I confess I had a hard time with this one.
I am a big fan of Debra Winger. This film was written by James Bridges and produced by a wonderful friend, Jack Larson, Jimmy Olsen of Superman fame.
Given the talent involved, I was disappointed. One reason was studio interference, which you can read about on IMDb. The other reason for me was the story itself.
Jim Bridges was a wonderful writer and director. He's responsible, in fact, for one of the all-time most terrifying Alfred Hitchcock episodes ever - An Unlocked Window - talk about sleepless nights for weeks. I went to bed with a knife.
The film concerns a young woman, Betty (Winger) who works as a bank teller and is infatuated with her tennis instructor, Mike (Mark Keyloun). They wind up in bed together once. After that, he says he'll call, he wants to see her, but it doesn't happen.
One day she runs into him while driving and gives him a ride. Its obvious he's in trouble. He admits he owes a drug dealer money and is staying out of sight.
Okay, someone keeps promising to call and doesn't, and I hear the words drug dealer, I am so done with this person. I know she's young. I was once young myself. I would have been gone. What was she thinking?
Somehow Betty is still interested. He makes a late night date with her. He and a friend go out to make a drug deal. While there, the dealer steps out, and Mike's friend has Mike watch for the dealer while Pete steals some coke. Is the problem that these guys never saw Breaking Bad? What would possess someone to do that?
The next day Betty learns he's dead and tries to find out what happened. She winds up in horrific danger.
Winger is terrific, and Darrell Larson as Pete is terrifying.
The film moves slowly until the last thirty minutes, which are scary as all get-out. I would have liked to have seen Bridges' original vision. However, I had so much trouble with these characters being so foolish, I wonder.
