The Bedroom Window

Starring:Steve Guttenberg, Elizabeth McGovern, Isabelle Huppert, Paul Shenar, Carl Lumbly, Wallace Shawn, Frederick Coffin, Brad Greenquist, Robert Schenkkan, Maury Chaykin, Sara Carlson, Mark Margolis, Kate McGregor-Stewart, Penelope Allen, Myvanwy Jenn, Francis V. Guinan Jr., Kevin O'Rourke, Sydney Conrad, Wendy Womble, Libba Marrian
Director: Curtis Hanson
Studio: Anchor Bay
Product Type: DVD

Description

Architect Terry Lambert (Steve Guttenberg) takes pity on Sylvia Wentworth (Isabelle Huppert), the apparently put-upon wife of his brutish boss (Paul Shenar). Terry commences an affair with Sylvia and during a break between seductions, Sylvia hears a woman screaming from outside her bedroom window. She looks down to see a mysterious man strangling helpless victim Denise (Elizabeth McGovern). By the time Terry comes to the window, he can see only a crowd of spectators. The next day, Terry learns that another girl has been attacked and murdered, and begins to deduce that the killer may be the same person who assaulted Denise. He wants to go to the police, but Sylvia refuses to get involved. Or is she already involved?

Customer Reviews:

A Forgotten Gem From Curtis Hanson.......2007-03-04

Sitting down to watch a suspense film with a title like "Bedroom Window" led my movie addled brain to start looking for connections to Hitchcock's "Rear Window." And they are there, from the crime witnessed through a window with limited information to the directing of Curtis Hanson that relies heavily on techniques that were used throughout "Rear Window." You know, shot of voyeur watching somebody suspicious, cut to suspicious guy doing something, cut back to voyeur for reaction shot. The Hitchcock references do not stop there however, rather the entire film is a cornucopia of homages. We have a psycho killer who lives at home with his faceless, controlling mother. Plus the main storyline is that of a man, a Wrong Man if you will, who falls under the hostile eye of the police for a crime he did not commit. So yes, you have seen it all before, but I happily gobbled it up all over again, and then realized that what I had just consumed was actually better than most of Hitchcock's oeuvre.

The plot is one of those that motors along solely because nothing ever goes right. All of the twists are perfectly thought out and it makes for a delightfully messed up tale, but it all totally unrealistic because, come on, who is ever really that unlucky? Terry (Steve Guttenberg) is having an affair with his boss' blonde, accented wife when she spies an assault outside his apartment. The next day a different girl turns up dead a few blocks away but Sylvia (Isabelle Huppert) can't go to the police because that would expose their little tryst. So Terry, trying to be a hero, takes her place and reports the crime. Soon after he is convinced that he has found the real killer himself which leads to him chasing this man, Carl Henderson (Brad Greenquist), around town until his suspicions are verified. One thing leads to another and the next thing you know Carl is running free and Terry is the main suspect. Of course it is all his fault, trying to impress the lady and all that, but this film makes a strong case for not doing your civic duty.

I really have almost all good things to say about this film. It is basically a movie about lying, and how the lies build upon themselves until your normal life is obliterated and you're wanted for murder. But we've all been in similar situations before which is what makes this film so powerful. The courtroom scene in which Wallace Shawn plays a defense attorney who dances rings around the mealy mouthed Terry has no more style than a typical "Law and Order" episode, but is just as engrossing. I was surprised to see Carl Lumbly show up as one of the lawyers because I was under the impression that his career began and ended with "Alias." Brad Greenquist does a superb job at being the frighteningly anguished suspected killer as he comes off as a Good Little Nazi with red hair. As a counterpoint to Spike Lee this film could have been called "Don't Do the Right Thing", as it may win you the approval of some girl and the police but ultimately it is a bad investment. Soon all parties involved think that they can dictate your next move to you only so that a few days later they can start to wonder if it was really you who did the killing. Hanson has done marvelous work since, but "Bedroom Window" sits near the top of his career. It has Hitchcock on the brain, but so do we, and Hanson knows how to tap into our darkest fears and serve up a pulpy thriller that gripped me from the first scene. ***3/4

Guttenberg Great.......2006-11-06

This is indeed Steve Guttenberg's best drama. Being a huge fan of Hitchcock's works and other suspense movies like "Along Came a Spider" and "Body Double", I found this movie pretty good. I personally think Steve is a decent actor, just limited in roles suited to him. This role was suited to him. Purest may not be impressed by this movie, but those not so demanding should find this worth their while.

The story in a nutshell is Guttenberg is sleeping with the bosses wife so when she sees an attempted murder she can't report it so Steve does instead. Since it is a man reporting they are more suspicious of him thinking either he's a voyuer or worse yet perhaps the perpetrator. Things get tense as he tries to prove his innocence and the real culprit is aware of the bosses wife and him. Is this a ripoff of the Hitchcock movie. A little, but the update and slight story change make it interesting and different enough that I found it entertaining.

