Main Cast: William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver, Christopher Plummer, James Woods, Irene Worth
Release Year: 1981
Country: US
Run Time: 102 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Fresh off the success of Breaking Away(1979), writer Steve Tesich and director Peter Yates re-team on a thriller starring a young William Hurt as a janitor infatuated with television reporter Sigourney Weaver. When she arrives at his building to interview the tenants about a murder that's occurred on the premises, the janitor, having discovered the body, implies that he knows more than he's saying in order to keep the newswoman interested. Although he reveals nothing more, she does become interested in him, and when her nefarious aristocratic boyfriend (Christopher Plummer) learns from the unwitting woman that there's someone with knowledge of the murder, he's more concerned about what Hurt might know than about her relationship with him. Meanwhile, his paranoid, loose cannon of a friend James Woods has managed to get himself incriminated, although he had no involvement in the case. Hurt and Weaver continue to investigate the murder together, and as they become more closely entwined, both of their lives are put in jeopardy. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide
Review
Although Steve Tesich's script is somewhat less smoothly constructed than most Hollywood-tooled thrillers, his gift for characterization makes the film much more enjoyable than the typical genre fodder. Like many of his protagonists, Tesich's janitor is a resolutely unglamorous figure pining after a seemingly unattainable woman, and as in a fairytale, she finally discovers his inner beauty, although in this case, his looking like the young William Hurt may have something to do with it. Despite a plot which hangs on the slimmest of coincidences, and becomes more far-fetched with every new twist, Weaver and Hurt have a chemistry that carries one over the bumps. Tesich also gives the film a quirky spin through the characters of Woods' feckless con-man, his hard-working sisterPamela Reed, and Kenneth MacMillan as Hurt's blustering father. His characterization of the corrupt European aristocrats is less assured, and they remain as vague and unconvincing as the political machinations on which the plot hinges. Yet the film's final sequence contains a memorable scene featuring a herd of horses charging out of a New York armory. The film's astonishing cast also includes Christopher Plummer, Irene Worth, Morgan Freeman, and Steven Hill. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide
Kenneth McMillan - Mr. Deever; Morgan Freeman - Lieutenant Black; Pamela Reed - Linda; Albert Paulsen - Mr. Sokolow; Steven Hill - Lieutenant Jacobs; Alice Drummond - Mrs. Deever; Sharon Goldman - Israeli Woman; Chao Li Chi - Long; Bill Mazer - Sports Announcer; Keone Young - Mr. Long's Son; Mark Burns - Man on TV; Mischa Bogin - Shlomo; Jhoe Breedlove - Woman; Henry Yuk - Vietnamese; Jeremy Ritzer; Howard Feuer; Richard Dale Murphy - News Crew
Credit
Kenneth Utt - Associate Producer, Jeremy Ritzer - Casting, Howard Feuer - Casting, Hilary M. Rosenfeld - Costume Designer, Peter Yates - Director, Cynthia Scheider - Editor, Stanley Silverman - Composer (Music Score), Carl Fullerton - Makeup, Tom Priestley Jr. - Camera Operator, Philip Rosenberg - Production Designer, Matthew Leonetti - Cinematographer, Peter Yates - Producer, Gary J. Brink - Set Designer, Edward Stewart - Set Designer, Nathan Boxer - Sound/Sound Designer, Billy Burton - Stunts, Steve Tesich - Screenwriter
The Television News Equipment Used in The Film and the Promotional Poster Actually Belonged To WNEW-TV(then Known As Metromedia New York 5), A New York City Television Station that is Now The Local FOX O&O(Fox 5 New York) WNYW.
Sigourney Weaver Also Co-hosted The Ten O'clock News on WNEW in Order For Her to Play An Accurate Portrayal of A News Reporter.
