Still of the Night *** (1982, Roy Scheider, Meryl Streep, Jessica Tandy) – Classic Movie Review 10,887

Writer-director Robert Benton’s sophisticated but old-fashioned 1982 Still of the Night, his follow-on from his 1979 big hit Kramer vs Kramer, reunites him with Meryl Streep for a surprisingly run-of-the-mill Hitchcockian suspense thriller. But, though it’s cold, calculating and derivative, strangely it still manages to remain teasing, playful and consistently enjoyable nonetheless.

Certainly Hitchcock would have approved of Roy Scheider’s uptight hero Dr Sam Rice – an unmarried New York psychiatrist who may have murdered a patient – and all the red herrings in the convoluted plot. Streep is commendably low key and unpretentious as mysterious Brooke Reynolds, the lover of both the murdered man and of Dr Sam Rice – who suspects her – and it is good to have her in a modern American role for a change.

It helps a lot that it is such a very sleek, smartly crafted, classy looking film: Nestor Almendros’s Technicolor cinematography, John Kander’s score and Mel Bourne’s production designs all add very considerable distinction.

Hitchcock would have approved of casting Jessica Tandy (as Grace Rice), just as he did in The Birds. Joe Grifasi plays the investigating officer Detective Vitucci.

Also in the cast are Sara Botsford, Josef Sommer, Larry Joshua, Rikke Borge [Frederikke Borge], Irving Metzman and Tom Norton.

The screenplay is by Robert Benton, from a story by David Newman, Robert Benton.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 10,887

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