Kiss of Death 1995

Jimmy Kilmartin is a reformed ex-convict living in Astoria, Queens, New York City, with his wife Bev Kilmartin and their daughter. Both Jimmy and Bev are recovering alcoholics. One day, Bev leaves him alone to attend an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. In her absence, Jimmy’s cousin Ronnie Gannon comes to him in a panic, desperate for help moving a fleet of stolen cars. Jimmy, initially hesitant, ultimately agrees out of concern for Ronnie’s safety after Ronnie reveals a chilling detail: a dangerous asthmatic psychopath named Little Junior Brown would kill him if they don’t proceed.

Rushed into a plan, the two men try to stay ahead of the clock, piling the cars into a caravan that draws the attention of the police. Their path takes them to the Brooklyn Navy Yard to unload, where law enforcement closes in. In the ensuing chaos, Jimmy’s passenger opens fire on the police, wounding Detective Calvin Hart and leaving Jimmy with a grazed hand and Hart with facial injuries. The collision of loyalties and fear at the Navy Yard marks the moment when Jimmy’s life begins to spiral along a dangerous, double-edged path. Jack Gold, the lawyer for the Brown crime family, steps in with a grim promise: Bev will be looked after if Jimmy takes the blame for the incident and protects his co-conspirators. Meanwhile, Ronnie’s manipulation tightens its grip; Bev’s allowance is shorted, and she is coerced into working at Ronnie’s chop shop near Shea Stadium. On her first day, Bev witnesses Ronnie beating a man who tried to sell him a stolen car, and the combination of fear, guilt, and temptation drives her to drink. Ronnie ferries her to Baby Cakes, a strip club owned by the Browns, where the relentless pressure and advances push her further into a dangerous circle. Big Junior and Little Junior Brown intervene, but the counterbalance of anger toward Ronnie only intensifies; Bev is eventually ordered to return home. Instead, Ronnie drives her to his own house, and Bev panics, fleeing in his car. Tragically, she crashes head-on into a semi-truck and dies instantly.

Jimmy receives supervised release for Bev’s funeral, and as he listens to Ronnie’s feeble explanation, Bev’s sister Rosie Kilmartin reveals a troubling truth: Bev never came home the night before her death. Sensing Ronnie’s potential role in the tragedy, Jimmy decides to become a state witness, naming all those involved in the Navy Yard incident except Ronnie. When the police arrest everyone but Ronnie, the Browns assume Ronnie has snitched, and in retaliation, Little Junior Brown beats Ronnie to death in his office, severing one complicated thread but knotting others even tighter.

Years pass, and the district attorney once again nudges Jimmy toward cooperation. Still serving time in Sing Sing, Jimmy negotiates a pardon and contemplates a life he could shape for himself. He marries Rosie but keeps his informant duties hidden from her. Detective Hart then reveals a sharper target: Omar, a drug dealer who receives weapons and cars from Little Junior Brown. Jimmy agrees to wear a wire and resumes work with the Browns, starting with car thefts that keep him tethered to a dangerous world.

As he moves deeper into the Browns’ operations, Jimmy encounters Little Junior at Baby Cakes, where Junior offers condolences for Bev’s death. The path ahead leads him to a meeting with Omar, and Jimmy’s ruse grows increasingly fragile, straining his marriage with Rosie. Eventually, Junior introduces Jimmy to Omar for a second meeting, where Jimmy witnesses Junior kill Omar. In a stunning twist, Omar’s crew later kidnaps Jimmy and reveals that Omar was an undercover DEA agent. The tape of Omar’s killing becomes pivotal evidence, helping the district attorney and the DEA bring down Little Junior. Yet the arrest is not the end: after Junior is bailed, he seizes Jimmy’s daughter to send a message, forcing Jimmy into a perilous reckoning.

Jimmy eventually tracks his daughter to a forest, where her forehead bears the bloodied letters B.A.D. (Balls, Attitude, Direction), a brutal symbol of Junior’s ruthlessness. Realizing his family’s safety is compromised beyond repair, he returns to the city and confronts Junior at Baby Cakes, holding him at gunpoint. A ferocious fight ensues, and Junior is ultimately arrested by Hart after discovering that Jimmy had been wearing a wire. In a final wave of leverage, Jimmy uses a tape containing corrupt threats from the district attorney to secure his escape from the dangerous confrontation.

In the end, Jimmy climbs into a stolen Explorer loaned by Junior and drives away with Rosie and their daughter, seeking a hopeful new life far from the shadows of their past.