By the way don't buy this DVD from a scalper for a ridiculous price. It is being redistributed in November 2006. I pre-ordered mine for $9.99.

Average customer rating:

Hitchcockian thriller
A surprisingly nifty little thriller!
Not in the same league as Hitchcock
Master trumped by apprentice.
A TENSE-FILLED SUSPENSEFUL THRILLER!!!!!!!

The Bedroom Window
Starring: Steve Guttenberg , Elizabeth McGovern , Isabelle Huppert , Paul Shenar , and Carl Lumbly
Director: Curtis Hanson
Manufacturer: Anchor Bay
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: 6305840113
Release Date: 2000-07-11

Amazon.com

L.A. Confidential director Curtis Hanson had been knocking around Hollywood for several years helming B-grade fare when he wrote and directed this crisp Hitchcock homage. Steve Guttenberg plays a guy who is fooling around with his boss's wife (Isabelle Huppert). When she witnesses an attempted rape from his apartment, he agrees to be the one to report it. But he didn't see it and his story begins to fall apart; soon the cops begin to look at him as a suspect. His life becomes increasingly complex: Before he knows it, he is on the run for murder, framed for a crime he didn't commit with seemingly no way to prove his innocence. Guttenberg, who has built a career on roles in sub-B films, rose to the occasion (though his subsequent taste in material didn't improve) and Hanson gave the film enough suspenseful twists to keep the audience guessing. --Marshall Fine

Customer Reviews:

Hitchcockian thriller.......2005-03-20

A married woman (Isabelle Huppert), while at the apartment of the man she's having an affair with, witnesses an attempted murder outside the window. Leery about going to the cops, the boyfriend (Steve Guttenberg) does it for her. Thus begins all kinds of twists and turns and complications in this taut and entertaining thriller. Some of them are pretty implausable, but before you have time to sort one out the movie snowballs into the next one. Huppert double crosses Guttenberg, of course, to protect herself, and Guttenberg eventually gets help from another woman (Elizabeth McGovern), whom he ends up with at movie's end. There are lots of Hitchcockian touches: the premise itself from "Rear Window" and a stabbing scene at the ballet from "North by Northwest." Not a bad movie at all.

A surprisingly nifty little thriller!.......2004-12-23

I first saw this movie with the lowest of expectations, and boy was I surprised! Steve Guttenburg is surprisingly (there's that word again!) well cast as an ordinary Joe Schmo caught up in a series of increasingly tangled events brought on by an attempted murder which takes place outside of his bedroom window. Isabelle Huppert and Elizabeth McGovern are enjoyable as well in two very different femme fatale roles. I know that people like to compare this movie to Hitchcock films, but frankly, who cares? It's the old apples and oranges analogy. The Bedroom Window is a slick, enjoyable thriller worth looking for!

Not in the same league as Hitchcock.......2003-09-28

This weak and contrived film is a very pale imitation of Hitchcock. It actually begins in a very promising way-Terry Lambert (Steve Guttenberg) is having an affair with his boss's wife (Isabelle Huppert). She witnesses an attack on a woman (Elizabeth McGovern) outside Terry's bedroom window, but he agrees to report it to the police as if he saw it so that their relationship will remain secret. His story (and the film's) begins to fall apart until eventually he is on the run for crimes he didn't commit.

With "L.A. Confidential," writer/director Curtis Hanson would later show that he is capable of crafting top-flight film fare, but he just doesn't make it here. The script is too far-fetched and the character's actions become increasingly implausible until the over-wrought, unconvincing conclusion. The decidedly low wattage of stars Guttenberg and McGovern doesn't help either.

