie Luner), offers assistance in his relentless hunt and helps to hide him from FBI agent Gottfried (Bokeem Woodbine), who is equally devoted to bringing Pierce back to prison. Naomi winds up in the clutches of the killer just as Pierce figures out who it is, but can he get to Naomi in time to save her? Or will Agent Gottfried get his man before Pierce does?
~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide

A hired killer (Kristy Swanson) joins forces with one of her targets after seeing him with his son, but while this saves one man's life, it also means the one-time killer is now a hunted woman, with operatives of a classified government agency hot on her trail. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this TV drama series, the somewhat sinister anti-hero Mr. Chapel (Michael Madsen) is "Mr. Right for those who've been wronged." Working outside the system, Chapel delivers his own brand of justice. When a criminal gets away with it and is declared not guilty, friends and loved ones of victims can get satisfaction from Chapel, who's aided by a past beneficiary of his efforts, paralegal KC Griffin (Kathleen York). In the pilot episode, the secretary who knew too much (about money-laundering) is murdered, and her wealthy killer is acquitted by a $1,500-per-hour attorney (Ray Wise). Vigilante Chapel steps in to even the score. Filmed in Los Angeles, this series premiered September 29, 1998 on ABC. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

In this tough contemporary noir drama, Frankie (Dennis Hopper) is a low-level "mechanic" working for second-rate mobster Sal (Michael Madsen). Frankie dreams of rising into the upper echelons of organized crime and commiting a series of bloody reprisals against those who have wronged him. He also has ambitions of starting a new career as a screenwriter, but he realizes that he's a nobody and likely to stay that way. Through Sal's connections with the porn industry, Frankie meets Joey (Kiefer Sutherland), a former film student who now cranks out by-the-numbers sex films, and becomes infatuated with Joey's leading lady, Margaret (Daryl Hannah), a drug-addicted "actress" who has seen better days. Joey, addicted to gambling, is deep in debt with Sal and is forbidden to visit the racetrack; Frankie is eager to get on Joey's good side and offers to place his bets for him while he searches for a way to rescue Margaret from the hell she's created for herself. Screenwriter Dayton Callie appears as Vic, one of Sal's strong-arm men. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The survivors of an unusual aviation tragedy race to save the granddaughter of their fallen friend when the young girl develops psychic powers and gets targeted by the government. The year was 1965; a group of American fighter pilots were flying over the Bermuda Triangle when they spotted an unidentified spacecraft. Before they could act, one of the planes was shot down. Though the surviving pilots vow never to speak of the incident again, strange things start happening to the son of the missing pilot and his family. The son's daughter has developed "sending" powers, and now the military is planning to kidnap her. But what is the government trying to cover up? As the race for the psychic child begins, all bets are off. Michael Madsen, R. Lee Ermey, Robert Vaughn, and Dyan Cannon star. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

This drama about an undercover cop who learns the hidden dangers of working his way inside the mob was based on a true story. Joe Pistone (Johnny Depp) is an FBI agent who is given an assignment to infiltrate the Mafia; calling himself Donnie Brasco, he befriends Lefty Ruggiero (Al Pacino), a low-level mob hit man whose personal life is in tatters. Lefty's marriage is falling apart, his son is a junkie, and his health is failing, which only adds to his growing disillusionment about having spent 30 years with the Mafia (and killing 26 people) with little to show for it. But in Donnie, Lefty sees someone who can succeed where he failed; he takes the young man under his wing, and under Lefty's tutelage Donnie quickly rises through the ranks of organized crime; however, the longer he plays the role of the gangster, the more Joe Pistone finds himself becoming Donnie Brasco in his increasingly rare off hours; it drives a wedge between himself and his wife (Anne Heche) and children, and Joe realizes that a break in character among the hoodlums he's come to know could mean a death sentence for himself and his family. Just as importantly, Joe has come to regard Lefty as a close and trusted friend, and Joe realizes that when the day comes where he has to turn in his Mob associates, he'll be ending Lefty's life as surely as if he put a slug in his head himself. The supporting cast includes Michael Madsen as Sonny, Lefty's boss, and Bruno Kirby as Nicky, one of Sonny's henchmen. The real-life Joe Pistone today lives under an assumed name with a 500,000-dollar contract on his life still in effect. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide