| “ | We make sweet thing disappear along with that stinkin mutt FBI doesn't have much of a case now do they? | „ |
| ~ Gradney exposes Maque Sanchez's cover as an FBI Agent as well as Freddy Tiffany's partner and wife to the others at Quintana's mansion |
Agent Gradney is a major antagonist in the 2001 action comedy film Double Take.
He is an FBI Agent who along with his partner Agent Elliot Norville were suspected to be drug dealers for the Don Carlos Cola drug cartel but were secretly pursuing Daryl Chase on his charges of money laundering. When Daryl is framed for the murders of two NYPD officers, Gradney and Norville still pursue him. Gradney is later revealed to be corrupt like CIA Agents T.J. McReady and Martinez when he kills his partner Norville in an act of betrayal.
He is portrayed by Sterling Macer Jr in his first villainous role.
History[]
In New York, stockbroker Daryl Chase and his girlfriend Chloe Kent are attacked by a drug cartel's assassin just as they arrived home from Chloe's fashion show. The assassin is about to kill Daryl by attempting to slit his throat when he is suddenly shot by CIA agents T.J. McReady and Martinez who had arrived to save Daryl. Unknown to Daryl the assassin was still alive as McReady and Martinez had shot him with blanks and faked his death.
McReady tells Daryl that the assassin made a $106,000,000 deposit to Daryl bank and that they are investigating the death of Governor Quintana and searching for his dog Delores who disappeared during the murder. He then shows Daryl and Chloe pictures of the assassin, Freddy Tiffany (whos is an FBI agent) who McReady describes as an absolute crazy man and two drug dealers who happen to be Freddy's partners in the FBI Agent Elliot Norville and Agent Gradney. He tells Daryl that he's been following him to protect him and that people out there want him dead. He says he's not gonna let it happen but for him to help Daryl he's got to trust him. He then tells Daryl that he has to return to Mexico to finish the case and Agent Martinez will stay to protect them. He gives Daryl his number card and asks him to call him if anything goes wrong.
The next day Daryl arrives at his office to find Gradney and Norville waiting for him. After discovering their presence and suspecting they're drug dealers he leaves pursed by them both and after a chase he quickly loses them.
Daryl later goes to his secretary Shari's apartment to check on her but finds her dead as another drug cartel assassin shoots at him causing him to flee. Two NYPD police officers burst in the door responding to the shooting and Daryl drops on the floor as all three shoot each other dead. Daryl picks up the gun one of the officers dropped and looks around to defend himself but a woman comes out of her apartment and screams in horror at the site of Daryl with a gun surrounded by three dead bodies marking him as the prime suspect. Daryl pleads his innocence before fleeing.
Daryl calls McReady on his cell phone and claims that people suspect him of the murder of the cops. McReady tells him he has to get out of New York and get on a train to Mexico and also to avoid talking to anybody. Norville and Gradney follow Daryl all the way to Penn Station where they attempt to pursue him as does police officers. Unfortunately, Freddy meets Daryl at Penn Station and Daryl persuades him to switch clothes and identities so Daryl poses as a hustler like Freddy while Freddy poses as a businessman like Daryl.
Norville and Gradney later meet with Charles Allsworth Daryl's boss at his office and pretend to be Detectives for the NYPD who were assigned to investigate their fellow officers murders. Allsworth believes in Daryl's innocence and Norville asks him to call them if anything goes wrong while giving him a number card.
When Daryl gets to Mexico and is about to cross the border he sees a wanted poster of Freddy for Quintana's murder. The border patrol suspect that Daryl is Freddy and is about to arrest him when he panics and rushes his car over the border while getting shot at. Daryl ditches his car in an impound lot only to be confronted by Freddy. They escape the impound lot in a another car and head over to a gas station only for Daryl to steal the car and leave Freddy and Delores.
Daryl arrives at an emu ranch motel and calls McReady who is undercover watching drug smugglers load up a plane filled with cocaine. He tells Daryl that Freddy was fired from the FBI years ago for being mental and that he will send help to the motel to get Daryl. Daryl then calls Chloe who was with Martinez along with Gradney and Norville who were still after Daryl for the cops murders. Freddy arrives and interrupts by holding Daryl at gunpoint and telling him to hang up the phone suspecting that he called McReady who he knows is corrupt. He then explains to Daryl that he placed a transmitter on him when they swapped clothes at Penn Station so he would not lose him and mentions that Delores is the center of the entire investigation
At a bar, Freddy explains to Daryl that they are both being framed by corrupt officials and that McReady and Martinez are corrupt agents. Don Carlos Cola is a drug front being run by Thomas Chella who is really Minty Guetierrez and that Freddy was suspected of Quintana's murder after being caught on camera at the side of his house.
