In 1980, Writer/Director Richard Rush released his best film, the terrific Peter O'Toole thriller "The Stunt Man". It's hard to believe the same man made the 1994 mess, boringly dubbed COLOR OF NIGHT.
Bruce Willis is NYC psychiatrist Bill Capa, who leaves for LA soon after one of his patients jumps out of his skyscraper office to her death far below.
Bill changes coasts and stays with his good friend, Los Angeles psychiatrist Bob (Scott Bakula).
When Bob is brutally murdered, Bill takes over his weekly therapy group, which seems conveniently loaded with viable suspects.
Lesley Ann Warren (Victor Victoria) is the hyper sexualized nymphomaniac Sondra, throwing herself at every man that crosses her path.
Lance Henrikson (Aliens) is Buck, a former cop who doesn't deal well with thunderstorms and has a hair trigger temper.
The reliably quirky Brad Dourif (Dune, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) is an OCD hampered, tightly wound lawyer who counts everything but his blessings. We also have a tortured (literally) artist with a penchant for S&M in his paintings.
Lastly we have young Richie, hidden behind coke bottle glasses and grunge clothes as he stutters his way through his insecurities.
Meanwhile, a beautiful young woman named Rose meets Bill, seemingly by chance. She appears and disappears from his house at will.
Sex and power are constant themes and the film was notorious at the time for its full frontal nudity of both Willis and Jane March as Rose.
But no amount of sexy can save Rush's over the top, ridiculous choices in storytelling.
Our murderer seems to be able to know exactly where Bill is at anytime, pushing a car off the top of a parking garage to try and hit Bill walking on the ground below, even though basic physics and common sense tell you there is NO WAY the driver can know where Bill is 5 floors below.
Bad guys seem to change locations in seconds, I still have NO IDEA how that red car got so beat up but the owner didnt notice.
A person with major wounds to their hands seems to climb five stories of a ladder five minutes after nails are pulled from ther hands.
March is just plain awful as Rose and the big plot twist isn't exactly a surprise if you pay attention at all.
Maybe the worst pieces are poor Ruben Blades as a police detective in a strange role that seems like comic relief to graphic murders and Dominic Frontiere's bizarre music score that seems to strike all the wrong notes at the worst times.
Roger Ebert famously said in 1994 that the mysteries of this film would perhaps only baffle Forrest Gump, which was released the same year to much success.
COLOR OF NIGHT was a bomb and doesn't play any better seeing it again. What color stinks? That's what color this is. We'll give it a D.
Comments