Biography
Before gaining recognition as a director of action films, Andrew Davis worked as a TV and movie cameraman, a journalist, and a photographer. Davis entered Hollywood in 1969 as an assistant to cinematographer
Haskell Wexler while filming
Medium Cool. In 1972, he acted as the cinematographer for two films,
Private Parts and
Hit Man, and he spent much of the remainder of the decade working on a number of films in this capacity. In 1977, Davis co-wrote, produced, and directed his first feature film,
Stony Island. Davis' first work on action films was as the director of the
Chuck Norris vehicle
Code of Silence (1985). He scored his first major success when he co-wrote and directed another action movie,
Above the Law, starring newcomer
Steven Seagal; in 1992, he teamed with Seagal for a second time on the action-packed box-office hit
Under Siege. The following year, Davis once again thrilled audiences with the tense, spectacular movie adaptation of the '60s TV serial
The Fugitive, starring
Harrison Ford. A huge critical and commercial success, it was hailed as one of the best films of the year. In contrast, Davis' subsequent action film,
Chain Reaction (1996), was a colossal flop. He then switched gears for
A Perfect Murder, a 1998 re-make of Hitchcock's
Dial M for Murder. Starring
Gwyneth Paltrow and
Michael Douglas, the film was a great disappointment, leading some observers to opine that perhaps Davis should entertain a return to the action genre, something he did with the
Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle
Collateral Damage which was the subject of some controversy because it dealt with terrorism and came out around the time of the World Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001. {Davis changed gears and had a modest hit with the family-friendly
Holes in 2003. Three years later he returned to the action genre with the coast guard drama
The Guardian starring
Kevin Costner and
Ashton Kutcher. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide