Reviews (4)

Maybe I Am Easily Pleased
I just watched this movie again last night, having watched it before when it was first released. My motive for writing this review is to add one positive contribution to this collection of downward pointing thumbs.

Well, yes, it is sort of an ordinary cloak and dagger film, but I enjoyed seeing a female lead character who was gutsy, a lady who didn't follow the stereotype of the ankle sprainer who has to lean on the big strong man for protection. Actually it is a good thing that Kelly McGillis isn't prone to ankle injuries, because she certainly does a lot of running in this flick. She just seems to be in a hurry wherever she goes, and trots along at a good clip even when she isn't being chased. Sometimes I felt I was watching another version of Run Lola Run.

Anyway the time period is the Joe McCarthy era, and Kelly loses her job because she refuses to name names to Congress. By chance she discovers some strange happenings that indicate maybe there are some ex (current?) Nazis inflitrating her pleasant neighborhood. Well the FBI is involved, too, and the chase is on. Evil people flit in and out, and surprises happen when people open doors.

Admittedly the tale is sort of muted Hitchcock, and not particularly exceptional in its plot, but I found it to be a pleasant thriller to watch. I must also confess that I was mesmerized by Ms McGillis's breathtaking beauty. She was about 30 when this movie was made, and, gosh, I just fell in love with her.

Disappointing
I agree with the Leonard Maltin review. This starts off well, but becomes a very ordinary, unexciting melodrama, that tries to have some Hitchcock tension, but it doesn't work very well. Towards the end of the film, I was muttering, "what a waste of time."

The reviewer Peter(can't remember the rest of his or her name) should have his or her review REMOVED, for revealing too much of the plot of the film. I'd write to Peter, if there were an e-mail address. Do NOT reveal too much about plot details. It's nice to be surprised when you see a film, Peter.

For the price, a best buy at 3 ½ stars
Though the Australian reviewer's comments are too harsh, they are entertaining with some points well-taken. But this reviewer would move the overall rating up to 3 ½ stars out of 5 possible.

Having purchased the DVD and seen it without any preconceptions or prior reviews, this reviewer was pleasantly satisfied: not a classic film, but quite entertaining, keeping one on the edge of the seat pretty much throughout. There is never a dull moment, but not overly so as is too often the case in today's hyperactive and mindless 'action and adventure' flicks. This film was definitely not written by 13-year-olds for 13-year-olds and contains a lot of well-presented material. Kelly McGillis gives a credible performance as a balanced and generally level-headed woman being persecuted by governmental agencies. Her portrayal is not the weepy, hysterical and too-vulnerable type that can find its way into films like this. Mandy Patinkin does well as a chilling, oily and thoroughly corrupted and unscrupulous politician/attorney (or whatever) with too much power in the wrong places. Jessica Tandy is good in what few scenes she has; too bad she couldn't have had a more central role.

As to the production values, the film is the letterboxed theatrical presentation at 1.66:1 (as stated on the case, and this seemed about right.) The picture, for a 1988 film, while not exceptional, is mostly clear, though with suggestions of fuzziness for purists. Overall, the image is on the dark side and there is some loss of detail in deep shade scenes, though not annoyingly so. Color fidelity of details in some scenes struck this reviewer as almost exceptionally good. The Dolby Digital mono sound is strong and clean.

There are no annoying advertising impositions or preliminary and unrelated material to try to get around (something becoming increasing annoying in many new DVD releases, sometimes necessitating drastic action to curtail!) The DVD is well-packaged in a quality case. If you like a thriller in the Hitchcock vein with reasonable and well-restrained message content that doesn't get in the way of the story, this DVD is a good buy for the price, and recommended.

who's in the house
This Peter Yates directed thriller was written by Walter Bernstein, who had been blacklisted in the McCarthy era, and had written about it for The Front. Here Bernstein takes his anti-McCarthy paranoia one step further by suggesting that Roy Cohn tried to illegally smuggle former Nazis into America, posing them under the name of dead Jews. Yates' underrated skill manages to overcome this somewhat far-fetched premise, providing a woman in peril drama with various Hitchcock-ian setpieces - a wedding reception, a church, a bookshop, a theatre, and the climax at Grand Central Terminal. He also attempts a romance between the woman targetted by the FBI and an FBI agent who feels guilty about her harassment. While the romance is aided by the score by Georges Delerue, and Jeff Daniels is acceptable, if a bit comically light, to play the male lead, Yates has more trouble with Kelly McGillis as the woman. In spite of her skill, McGillis isn't a romantic actress. No matter how effectively she is styled for the period, she lacks vulnerability so that we never feel she will be defeated. Pauline Kael memorably compared McGillis to Charlton Heston. Yates partially compensates by having her silent and on the run, but when in one scene she is naked in the bath being menaced by Mandy Patinkin as the Roy Cohn figure, while she acts vulnerable, it's not truthful. Patinkin playing his menace with musical comedy timing doesn't help either. Perhaps if he sang to her in his terrifying falsetto, McGillis would be truthfully frightened. Jessica Tandy appears briefly as a woman McGillis is paid to read to, and I was disappointed that Bernstein found no way to bring her further into the plot. Even the Carroll Street house (though I don't recall hearing the name Carroll Street ever mentioned) is disposed of quickly. And Patinkin has an odd speech where he demonstrates the logic of his shenanigans by splashing ketchup on a white tablecloth. The Grand Central climax is handled awkwardly when everyone is climbing the belfry (why do people being pursued always go up and no down?!), but Yates comes off better with a chase in a bookshop, and the wedding reception, with Daniels and McGillis dancing and spying. It's a pity Bernstein decided to take on this comic book style approach to an abhorrent moral and political time in history. You would think that someone who was blacklisted would not pander to such a base Hollywood aesthetic. McCarthy was scary enough without making him and his pals neo-Nazis. ... Read more