Greetings from Lithuania."The Bodyguard" (1992) is a wonderful drama / thriller / romance. It is not cheese romance by a mile, you can point your finger at any direction these days and find much, much more cheese movies then this one. Acting was solid by all involved, but especially of course by our leads Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston - we do care for these two sharply drawn characters. Directing was solid as well as involving script. And the outcome with the killer wasn't the for me the ultimate ending of the story - it surely was that plane scene.Overall, two great charismatic leads, involving writing and amazing (one of the kind) music makes this a very cool movie. It has some romance, it has some thrills and its all done in a very good way - add the unforgettable soundtrack and "The Bodyguard" becomes the ultimate guilty pleasure.

1992 left two romantic moments for cinematic posterity, both musically immortalized: the magic carpet ride in "Aladdin" where "A Whole New World" opened itself to Jasmine's dazzled eyes, and Kevin Costner protecting Whitney Houston from the riot that just interrupted her concert. While the song is never heard at that moment, we all visualize it with "I Will Always Love You" playing in the background. That image of Houston in Costner's arms is one of the most defining of the romantic nineties, Houston's feet never touched the ground but her soul touched our hearts forever and even more after her untimely passing, last year.It's the mark of great movies to be able to capture the soul of a relationship by only using the simplicity of images and music: a film like "Titanic" will always be remembered for the flying-over-the-boat moment and "My Heart Will Go On", "Ghost" for the pottery scene erotically conducted with the "Unchained Melody", and "Dirty Dancing" when Johnny gives Baby the time of her life after putting her off the corner, and so on and so forth. And whether the film is good or bad becomes almost pointless when it reaches such a classic status. Cinema is not a rational world you know, imagery, lyrics, music have their 'word' to say and sometimes it transcends any attempt of an objective reasoning.My tone is partly defensive because I'm aware of "The Bodyguard"'s reputation, I know that the film met with mixed to negative critics, that it was panned for its formulaic story, for the wooden performance of Kevin Costner, the eternal Razzie's scapegoat, and even Whitney Houston, didn't escape from criticism. "The Bodyguard" would almost need a bodyguard of critic to reply to its harsh disapproval. But I believe a film is also to judge in retrospect, at the light of what it has become and what has generally become of Cinema for the years after. Take all the movies I mentioned, with the exception of "Titanic", a few romances ever make it now to the top highest grossing films of the year. We thought the 90's to be 'cynical' but in comparison with the 2010's, it's the 60's.Today, most successful films are action blockbusters / Pixar / Marvel adventures' adaptations or successful franchises, the recipe for success is clearly established, and a film like "The Bodyguard" wouldn't have necessarily worked or even been considered to be made. Take the script, written 20 years before the release (for Steve McQueen and Diana Ross as the leads): a former ex-Secret Service Agent is assigned to protect a pop star whose life is threatened by a stalker, the material is simple but it's only through the casting that Mick Jackson elevates it, by confronting two of the then most inevitable faces of show-business. Costner is Frank Farmer and Houston Rachel Marron, but we all know she's playing herself, like Ava Gardner in "The Barefoot Contessa", she gets a role tailor-made for her, and a powerful testimony for the person, that she was.Marron is Houston, and vice versa, a diva whose talent and unique voice brought her on the top of the billboards and the kind of spotlight that unveils the darkest side of stardom. As Costner said in his eulogy: "anyone could have played the leading man, but only Whitney Houston could have played that part"; in one sense, he was right, even a star like Madonna wouldn't have fit the film. She already played in movies, which would have damaged her credibility as a 'vulnerable' star. Houston showed enough strength to convince us as a diva (because she was one) but she was fragile enough to need a strong shoulder to put her head on. But Costner is wrong about himself, he always cherished lone-ranger roles, men who combined both competence and high morality, with a wound in his past, so only him or a younger Clint Eastwood could have made it work.And both Costner and Houston make it work. And the film never treats the interracial romance as if it was relevant to the story, but nevertheless it accentuates the gap between the two characters. He works in secrecy, she's a star, he takes his job in a no-nonsense way, she embraces celebrity with full arms, knowing that it's part of her competence to be available to the crowd of fans. These contradictions create many situations where they have to make the rules, to adapt to each other, but we know these scenes are only meant to make their chemistry grow slowly and surely until the romance finally blooms. The romance is convincing because it starts as respect, understanding, and empathy to the point of when it happens, we don't feel it contrived, but as natural, exhilarating and passionate as the song that defines it.Indeed, "I Will Always Love You" is the darlings of Karaoke and the ultimate test in musical reality programs, and that's a credit to Whitney Houston's miraculous talent for having made both the opening and conclusion, such milestones in the world of music. It was Costner who picked the original Dolly Parton's song and suggested Houston should remake it. That fact alone proves that his casting was a blessing. "The Bodyguard" is as great as a film can get in terms of impact, and music enhances it to an extraordinarily emotional level, being till now, the all-time best-selling soundtrack.Naturally, "The Bodyguard" was nominated for every Razzie Award possible, but like I said for "Mommie Dearest", some films stick in our mind, no matter how seemingly bad they are for some pompous critics, and that's the kind of achievement some 'greater' movies fail to achieve. The only difference is that I called "Mommie Dearest" a guilty pleasure, while I don't feel so guilty for having enjoyed "The Bodyguard".

