Directing

I keep reading about how great the directing was in this movie. I can't help but wonder; if Hackford did such a great job directing, how in the world did he allow such cringe-worthy acting to slip by. I am a big fan of this movie genre and enjoyed the story very much, though the acting almost made it unwatchable. I can put up with the worst of Stallone, Schwarzenegger, even Seagal at times, but Damian Chapa beats them all. He steals every scene he is in. How in the world did Hackford not see this? How did he not re-watch this and realize how bad Chapa was and recast the roll? It really is horrible. There are several character actors that were in this and unknown at the time who are far superior to Chapa, as a matter of fact there isn't one single character actor in this film who doesn't blow Chapa's hammy performance out of the water. I guess I am just sad that such a powerful film had to be ruined by such lousy performances. You would never see such a performance from a leading roll in a Woody Allen, Spielberg, or Coppola. Granted those are some of the greatest directors to date, I expect a director of Hackford's caliber to be able to simply realize when his leading actor needs to coached or replaced. Would have been a good movie.