Fair Game, released in theaters on November 3, 1995, throws two unlikely allies into a volatile clash of espionage and survival. William Baldwin plays a Miami cop thrust into chaos when his path crosses with Kate McQuean, a civil attorney portrayed by supermodel Cindy Crawford in her first leading film role.
What begins as a routine case involving property quickly escalates into a deadly chase once McQuean becomes the target of a group of ex-KGB mercenaries led with ruthless charm by Steven Berkoff.
The duo is forced to flee across Florida as they dodge surveillance, ambushes, and a seemingly endless stream of digital-age dangers.
Along the way, their uneasy partnership develops amid bullets, explosions, and sharp exchanges that mix comedy, frustration, and fleeting attraction.
Supporting turns from Christopher McDonald and Miguel Sandoval provide bursts of energy and tension, while Salma Hayek appears briefly, adding a spark to the film as Kirkpatrick’s ex-girlfriend.
Marc Macaulay, Jenette Goldstein, Kane Hodder and Dan Hedaya round out the cast.
Set against the sleeker side of mid-’90s Miami, Fair Game rides its action sequences hard: car chases, high-speed boat pursuits, and warehouse shootouts are edited with quickfire precision.
Yet beneath the surface spectacle lies a simple struggle between two people just trying to survive a conflict that grows more personal with each encounter.
Fair Game was based on Paula Gosling’s 1974 novel A Running Duck, which had been previously adapted into the 1986 film Cobra starring Sylvester Stallone.
Cindy Crawford and William Baldwin in Fair Game (Photo/Warner Bros.)
Reception for Fair Game
Fair Game grossed $4.9 million on its opening weekend, finishing in fourth place at the box office.
The film grossed $11.5 million in its theatrical run.
Roger Ebert gave the film two out of four stars in his review.
Legacy
Fair Game was marketed as a glossy studio thriller but became better known as a snapshot of its era’s flamboyant style and marketing ambitions. For Baldwin, it was another foray into action-heavy territory following his early ’90s successes, while for Crawford, it marked an ambitious—if short-lived—transition from modeling icon to feature-film star.
However, over the decades, Fair Game has developed a following among fans of vintage action cinema and mid-budget studio thrillers.
The movie captures the fleeting optimism of Hollywood trying to merge fashion-world celebrity with the gritty mechanics of an R-rated action narrative.
While it never achieved the cult prestige of contemporaries like The Long Kiss Goodnight or Enemy of the State, Fair Game endures as a time capsule—part melodrama, part chase film, and part glossy experiment that reflects Hollywood’s 1990s fascination with glamour under fire.
