The film stars Robert De Niro and Jessica Lange and is directed by Irwin Winkler from a script by Richard Price.

Harry Fabian is a fast-talking, two-bit New York City lawyer who hangs out at a bar called Boxers, owned by Phil Nasseros and his wife Helen.

He calls the man on Phil's phone and pitches a lawsuit against the boxer on the grounds that his fists are legally considered weapons.

Sensing her opportunity, Helen stages an argument with Harry and demands that he come up with $7,500, promising that Phil will match the amount.

Harry explains that he has spent his career in pursuit of quick and easy cases that can be settled for small cash amounts.

He throws Peck's $12,000 in the air as the final exclamation point on his speech and walks Helen past the goons, asking her under his breath, "How'd I do?"

[3] Janet Maslin felt that the film "is colorfully acted and refreshingly free of all the moody cliches such a story might be expected to thrive on.

But it is also saddled with overly busy direction that sometimes interferes with the dialogue, making Mr. Price's long, perversely elegant conversational riffs hard to hear."

Writing for The Washington Post, Desson Howe began his review, "There are few finer pleasures than watching Robert De Niro when he's on.

[4] Roger Ebert disagreed, dismissing De Niro's work as "more like a riff on Rupert Pupkin, the goofy talk show fan he played in Scorsese's The King of Comedy".

"[6] David Ansen praised the actors in his review: "De Niro is a sensationally manic-and even touching-sleaze; King, Warden and Gorman are splendidly disreputable, and Lange gives her role a tough/tender sexuality that's a pleasure to watch even when her character's loyalty to Harry confounds sense.