De Laurentiis. Director Curtis Hanson; Producer Martha Schumacher; Screenplay Curtis Hanson; Camera Gil Taylor; Editor Scott Conrad; Music Michael Shrieve, Patrick Gleeson; Art Director Ron Foreman
Steve Guttenberg
Elizabeth McGovern
Isabelle Huppert
Paul Shenar
Wallace Shawn
Carl Lumbly
Cast against type, Steve Guttenberg plays a malleable young executive carrying on an affair with his boss' wife, the sexy Sylvia (Isabelle Huppert). During a tryst at Guttenberg's apartment one night after a party, Huppert, looking out his bedroom window, sees a girl (Elizabeth McGovern) being assaulted outside.
Guttenberg ultimately becomes a suspect in the rash of rape and murder cases, forcing him in the Hitchcock tradition to begin his own investigation in trying to prove who the real killer is.
Curtis Hanson's screenplay [from the novel The Witnesses by Anne Holden] involves several ingenious plot twists. Huppert carries the first half of the film, replaced by McGovern in importance in the final reels and both actresses are alluring and mysterious in keeping the piece suspenseful. Unfortunately, a lot of coincidences and just plain stupid actions by Guttenberg are relied upon to keep the pot boiling.
(Color) Widescreen. Available on VHS, DVD. Extract of a review from 1986. Running time: 112 MIN.
Contact Variety Staff at
news@variety.com