Desperate Measures Information

Desperate Measures is a 1998 action thriller film starring Michael Keaton, Andy García, Marcia Gay Harden and Brian Cox, directed by Barbet Schroeder. It was filmed in both the San Francisco Bay Area and downtown Pittsburgh with such landmarks as the BNY Mellon Center the Allegheny County Courthouse and the Oakland Bay Bridge.

Plot

San Francisco police officer Frank Conner is in a frantic search for a compatible bone marrow donor for his son, Matt, who has leukemia. In desperation, he breaks into FBI headquarters and finds a perfect match. Unfortunately, it is Peter McCabe, an unrepentantly vicious, yet brilliant, sociopath and mass murderer serving life in prison. He's attempted escape, killed several guards and fellow prisoners over the years, and must be kept in multiple restraints when out of his isolation cell.

At first McCabe shows little interest in helping Conner, but later finds an opportunity to turn the situation to his advantage and devises a plot to escape. Biding his time, McCabe plays chess against a computer, easily defeating the program, and expresses the need for a challenge akin to Garry Kasparov or Deep Blue. Meanwhile, Conner, along with police captain Cassidy and Matt's doctor, Dr. Hawkins, prepare for McCabe to be transferred to the hospital for the transplant.

At the hospital, McCabe is given a sedative. With the aid of a counteracting drug he had obtained from a fellow inmate, the scheming McCabe slips out of his hand restraints, attacks the guards and attempts to escape, using his 150+ IQ to elude the police.

Conner and a fellow officer corner him, but McCabe holds a scalpel to Hawkins' throat. Conner drops his gun. The other officer gets the drop on him, but Hawkins warns the police that if McCabe dies, his bone marrow becomes useless. Conner stands in the way of the other officer; McCabe takes his gun and shoots the officer.

After hearing what happened, Cassidy immediately orders Conner off the case and removed from the scene. Conner breaks free to search the hospital for McCabe on his own.

McCabe causes an explosion with propane tanks and runs off. He seizes control of the hospital's adjacent wing, holding guards hostage and ordering a lockdown of the building.

Conner and Hawkins make their way to him and convince McCabe to let them inside so the doctor can attend to Matt. As McCabe watches Conner on the security cameras, he realizes that his nemesis is a truly devoted father, and develops a grudging respect for him. (McCabe had earlier related that his own father had abused him.)

Conner intervenes when McCabe is about to ambush Cassidy and his SWAT team. Cassidy is furious that Conner continues to aid an escaped convict and asks, "How many people have to die tonight so that son of yours can live?" McCabe is also angry at Conner's having foiled his plan, and so kidnaps Matt and descends to the sublevels of the building.

Matt tries to wound McCabe to give his father a better chance; impressed, McCabe spares Matt and leaves him at the hospital for Conner to find. McCabe then escapes into San Francisco, where he steals a car.

Conner chases him to a bridge. He still needs McCabe captured alive. Cassidy and his men arrive in a helicopter and a sniper opens fire. Conner again shields McCabe and is wounded in the arm. McCabe attempts to flee, but Conner is determined not to let him go. Conner wounds McCabe, sending him off the bridge and into the bay. Conner then dives in and saves him.

Back in the hospital, a wounded McCabe agrees to the transplant. It is a success and Matt is safe. Even though his career with the police is clearly over, Conner is relieved.

McCabe is informed by a guard that the surgery went well. The guard suddenly realizes that his gun is gone. McCabe looks at him and asks, "What kind of car do you have?"

Cast

Actor	Role
Michael Keaton	Peter McCabe
Andy García	Frank Conner
Brian Cox	Capt. Jeremiah Cassidy
Marcia Gay Harden	Dr. Samantha Hawkins
Erik King	Nate Oliver
Efrain Figueroa	Vargas
Joseph Cross	Matthew Conner

Reception

The film was panned by most critics. As of February 27, 2012 the film has received a 17% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly wrote, "By the time Desperate Measures degenerates into an old-fashioned car chase, you may wish you were watching General Hospital. Although I suspect there is plenty of bone-marrow- and leukemia-related preposterousness here, my limited medical education precludes me from informed eyeball rolling. I may not be a doctor, but I know a movie with iron-poor blood when I see one." Online film critic James Berardinelli, stated "when you consider how many contrivances the characters have to endure to reach the ending, you may think that the title has more to do with the film makers' approach than with anything that happens on screen."

Awards

ALMA Awards (1999)

• Won, "Outstanding Actor in a Feature Film in a Crossover Role" - Andy Garcia