Film Review by Bill Finch
Twilight (1998) Rated R (USA) Running Time: 91 minutes Distribution: Paramount Pictures
Directed by Robert Benton
Cast
Paul Newman Harry Ross Susan Sarandon Catherine Ames Gene Hackman Jack Ames James Garner Raymond Hope Stockard Channing Verna
Twilight is a crime/detective film done in a nouveau 1940's style. The cast is superb. The film is not. Is the film worth seeing? Maybe. Although Twilight misses it's mark by a mile, the actors are all quite competent. If you're a fan of any of the principals you may enjoy this film. My favorite character actor, M. Emmet Walsh, has a wonderfully satiric 45 second part as terminally wounded private eye. Unfortunately the principal characters are poorly developed and unbelievable. It frequently seems like the actors are just reading their lines. The direction is minimalist. The story is simplistic. The dialog is trivial. Robert Benton, who directed and wrote the script (with Richard Russo) has done much better in his many previous efforts (Nobody's Fool, Nadine, Places in the Heart, Kramer vs. Kramer, etc.).
Twilight suffers in another major area. The pace is uncharacteristic for a would be detective drama. At times I feel like the actors, and quite possibly the audience, are about to fall asleep. The classic 1940's crime/detective films were often cheesy, but they were tightly cut. L. A. Confidential and Pulp Fiction, with their rich additions to the classic style, attest to the viability of this kind of project in modern times. They both have tightly woven complex scripts that are cleanly executed. Twilight ambles. The editing lacks a philosophical consistency. The timing of the scenes is irregular. It's as if the editor had too much footage for some scenes and used this as padding to make up for missing footage in other scenes. The film exceeds the traditionally requisite 90 minutes by just one minute, but it seems more like an additional hour. Don't see this film when you're tired.
The Premise (with minor spoilers)
Harry (Paul Newman) is a rundown private eye who spent 20 years with the LAPD before going into business for himself. His career as a private detective has been lackluster. The film opens in Mexico with Harry rescuing Mel, the 17 year old daughter of Catherine (Susan Sarandon) and Jack (Gene Hackman). It seems that Mel is having a youthful tryst with the not so bright punk, Jeff. Harry, true to his character, spirits the girl away but manages to get accidentally shot in the groin area by Mel.
The action jumps forward two years and finds Harry semi-retired and living with Catherine and Jack. Catherine is a retired actress and a bit of a tease. Harry has the hots for Catherine. Jack has plenty of money and a case of cancer. Harry passes time playing cards with Jack while keeping an eye on Catherine. Harry wants Catherine but we're not sure what Catherine wants. This arrangement works well until Harry and Catherine finally make it to the bedroom. As one would expect, this behavior is discovered by Jack. Needless to say Jack is pissed at Harry, with a "how could you" directed at Catherine.
Meanwhile, Harry is doing Jack a favor by delivering an envelope to a stranger. Things get bloody as one by one everyone Harry contacts either beats him up or gets blown away by an unknown assailant. Harry keeps getting arrested by Verna (Stockard Channing), his former partner (in more ways than one) on the LAPD. Verna keeps letting Harry off because she feels sympathy for him. Rumor has it that Harry's private parts were blown off by the 17 year old Mel in Mexico.
Meanwhile a maguffin develops. Catherine's former husband went missing 20 years earlier. It begins to look like maybe he was killed and that hush money is being paid to someone. Who did it? Was it Jack? Was it Catherine? Should Harry investigate and turn in his buddy or lover? You'll just have to see the film to find out.
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews