Striking Distance is a 1993 American action thriller film starring Bruce Willis as Pittsburgh Police homicide detective Thomas Hardy.

Thomas and his father, Vincent, later receive a call indicating that the Polish Hill Strangler, a serial killer whom Tommy believes is an officer, was spotted driving nearby.

Detective Eddie Eiler, who holds a grudge against Tom for testifying against Jimmy, states on TV the murder was committed by a copycat.

Tom destroys the suspect's car with a flare gun, but the unidentified individual escapes on foot.

That evening, Emily is kidnapped while Tom finds the body of another victim (this time a coworker from River Rescue) outside his houseboat.

Thinking that Jimmy's brother Danny has been committing the murders out of revenge, Tom heads upriver to the Detillo family cabin.

Tom is later reinstated as a detective and visits Vince's grave with Emily and her daughter Sarah, putting a wreath on it.

But after the original cut performed poorly with test audiences, extensive reshoots were done in Los Angeles, with story changes and removal of some plot points.

[2] According to articles and reports at the time, test audiences were unimpressed with the initial cut of the film largely allegedly because they found parts of it confusing.

Those parts were added into director Rowdy Herrington's and Marty Kaplan's original script by star Willis.

"[3] When news about reshoots was reported, Columbia's then-current chairman Mark Canton said in an interview that he "couldn't be more enthusiastic" about the film, predicting it would be a "beyond-sizable hit".

Canton was known for being heavily involved in several other films in earlier years that had very troubled productions and received negative receptions from audiences during test screenings.

Those include Wes Craven's sci-fi horror film Deadly Friend, one of Willis's earlier box office flops The Bonfire of the Vanities, and John McTiernan's Last Action Hero.

The site's consensus states: "Weighed down by a rote story and passionless performances, Striking Distance represents one of the lesser '90s genre outings from action hero Bruce Willis.

"[10] Owen Gleiberman called the film a "flat, dankly lit, grindingly inept thriller about a serial killer whose victims all turn out to have been acquaintances of Willis' rumpled, alcoholic cop hero.