***SPOILERS*** Kevin Costner as ex secret service agent Frank Farmer looks genuinely board stiff as his role demands him to be guarding the body of singer and actress Rachel Marron, Whitney Houston, as her bodyguard in "The Bodyguard". Coaster or Farmer walks around looking so deadpan throughout most of the movie that he seems to be suffering from a serious case of shell shock from his previous job as a secret service agent. It's a habit that he picked up over the years guarding both Presidents Carter and Regan in him being able to blend in with the furniture or background in him remaining inconspicuous, to any attempted assassins, on he job. Taking on an assignment at the insistence of his good friend Mr. Dewaney, Bill Cobbs, to be Miss Marron's personal bodyguard the company that he surrounds herself with get so intrusive in him doing his job that he almost quits before he begins. It's Rachel's sweet looks and bubbling personality that keeps him on the job guarding her and also the fact that those in her entourage of flunkies and hanger on being so completely incompetent in doing their jobs that makes him stay.We and Farmer know right away that someone out there is trying to do Rachel in but that fact is kept from her by those around her that makes Farmer's job that much more difficult. Acting as if she doesn't have a care or fear in the world Rachel doesn't realize that her life and body, the body that Farmer is guarding with his life, is in serious danger. It's only much later when Rachel gets a disturbing pone call, on her private phone number, that she finally gives in and lets Farmer do his job protecting her life. It's her obsessed fan and stalker who's planning to whack her at the biggest moment in Rachel's life when she's to accept the Academy Award for best actress with over a billion people watching the great event live and on TV all over the globe.***SPOILERS*** The love angle in the movie doesn't quite pan out with Farmer and Marron never really clicking in their love scenes that come across mechanical and not genuine at all. Farmer for one is so intense in all of his scenes that showing affection towards Rachel seems out of character for him in the movie. It's only in the last few moments that Farmer gets his act together in realizing who's out to knock off Rachel that he really seems to care for Rachel and tries to save her life even at the expense of his own. But by then she's so turned off by his almost zombie or robot like action that she almost allows her intended killer to do her in by not believing or responding to Farmers frantic attempts to save her life.Both Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston as Frank Farmer & Rachel Marro did their best to make their parts in the movie work and the final payoff with a by then a disgraced, in letting things get out of hand, Farmer saving Rachel's life which saved the film from being total disaster. It was sad that the film "The Bodyguard" in a way predicted its star Whitney Houston's actual death some 20 years later in 2012. It was then just like in the movie Whitney faced death this time in her hotel bathtub, not from an assassin's bullet, just before she was to receive a Grammy for her music like an Academy Award for her acting in "The Bodygurad". But this time in real life not in the movies the outcome was sadly a lot different.

The Bodyguard is a romantic thriller film starring Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston. Costner stars as a former Secret Service Agent-turned- bodyguard who is hired to protect Houston's character, a music star, from an unknown stalker. Lawrence Kasdan wrote the film in the 1970's, originally as a vehicle for Steve McQueen and Diana Ross.It was directed by Mick Jackson. When imperious musical superstar Rachel Marron begins receiving death threats, she is compelled to hire a bodyguard. An ex-Secret Service agent, Frank still hasn't purged himself of his guilt feelings over his inability to protect from an assassination of the President of the United States.He is now a highly successful private and professional bodyguard who protects corporate VIPs. He is hired by Rachel's manager, Bill Devaney to protect her after she receives a number of threats against her life and a small bomb detonates in her dressing room.Gradually,Rachel and Frank fall in love. This 1992 crowd pleaser made almost as much money for Whitney Houston as its chart-busting soundtrack. A high-wattage star vehicle as only Hollywood can make as she is baring her tonsils with a rousing rendition of the Dolly Parton chestnut "I Will Always Love You".Overall,it is a cheesy, melodramatic potboiler with occasional moments of electricity.But nevertheless,it does contain a love story, but it's the kind of guarded passion that grows between two people who spend a lot of time keeping their priorities straight.