Stakeout

Stakeout Movie Poster

"It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it."  The original Stake Out movie (action-comedy), starring Richard Dreyfuss as Detective Chris Lecce and Emilio Estevez as Detective Bill Reimers, was released in 1987.  It did well enough to warrant a sequel, and Another Stakeout, again starring Dreyfuss and Estevez, was released in 1993.  The original flick met with mostly positive reviews from critics, and went on to be the 8th highest grossing film of 1987.  The sequel did not fair nearly as well, not only receiving negative reviews, but also flopping at the box office.

In the original, detectives Lecce and Reimers are teamed up together on a stakeout of Maria Maguire (played by Madeleine Stowe), whose boyfriend has escaped from prison.  The hope is that her boyfriend will show up at her house, where he stashed a bunch of cash before he was sent to jail.  During the stakeout, Lecce pretends to be a telephone repair man, and in the process begins to fall for Maguire.

Lecce's emotions get the best of him, and the police force think he is in cahoots with Maria's old boyfriend.  In the end, Lecce tells Maria who he is, and her ex-boyfriend ends up in the picture in an attempt to kill the both of them, including Reimers, and retrieve the $500k he stashed at Maria's home.  In the end, the bad guy dies in a shoot out, and the Lecce and Maria start their future life together.