Master trumped by apprentice........2002-07-23

This will probably be the only movie starring Steve Guttenberg that I'll give 5 stars to, so listen up. OK, that was a little harsh. Actually, Steve's tolerable here. He plays a yuppie who commences an affair with his boss's wife (Isabelle Huppert). While a yuppie probably isn't out of his range, French beauty Isabelle Huppert IS . . . but then, in Hitch's *Rear Window*, Grace Kelly was way out of Jimmy Stewart's league. Guttenberg, over and beyond his short-lived bankability in the mid-80's, was clearly a deliberate casting choice by director Curtis Hanson: he's a perfect Everyday Shmo that we can "identify" with, like Stewart's rubes used to be (before the country stopped being so corny). *The Bedroom Window* imitates Hitchcock in more ways than merely casting and the title. It "homages" the Master in the best way: by fashioning an exceedingly clever plot that compares favorably, in many cases MORE favorably, quite frankly, with Hitchock's narrative contrivances. The plot strands get SO involved that it's hardly worth trying to recount them; it's easier to just recommend the movie. *The Bedroom Window* is nothing less than a formally perfect imitation of elements in Hitchcock's best films. Even Guttenberg's perky acting ("I wanna turn myself in!" he chirps on the phone to the cops after he's on the run) is reminiscent of Cary Grant's smirking aplomb in the face of Kafka-esque bad luck in *North By Northwest*. And Elizabeth McGovern's disguise late in the movie recalls Kim Novak transforming physically for the sake of some guy's lust in *Vertigo*. Having said all this, you might be asking, "Why not just watch Hitchcock?" It's the perfect question for Gus Van Zant's pointless, unimaginative, frame-for-frame re-make of *Psycho*. But Hanson brings rancid new things to this genre that Hitchcock tended to avoid, things like individual culpability, black serendipity, and the notion that Doing the Right Thing can backfire on you if you're a compromised person . . . and who isn't? These themes, straight out of novelist Patricia Highsmith's work, provide chocolate for Hitchock's peanut butter. What can I say -- I like Reese's.

A TENSE-FILLED SUSPENSEFUL THRILLER!!!!!!!.......2002-03-08

I must say that this movie was very good and intelligently written. It does a great job at keeping you guessing what will happen next!!! It has an atmospheric style to it and it delivers the goods!
If you haven't seen this movie, please do!!!
This film was originally released in 1987 and it still holds it's own today!!!!
This movie was exceptional and I am glad that I came across it!!!!
In the style of Alfred Hitchcock, Director/Writer Curtis Hanson has given us this film classic!!!
This is great entertainment that is sure to keep you on the edge of your seat!!!

The Bedroom Window [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - France ]

Average customer rating:

The Bedroom Window [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - France ]
Director: Curtis Hanson
Manufacturer: Studio Canal
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Product Description

France released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada. Languages: o French (subtitles) o English (Mono) o French (Mono) Synopsis: In director/writer Curtis Hanson's 1987 chiller The Bedroom Window, architect Steve Guttenberg takes pity on Isabelle Huppert, the apparently put-upon wife of his brutish boss Paul Shenar. Guttenberg commences an affair with Huppert and during a break between seductions, Huppert hears a woman screaming from outside her bedroom window. She looks down to see a mysterious man strangling helpless victim Elizabeth McGovern. By the time Guttenberg comes to the window, he can see only a crowd of spectators. The next day, Guttenberg learns that another girl has been attacked and murdered, and begins to deduce that the killer may be the same person who assaulted McGovern. He wants to go to the police, but Huppert refuses to get involved. Or is she already involved? Hanson's trademark narrative efficiency is on display, making for a tense, focused story that mostly steers clear of predictability. In keeping with the director's minimal flash, leads Steve Guttenberg and Elizabeth McGovern exude comfort and competence, but little of the personality or charisma that would distract from his tight screenplay. Although there are some noticeably loose plot threads, these elements are too unimportant to undermine this smart little piece of noir entertainment. Special Features: o Interactive Menu o Scene Access o Trailer(s)

Average customer rating:

PAN & SCAN HITS DVD with PIONNEER

The Bedroom Window
Starring: Steve Guttenberg , Elizabeth McGovern , Isabelle Huppert , Paul Shenar , and Carl Lumbly
Director: Curtis Hanson
Manufacturer: Geneon [Pioneer]
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Suspense | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

( B ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
ASIN: B00000JNTS
Release Date: 2000-01-31

Description

Steve Guttenberg stars as Terry Lambert, a man who tempts fate by having an affair with his boss's wife. When she witnesses an assault from his apartment, he agrees to be the one to report it. Soon he becomes a suspect, and his troubles snowball into a web of crime and duplicity. Steve Guttenberg

Customer Reviews:

PAN & SCAN HITS DVD with PIONNEER.......1999-09-03

This is not a review on "The Bedroom Window" which is by the way a fairly exciting suspenser well directed by Curtis "L.A Confidential" Hanson, but an outburst of anger against the scandalous, revolting, outrageous and insulting behaviour of the PIONNEER "mob" who are injecting Pan & Scan in what was till now an intelligent, exciting and most tempting new standard: DVD. It is really upsetting to see that some scumbags (excuse the word but I am really really furious) are not giving us the choice between widescreen and full screen formats. It is depressing to think that DVD could become in the near future what VHS used to be. Something that destroyed pictures instead of giving them a new life. I beg you not to encourage this kind of products by avoiding them completely. The Bedroom Window was shot in 2.35:1 (scope) which simply means that half of the picture is missing. PIONNEER is a sure stinker and as far as I am concerned I am banning all their products. The Cassandra Crossing has just benefited of the same shock treatment. That was not what DVD was created for.

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