McReady and Martinez send their men disguised as truck drivers to the motel to kill Freddy until the police show up as well to arrest Freddy. Freddy tries to find a pen to get a strike team over to them fast but can't find the right one. A shootout occurs between the truckers and the police with Daryl being grabbed by the motel's owner and taken to the police station while Freddy gets Delores and escapes from the shootout.
The motel owner takes Daryl to back to the border and this time the border patrol successfully arrests Daryl and some officers escort the motel owner's truck into Mexico. They arrive at the town of La Questa and escort Daryl to the police station. The Captain still mistaking Daryl for Freddy claims that they made a reward to capture him for Governor Quintana's murder. After Daryl reveals his identity and that the motel owner made a mistake, Minty Gutierrez's girlfriend Maque Sanchez shows up with a baby and pretends to be "Freddy's" wife. Daryl tries to explain that he has only met her once at Chloe's fashion show in New York but instead the police lock Daryl in a cell.
McReady moments later shows up to get Daryl out of jail. As he signs Daryl out, Daryl realizes that Freddy was right about McReady and Martinez and that the assassin from the drug cartel works for them and is still alive as his death was faked. He also notices a dogs bite mark on McReady's leg revealing that McReady was Quintana's killer. He escapes the police station and runs into Freddy, Norville and Gradney. Daryl tearfully apologizes to Freddy for not believing him and says he got to get back to New York. McReady was corrupt like Freddy mention and Martinez left Chloe. Freddy claims that Chloe will not be harmed and informs him of Norville and Gradney identities as FBI agents and it was a covert operation. Gradney who is also revealed to be a corrupt agent shoots Norville dead and drives away with Dolores in the car as Freddy shoots at him.
Gradney arrives at Quintana's mansion just as Minty, McReady, Martinez and Allsworth are watching him on the monitor getting Delores out of the car but not before she bites him too. Minty confronts McReady for screwing things up for him and going off like a loose cannon by killing Quintana and getting bit by his dog causing him and Minty to be connected to the crimes. He also confronts Allsworth for failing to protect his money. Allsworth says he can handle Daryl and handle Minty's accounts personally. Minty responds by saying he can take of Daryl himself on his own.
Maque Sanchez walks in the room to greet them when suddenly Gradney walks in with Delores while complaining that she bit him. He then exposes Maque's cover as she is revealed to be an FBI agent as well as Freddy's partner and wife and that the dog bite connects McReady to the murder. He explains that if they kill both Maque and Delores, FBI won't have a case.
Daryl and Freddy then arrive at the mansion and both swapped back to their clothes while tricking the men. The duo along with Maque get the upper hand in the room by holding them all at gunpoint. Minty tells Daryl that Chloe is safe and he should look out the window where Daryl sees Chloe by the poolside with a maid and he calls her to come up while nodding an approval at Freddy. McReady informs them that Quintana didn't want to join them in the laundering which is why he was killed. Minty then tells Allsworth that he's got over $600,000,000 in his American banks right now which the government has frozen and the only chance he has of recovering any of his money is to turn McReady, Martinez, Gradney and Allsworth over to the Justice Department which Freddy and Maque happen to be members of. Allsworth realizes that was the whole reason Minty made the deposit thus leading to a confession.
The assassin then appears with Chloe hostage threatening to kill her unless Daryl drops his gun. Freddy responds by ordering him to drop his gun and an argument ensues with Daryl trying to calm Freddy down. Freddy then shoots the assassin dead as McReady shoots and kills Minty and a shootout ensues. Both McReady and Martinez escape during the gunfight with Martinez jumping out of a window while Freddy kills Gradney who was taking cover behind a piano during the gunfight.
Trivia[]
- At first Gradney was an ally to fellow agent and partner Elliot Norville and well as a fellow agent to Freddy Tiffany but was revealed to be a corrupted official betraying the FBI by killing his partner Norville and revealed to indeed be a drug dealer for the Don Carlos Cola drug cartel alongside McReady and Martinez.
- When he tells Freddy (who he doesn't know is Daryl back in his clothes) that he forgot about him and Daryl turns around. It was revealed to be a setup as Freddy did indeed found out about his betrayal after he killed Norville and snuck into the mansion to hold him at gunpoint saying he was going to kill him for his betrayal. Freddy avenged Norville by killing Gradney during the gunfight.
- Gradney is compared to another villain Bobby Pickett in Money Talks, both characters are corrupted officials in law enforcement who betray and kill their partner and are revealed to be conspiring with the main villain of both films. Daniel Roebuck portrayed both characters Williams and Norville in both films.