This World, Then the Fireworks is a 1997 American crime drama film directed by Michael Oblowitz and starring Billy Zane, Gina Gershon, and Sheryl Lee. The screenplay is based on a short story of the same name by Jim Thompson.

Plot As children, Marty and Carol Lakewood, fraternal twins, witness a brutal murder involving their father. They grow up to become depraved and incestuous adults, living in coastal California in the mid-1950s.

Marty is a skillful journalist, but grows bored with every new job and is easily distracted. When he seduces a young police officer, Lois Archer, and discovers she owns a beach house, Marty sets out to double-cross her and make the property his own.

Carol is a heartless prostitute, willing to go to any lengths to con men out of their money, or make them pay in other ways. Powerless to stop them is Mrs. Lakewood, a weak-willed woman who suspects the terrible truth in her children's relationship, but knows no way to stop it.

Cast

Billy Zane as Marty Lakewood Christopher Jones as Young Marty Christian Durango as Little Marty Gina Gershon as Carol Lakewood Morgan Megan Leigh Brown as Young Carol Sloan Cobb as Little Carol Sheryl Lee as Lois Archer Rue McClanahan as Mrs. Lakewood Roberta Hanley as Young Mrs. Lakewood Seymour Cassel as Detective Harris Will Patton as Lieutenant Morgan Richard Edson as Joe Tom Keeley as Lyle William Hootkins as Jake Krutz Philip Loch as Marty Lakewood's Father Elis Imboden as neighbor's Wife Mark Jeffrey Miller as Lloyd Marianna Alacchi as Glenda Robert Pentz as Lou Orson Oblowitz as Eugene Thad Mace as Tim Jonathan Taylor Luthren as Ben Stephanie Fisher as Claire Lou Criscuolo as McCloud Jeffrey Pillars as Galloway John Bennes as Griffith Barry Bell as Barnett Gibons David Lenthall as Doctor Terry Nienhuis as Minister Valentin de Vargas as Mexican Doctor Dean Mumford as Marine Willy Cobbs as Blues Musician Brian Keith Gamble as Spindly Man Mert Hatfield as Bus Driver Matt O'Toole as Thug 1 Norman Max Maxwell as Thug 2

Release This World, Then the Fireworks was released on July 11, 1997 in only five U.S. theaters, grossing US$51,618 in total. It was released on videocassette on June 30, 1998, and on Blu-ray (through Kino Lorber) on November 14, 2017.

Reception On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 38% approval rating based on 8 reviews, with an average ranking of 3.9/10.

Emanuel Levy of Variety wrote "In the hands of filmmaker Michael Oblowitz, novelist Jim Thompson's story This World, Then the Fireworks gets an elegantly stylish, highly erotic, intentionally over-the-top rendition". Total Film called the film "sexy, stylized, deliberately overheated slice of noir".

See also List of American films of 1997

References

External links