VividSimon Simply Perfect

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Gary The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

seymourblack-1 Fans of psychological thrillers will enjoy this movie's dark, intriguing and moody opening titles which, very simply and effectively, set the scene for the murder mystery that follows. Its deliberate pace, disturbing atmosphere and visual style all contribute to a constant sense of unease and coldness which is often magnified by the rather restrained natures of its two main characters who are interesting to watch because their actions aren't always logical and their motivations aren't consistently clear.A little while after successful Manhattan psychiatrist Dr Sam Rice (Roy Scheider) hears that George Bynum (Josef Sommer), who was one of his patients, has been brutally murdered, Bynum's mistress Brooke Reynolds (Meryl Streep), visits his office to give him her lover's watch so that he can pass it on to Bynum's wife without telling her about their affair. Sam is reluctant to do this but is rushed into agreeing when NYPD Detective Joseph Vitucci (Joe Grifasi) arrives at his office to ask for any information he might have which could help to identify the murderer. Sam tells him that he's unable to help because to do so would involve a breach of patient confidentiality and Vitucci then tells Sam that he could be in danger if the killer thinks that he does, in fact, possess this type of information.After Vitucci leaves, Sam starts to review his records of the sessions he'd had with Bynum during which the serial womaniser (who'd worked as an antiques curator at the upmarket auction house called "Crispin's") had explained how he'd cheated on his wife and dumped his previous mistress to start his affair with Brooke. Furthermore, he'd added that he knew that she'd killed someone in the past and also described a dream he'd had which had left him feeling both puzzled and disturbed.Sam, whose interest in Brooke had been piqued during his sessions with Bynum, finds himself powerfully attracted to her and abandoning his usual cautiousness, decides to try to find out who'd actually murdered his patient. His investigations then put him in extreme danger before some further analysis of Bynum's dream provides him with the breakthrough he'd been seeking."Still of the Night" is a wonderfully atmospheric and elegant-looking thriller that uses numerous Alfred Hitchcock references and motifs that range from passages inspired by "North By Northwest", "Rear Window", "Vertigo" and "Spellbound" to some less obvious ones, such as a mention of an Uncle Charlie ("Shadow of a Doubt") and the technique of suddenly putting the focus on a prop to create suspense (in this case, George Bynum's watch).Although it's essentially a rather lightweight thriller, this movie is very stylish and visually impressive and these qualities combined with its mesmerising performances from Roy Scheider and Meryl Streep result in a higher quality end-result than would otherwise have been possible.

robert blau Not bad, but as often seems to be the case with this kind of film, the payoff is somewhat less than the set-up (or should we say, the destination is less interesting than the trip). An interesting exercise, with some twists and turns and good visuals and New York locations. Roy Scheider gives a VERY appealing performance, and a young Meryl Streep is quite lovely and affecting (if a little affected) as the Mystery Woman. Other performers are also good: Josef Sommer very much so as the Patient, Veteran actress Jessica Tandy interesting and effective as Scheider's mom, and Canadian actress Sara Botsford is very striking as the Surprise in Waiting. The cop (Joe Grifasi) was somewhat perfunctory, as arguably was the movie as a whole. Still, with everything going on in it, an enjoyable and not unmeaningful film.

Bjorn (ODDBear) An obvious homage to Hitchcock and old noir's, "Still of the Night" succeeds to a certain degree thanks to it's over-qualified cast. The mystery is pretty thin but the set up is nice. A murdered man may have told his psychiatrist something in the form of a dream - the murdered man's girlfriend seems to be the obvious suspect but the shrink is shielding her - the girlfriend has a shady past which may have led to the murder; all this reeks of classic Hitchcock and it culminates in a showdown in a creepy old house by the seaside. The film's mostly well done but the suspense scenes are awkwardly staged, the dream sequence falls short on mystery and is awfully low on visual style and the resolution is one of those tell-all-in-the-final-reel moment that you couldn't possibly have guessed to begin with. And the identity of the killer is a complete letdown.Still; it's nice to see Roy Scheider in the lead, he's always a likable performer and a very competent actor. Meryl Streep is always a class act and she pulls off her role with ease. It's also very nice to see Jessica Tandy though her role is minimal and could have been scrapped altogether. Robert Benton is a terrific filmmaker ("Nobody's Fool" a personal favorite) but suspense isn't his strong suit and despite a nice set up and a stylish walk-in-the-park-at-night murder sequence, the script is fairly pedestrian and the resolution wholly unsatisfying. It's still an OK way to spend an hour and a half thanks to the superb cast who all give good performances (Josef Sommer included).

tcab I almost turned this movie off in the middle because I was tired of being manipulated by the corny scary stuff that was overwrought and too dragged out. That stuff was okay for the master, Hitchcock, but today it has whiskers. I was very surprised to see Meryl Streep looking more beautiful than ever before or since. It was the way her hairdo framed her face, I think. Any way, this movie was all Streep. Scheider has a certain gravitas which many Hollywood Idols never achieve even though they are far more popular. But Streep—from her first moment on screen I said to myself, I've never seen this side of her! She's created an entirely original person! Then she delivered a soliloquy toward the end of the movie which she fashioned with such skill and insight that one would think it was Shakespeare!There is simply no one as good as Streep, man or woman. She turns this average movie into something worth watching.