WHITE OF THE EYE (director/writer: Donald Cammell; screenwriter: China Cammell/from book "Mrs. White" by Margaret Tracy; cinematographer: Larry McConkey/Al Jones; cast: David Keith (Paul White), Cathy Moriarty (Joan White), Alan Rosenberg (Mike Desantos), Art Evans (Detective Charles Mendoza), Michael Greene (Phil Ross), Danko Gurovich (Arnold White), David Chow (Fred Hoy), China Cammell (Ruby Hoy), Alberta Watson (Ann Mason), Danielle Smith (Danielle White), Pamela Seamon (Caryanne), Mimi Lieber (Liza), 1987-UK)
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
The brilliant cinematography in this slasher thriller is what takes it out of the ordinary realm of such films and makes it into a diverting and more artistic venture. Esteemed cult director, Donald Cammell (Performance/Demon Seed/The Wild Side), has never quite lived up to the potential he showed in the masterpiece he co-directed, "Performance." He tragically in April 1996, shot himself through the head, mirroring the bizarre ending scene of "Performance."
In "WHITE OF THE EYE " he shows an artistic eye for odd details that he catches with his sexy camera, as he heads to the Tuscon, Arizona area and follows a gruesome, woman hating, serial killer around. The film opens as an attractive, wealthy housewife leaves Goldwaters Deparment Store and is followed home by a psychopath. Her last phone conversation to a friend is a complaint about her hair cut. Her bad hair day will pale in comparison to what happens to her next, as the unseen psychopath ritualistically slices her up and leaves on the table an ancient mystical Indian sign.
Detective Charles Mendoza (Art Evans) investigating the crime scene, is impressed by the Picasso cubist style of the killer. This is the second such ritualistic killing in Arizona within the year, but this time there is a break in the case, as truck tire tracks are found at the scene and the police are able to say for sure that there were only 44 sets of those expensive tires recently sold in the Arizona area and they have the names of all the owners.
Paul White (David Keith) is an expert soundman, an artist in putting in upgraded stereo equipment for his wealthy clients. The part Indian native of the former mining town of Globe, who has been a good citizen as an adult but who has a criminal record as a juvenile, and is now a suspect because his tires match those at the crime scene, and it is now up to the cops to track down all the other tire owners and narrow their field of suspects.
The story is told in flashback, as it goes back to an earlier time when Paul is asked to fix a damaged car stereo system by a bickering New York City couple heading to Malibu Beach. The attractive Joan (Cathy Moriarty) is ticked off at her violent boyfriend, Mike (Rosenberg), and purposefully damages his prized car stereo system. They find Paul's trailer and he is able to fix the stereo, go hunting mule deer with Mike, and he will walk off with Mike's woman, as it seems there was an immediate attraction between the two.
Mike has disappeared from the scene and it is now 10-years later, and Paul and Joan have a young girl (Danielle Smith), and seem to be madly in love with each other, though Joan is a wee bit jealous that a rich movie actress, who happens to be a stunner, Ann Mason (Alberta Watson), has eyes on her man. Assuming that Paul is having hanky-panky with Ann, as she spies on him and spots his truck at her residence, she lets the air out of his tires.
The next day, Paul is questioned by the detectives, as there was another ritualistic killing of an attractive woman, who happens to be the next door neighbor of Ann Mason. But with Joan explaining what she did, the detectives, though still very suspicious of Paul, let him go for the time being.
The question comes, is Paul being framed for the killings- or is he the killer? The only other logical suspect, whom the police don't know about, is Mike. He has returned to live in an abandoned mine, telling Joan, whom he accidently meets in a gas station, that he is a changed man after spending some hard time in Attica prison, and has come back to Globe to trace his Indian roots.
What is meant by the film's title, refers to an Apache legend about those who look into the eye of violence close-up, which allows the mystical eye to have his eye on you. As a film about mysticism, it fails badly to materialize as anything but nonsense.
For a film that has such a weak story and fails to be absorbing as a character study, this is, nevertheless, a well-crafted visual spectacle, featuring an array of beautifully stylized color co-ordinated scenes and out-of-the-way shots, that have little to do with the story, but overall they create a bizarre atmosphere that fits the brooding mood of the film to a tee. If it is the mystery story itself that you are looking for, I'm afraid you will be disappointed, as it adds up to nothing much. But in those visual shots... there is a real passion that the director has shown for filming a ritualistic killing and highlighting the outward beauty he sees in a woman. It might disappoint some, who think Cammell could have made something more than a slasher film; but, then again, his strength is through his eye, no matter how distorted it may be, and even in this low-rent type of film, his images remain strong and his themes have a strange complexity about them, enabling the film to be oddly effective, even when it shouldn't be.
REVIEWED ON 12/8/99 GRADE: C+
Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews"
http://www.sover.net/~ozus
ozus@sover.net
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DENNIS SCHWARTZ
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