Color of Night (1994)

Regisseur:

Richard Rush

Drehbuchautoren (WGA):

Billy Ray (story)
Matthew Chapman (screenplay) ...

Premierendatum:

19. August 1994 (USA)

Genre:

Mystery | Romanze | Thriller | Drama

Werbezeile:

Five Suspects. Two Lovers. One Killer. Nothing is what it seems... except murder.

Plot:

A color-blind psychiatrist Bill Capa is stalked by an unknown killer after taking over his murdered friend's therapy group, all of whom have a connection to a mysterious young woman that Capa begins having intense sexual encounters with.

Plot Keywords:

Schizophrenia | Orgasm | Lesbianism | Female To Male Foot In Crotch | Rough Sex

Filmpreise:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 1 win & 8 nominations

Nutzerkommentare:

More like "Colour Of Shi..."

Besetzung

Bruce Willis	...	Dr. Bill Capa
Jane March	...	Rose
Rubén Blades	...	Lt. Hector Martinez
Lesley Ann Warren	...	Sondra Dorio
Scott Bakula	...	Dr. Bob Moore
Brad Dourif	...	Clark
Lance Henriksen	...	Buck
Kevin J. O'Connor	...	Casey Heinz
Andrew Lowery	...	Dale Dexter
Eriq La Salle	...	Det. Anderson
Jeff Corey	...	Ashland
Kathleen Wilhoite	...	Michelle
Shirley Knight	...	Edith Niedelmeyer
John Bower	...	Medical Examiner
Avi Korein	...	Bouncer

Alternativ:

Color of Night (Deutschland) [de]

Länge:

121 Min | USA:140 Min (director's cut) | Argentina:133 Min

Produktionsland:

USA

Sprache:

Englisch

Farbe:

Farbe (Technicolor)

Seitenverhältnis:

1.85 : 1

Tonverfahren:

Dolby Digital

Altersfreigabe:

Portugal:M/16 | Iceland:16 | Philippines:R-18 | Australia:R | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 (director's cut) | Germany:16 | Norway:18 | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | Argentina:18

Drehorte:

11400 Olympic Boulevard, West Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA

Firma:

Cinergi Pictures Entertainment

Dies und das:

MAXIM magazine had named this film's in-the-pool sex scene as the #1 hottest sex scene ever in films.

Pannen:

Abfolgefehler: The wounds on Rose's hands disappear in an improbably short time.

Dialogzitate:

Dr. Bill Capa: Does mommy know you escaped from a straight jacket?

Bezüge zu anderen Titeln:

Ausschnittsweise enthalten in The 52nd Annual Golden Globe Awards (1995) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Just to See You

More like "Colour Of Shi..."

I'm always amused by the suggestion that "Pulp Fiction" (which was released the same year as "Color Of Night") jump-started John Travolta's career. His star had, without question, stopped shining for a number of years but Tarantino's finest film rescued him from the Hollywood scrap-heap. Bruce Willis hadn't faded as much but the signs were there that Hollywood's favourite wise-cracking meat-head was beginning to run out of steam. One need only look at this ridiculously stupid thriller to see what I mean.

Willis plays Bill, a New York psychiatrist who is so good according to those around him that the first patient we see him with jumps out of his office window and gets very comfortable with the road outside. Traumatised by this, Bill goes to LA to visit fellow shrink and best buddy Bob (Scott Bakula and it's nice to know they spent literally minutes thinking up character names, isn't it?) and his assorted group of patients who are affectionately known as the Monday Night Group. Bill's bad luck follows him, though, as Dr. Bob quickly comes a cropper too. Lt. Martinez (Rubén Blades) believes that one of the Monday Night Group is responsible so Bill reluctantly takes over the group. Away from therapy, Bill is entranced by the beautiful Rose (elfish rake Jane Marsh) but sadly for Bill, he can't figure out what's going on as quickly as we can.

This year has been kind to me so far, movie-wise. I've seen "Hero" (rated 8 on my scale), "The Incredibles" (an impressive 10) and "Shaun Of The Dead" (a very funny 9), among others. I've being feeling a bad film coming for some time and sadly, this is it. This is one of the worst examples of a thriller I've seen for a long time. The plot is so laughable that it stops being funny and the fact that not one character can tell who the killer is (or even produce a single lead at all) is a staggering insult to the viewers intelligence. With better leads, this might have been pulled off but Willis and Marsh are dreadful. Willis is sleep-walking through the lines and all too ready to bare his bits when it's not really necessary. In truth, you'd have to be looking for them to tell and I'm afraid that Marsh's frequent nudity provided enough distraction, although the "Emanuelle" style soft-porn soundtrack didn't help. She seems quite happy to show her arse at the drop of a hat. Brad Dourif and Lance Henriksen are good enough as two suspects / patients but neither are really stretching themselves, both being much finer actors than anyone else on set.

There really is quite a lot not to like about this film. I spent most of the movie screaming at the TV who the killer was but by the time of the great unmasking, things had got so wildly silly that I simply didn't care any more. And truth be told, I wasn't that bothered to begin with. The story is poor, the acting is worse, the production is hammy and uninspired. Even the misspelled title (in Queen's English, anyway - when will you learn, America?) has no bearing at all on the film's plot or, in fact, anything at all. The ending, grateful relief though it is, merely solidifies this film's reputation for me of being one great clunker. There really is nothing to see here, unless you're that eager to catch a glimpse of Willis's member. And if that is the sole recommendation of a film, imagine how bad the rest of it must be!