Still of the Night (1982)

Director:

Robert Benton

Writers:

Robert Benton (screenplay)
Robert Benton (story)

Release Date:

19 November 1982 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

If looks could kill...

Plot:

A Manhattan psychiatrist probes a patient's murder and falls for the victim's mysterious mistress. |

Plot Keywords:

Psychiatrist | Murder | Dream | Neo Noir | Long Island

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Roy Scheider	...	Doctor Sam Rice
Meryl Streep	...	Brooke Reynolds
Jessica Tandy	...	Grace Rice
Joe Grifasi	...	Joseph Vitucci
Sara Botsford	...	Gail Phillips
Josef Sommer	...	George Bynum
Frederikke Borge	...	Heather Wilson (as Rikke Borge)
Irving Metzman	...	Murray Gordon
Larry Joshua	...	Mugger
Tom Norton	...	Auctioneer
Richmond Hoxie	...	Mr. Harris
Hyon Cho	...	Mr. Chang
Danielle Cusson	...	Girl
John Eric Bentley	...	Night Watchman (as John Bentley)
George A. Tooks	...	Elevator Operator

Also Known As:

Stab (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Germany:16 | Sweden:15 | Argentina:18 | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | USA:PG | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Boathouse Cafe, Central Park, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

United Artists

Trivia:

The working title in post-production was "Stab".

Quotes:

Doctor Sam Rice: Now listen to me! On account of you, I'm an accessory to something. I don't know what! I'm withholding evidence. I'm obstructing justice. I'm gonna get my license revoked if I'm not thrown into jail first. And on top of that, I've just spent fifteen thousand dollars for a painting I don't even like!

Movie Connections:

References The Birds (1963)

Still Life

(Minor Spoilers) Director Robert Benton borrows from at least seven Alfred Hitchcock films: Spellbound (1945) Rear Window (1954) Vertigo (1958)North by Northwest (1959) Psycho (1960) The Birds (1963) and Marnie (1964) and comes up with a pretty fair Hitchcockian thriller of his own in "Still of the Night".

The film centers on Brooke Reynolds, Meryl Streep, an antique dealer at the Crispin Antique & Auction House in New York City. Brooke's fellow dealer and lover George Bynum, Josef Sommer, was found murdered the night before and he was a patient of Dr. Sam Rice, Roy Scheider, his psychiatrist who she went to see to give him a watch that George left in her apartment.

Brooke wants Dr. Rice to give the watch back to George's wife in order for her not to find out that she was having an affair with him. Dr. Rice agrees to return it to Mrs. Bynum but can't get over the alluring and beautiful Brooke and slowly falls in love with her which gets him involved with his dead patient and Brooke's lover George. Dr. Rice is trying to get over an failed marriage himself and Brooke coming into his life at this important time seems to be just the right medicine for him but it's the baggage that she carries with her, her lovers murder, that puts him in danger as well as Brooke herself.

"Still of the Night" is a very stylish thriller with almost no action at all until the final scene and thats what makes the movie work. Roy Scheider is perfect as the meek and troubled psychiatrist Dr. Sam Rice who takes it upon himself to solve his patients murder as he falls in love with Brooke who may have had something to do with it.

The usually two-fisted and tough Roy Scheider is very good as the withdrawn and inoffensive Dr. Sam Rice who's driven to solve George's murder in order to clear Brooke from being blamed for it which seems to be whats being made to happen by George's killer. Dr. Rice is also somewhat of a mama's boy with his psychiatrist mom Grace, Jessica Tandy, giving him advice on his breakup with his wife and the solving of George's murder.

There's a very good dream sequence in the movie "Still of the Night" much like the one in "Spellbound" that bring out what was really going on between George & Brooke as well as Brooke's dark secret that the killer somehow found out about and was using it to set up and implicate Brooke for George's murder.

Meryl Streep, who known more for being an excellent Academy Award winning actress then a beauty queen, was never more beautiful as well as classy as Brooke Reynolds, the mystery woman with a secret who knew much more then what she lead Dr. Rice to believe. Miss. Streep is such a turn-on in the film that even with all her clothes on she had more sex appeal then both Britney Spear and Madonna put together with their clothes off. In fact the only scene that Meryl Streep was nude had nothing to do with her affair with Dr. Rice but when he came to her apartment and was startled to find her getting a rub-down from her masseur Mr. Chang, Hyon Cho; WHAT A LUCKY GUY HE IS.

"Still of the Night" turned off a lot of movie viewers because of it's slow pace and lack of any steamy scenes between Dr. Rice and Brooke Reynolds as well as it's almost total lack of action until the very last minutes of the movie. But it substituted all that with a well thought out story and as for the lack of sex thats exactly what made the movie, or better yet Brooke Reynold, so sexy. Brooke was so gorgeous that she came across as being almost untouchable, and rightly so. A woman as attractive as her should only be looked upon with awe and admiration and not be manhandled, at least until the lights are turned off.