Mike's Murder

There's a lot of good things to say about this obscure mystery from the 80s. The best thing is Debra Winger, who never looked better. She is beautiful and sexy, earthy and smoldering, yet she possesses an approachable, naive quality.

The story is intriguing, with a different way of looking at the drug underworld in Los Angeles. This is not about cops, gangsters and car chases. It's about an innocent woman who accidentally becomes involved in a drug-related murder. It's really all about Winger's character, although Paul Winfield stands out in a small role as a gay music producer.

The mood is low-key and dreamlike with a subtle erotic undertone. It also has a nice score that stays with you. Give it a chance.

"Mike's Murder" was a box-office and critical bomb that was forgotten almost as soon as it quickly disappeared from theaters. A poorly written, cast, acted and directed attempt to create a film noir set in contemporary 1980's Los Angeles with lots of open sexuality and cocaine use.

The plot: Bank teller "Betty Parrish" (Winger) occasionally hooks-up with her tennis instructor "Mike" (Mark Keyloun) an irresponsible, drug-dealing/using, sometime "kept boy" who sexually plays for both teams. Mike and his obnoxious pal "Pete" (Darrell Larson) acting as drug mules decide to help themselves to some of the stash. Their clients are not pleased. Exit Mike. A panicked Pete goes on the run and starts acting like a deranged idiot. And Betty wants to find-out what happened.

Why? Her relationship with Mike is shown to be nothing more than tennis lessons and once-in-a-blue-moon hookups. There's NO romance or deep connection here. Yet she starts playing detective because she "loved" him. Huh?

What woman would even like, let alone love, Mike? He's broke. Trades sexual favors for free rent and board. Deals and uses drugs. Lies. Steals. Doesn't call when he says he will. Calls only when wants something like phone sex. Forgets dates. He's just a sleazy loser. And played by a terrible actor who's repulsive. Every time he appeared I kept thinking: "Look at his face. Look at his hair. Look at his head. His whole head s**ks!" Who thought casting this nobody was a good idea? Thankfully for audiences, Mr. Keyloun's Hollywood career was mercifully short.

"Mike's Murder" is an example of how a bad script and poor direction can undermine even a talented actress like Ms. Winger and make bad actors like Keyloun and Mr. Larson look even worse. The only actor who comes across fairly well is Paul Winfield as the gay music exec who "kept" Mike, but his scenes are brief.

In a sum, a wretched film with thoroughly unlikeable and/or boring characters for whom I felt zero connection or care. Mike got murdered? Too bad, so sad. Not really. The only real question is: what possessed Debra Winger, coming-off the massive critical/box-office hit "An Officer and a Gentleman," to accept this role when could have had her choice of almost anything else?

Last night, Debra Winger spoke about this film at UCLA. The campus theatre that shows films to the general public was renamed the James Bridges Theatre in honor of the writer and director of Mike's Murder. Debra said that Bridges was an actor's director. The scene in the film where Debra's character checks her phone messages and we hear a voice say it's mom-that was Debra's real life mother Ruth-Debra didn't know she would hear that voice until the moment the scene was shot!

That example really highlights the strength of the film, the acting. All of the performances are first-rate. I was touched by Debra's quiet strength in the face of some sad and even bizarre discoveries by her character about her dead lover. A very underrated film!

For some inexplicable reason, critics find this film hard to follow. Actually, it's very coherent and surprisingly powerful. Debra Winger plays a bank employee who falls for her tennis coach, a young stud named Mike. When Mike is brutally murdered by drug dealers, Winger's character, Betty, is drawn into the L.A. underworld in her quest to find out why he was killed. What makes this film so great is its quiet realism. Most latter day noirs suffer from over-the-top plotting, mega-violence, and cartoonish effects. Moving by indirection and inference, MIKE'S MURDER skirts a hellish world rather than diving in, a narrative strategy that makes it eerily believable and deeply disturbing. Check it out.

This movie is compelling because the character of Betty is so innocent about what is going on in this murky tennis coach. It makes it easy to see how a normal person could find themselves in way over their heads without knowing it. The kitchen scene with the pal of Mike's who manages to get away from the bad guys is gut wrenching. Debra Winger has never gotten the breaks that she richly is due. I feel that it is compelling that the late Bette Davis stated that of the new actresses that Ms Winger was the most like her and I don't think that she was merely referring to their bad press.