Bedroom Window

Rating : 6/10
Running Time : 112 Minutes
Release Date : January ‘87
Director & Co-Writer : Curtis Hanson ; Co-Writer : Anne Holden (novel)
Starring : Steve Guttenberg, Elizabeth McGovern, Isabelle Huppert

One of the rare movies I caught on telly the other night and watched all the way through despite all the pesky ad-breaks in the middle.

It’s a very interesting premise. During an illicit liaison with the boss’ wife, just after the edited sex you get to watch on Indian TV and while he’s in the bathroom, she hears a scream from the street and gets a good look at a potential rapist / killer trying to drag a potential victim into a dark park. His attempt is foiled by the screams of his victim and of the witness but then there is another woman abducted / killed just half hour later and cops suspect a link between the two incidents.

Over the next few days, her conscience troubles Isabelle incessantly as she got a really good look at the killer but since she cannot, of course, reveal that she was there, she is struggling to decide on what to do. Steve Guttenburg decides to then do something romantic, without really thinking through it and he goes and tells the cops that he had seen the killer – he gives them the description that he got from her and then pretty much hopes that will be it. However, obviously it doesn’t stop there and with one thing leading to another, he has to go to a line-up, meet the cops several times, meet the would-be victim (Elizabeth) etc. And before you know it, we have a thriller on our hands…

The ending is a bit disappointing / predictable but the film does a fine job of keeping you hooked and building up the tension. This is one of Curtis Hanson’s first few films and he shows us glimpses of what made him red-hot later with films like LA Confidential. The three lead performances are very good with Steve doing his classic good guy act, Elizabeth being cute and Isabelle being exotic. I’m sure, somewhere out there, is a hindi film producer who’s thinking of copying this film, with Emran Hashmi in the lead role – it has an illicit relationship, sex and murder, after all.