Shoot to Kill

Shoot to Kill (known outside North America as Deadly Pursuit) is a 1988 American buddy cop action thriller film directed by Roger Spottiswoode, and starring Sidney Poitier (in his first role in eleven years), Tom Berenger, Clancy Brown, Andrew Robinson and Kirstie Alley. The film follows an FBI agent pursuing a homicidal extortionist; when the extortionist kidnaps a fishing guide in the Pacific Northwest, the agent teams up with her partner, a local wilderness guide, to rescue her. The film was released to positive reviews from critics, who praised the film's direction, performances, and quality despite its formulaic plot. It was a box office success, earning $29.3 million on a $15 million budget. Plot In San Francisco, a man is discovered breaking into his own jewelry store overnight. The FBI questions him and learns the man's wife is being held hostage at their home by a brutal extortionist who demands the store's diamonds for her life. During a standoff at the jeweler's home, the extortionist shoots the family's maid and demands he be allowed to bring the jeweler's wife to the docks. FBI agent Warren Stantin tails them, but his attempt to apprehend the extortionist leads to the jeweler's wife being shot in the eye and killed, while the extortionist uses a decoy getaway boat to escape. Stantin becomes obsessed with finding the extortionist and trails him to Washington, where a man has been found shot in the eye at a mine in a mountainous forest. Convinced the extortionist killed the man and stole his identity, Stantin learns a fishing party led by local fishing guide Sarah Rennell went into the forest from the mine, and enlists her partner Jonathan Knox to help find them; Knox, who wanted to search for Sarah himself, reluctantly agrees. Meanwhile, Sarah's fishing party halts when a fisherman nearly falls from a ledge, and another fisherman, Steve, attempts to help him. When a gun he is carrying slips into a crack, Steve asks the fisherman to return it, but then lets the fisherman fall, throws the rest of the fishing party off the ledge, and takes Sarah hostage, demanding she lead him to Canada.