Robert Benton's Still of the Night is a mystery/thriller that hides clues in a surreal dream sequence. Much like Hitchcock did in a more famous dream sequence in Spellbound. (Designed by Salvador Dali.)
Still of the Night (1982), directed by Robert Benton from his own script; starring Roy Scheider, Meryl Streep, Josef Sommer, and Jessica Tandy.
I saw this film in college when it first came out. I remember liking it a lot. I remember also that it got reviews that mostly ranged from mediocre to scathing, which I didn’t understand.
All these years later, I finally understand the critics. Despite an intriguing premise and a strong cast, this film is dull and irritating.
The director, Robert Benton, was riding high at the time, winning double Oscars for writing and directing Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) only a few years before. Unfortunately, Benton — who’s best known for strong A-list drama films like Kramer and Places in the Heart (1984) — has no idea how to direct a macabre thriller like this one. Not an inkling. Which is sad, since this film was supposed to be something of an homage to Alfred Hitchcock. Indeed there are many references to Hitch’s greatest hits, including Psycho, North by Northwest, and most especially, Spellbound. The problem is that these references are mostly all show, with nothing behind the curtain to back them up.
Still of the Night belongs to a wave of films that hit Hollywood in the late 70s/early 80s, supposedly reviving "the Hitchcockian thriller." Most notable among these films were early Brian De Palma productions like Obsession, Dressed to Kill, and Body Double. This "revival" must have been the quickest one in Hollywood history, because Hitchcock delivered his last film (the comedy-caper Family Plot) the same year (1976) that De Palma released Obsession, his highly derivative reworking of Vertigo.
The set-up for Still of the Night is excruciatingly s-l-o-w, especially for a film that’s only 90 minutes long. A lot of viewers will have mentally checked out by the time the plot turns all Norman Batesy, which only happens in the last 10 minutes or so.
However, I’m getting ahead of myself. Things start off fine. Scheider plays Sam Rice, a recently divorced Manhattan psychiatrist. Trouble starts for Sam when his patient, George Bynum (smarmily played by Josef Sommer) is murdered. Bynum was an executive with a famous New York auction house called Crispin’s (read, Christie's), where he worked closely with a bevy of young female auction assistants.
Shortly afterward, a young mysterious blonde woman, Brooke Reynolds (Streep), shows up in Rice’s office to deliver an expensive watch to Rice that Bynum left in her apartment. Brooke was one of Bynum's comely auction assistants and was also having an affair with him. She wants Rice to return the watch to Bynum’s widow without her name attached to it.
Rice knows all about Brooke, because Bynum talked about her constantly in his therapy sessions. The therapy sessions are shown in flashback and this is the first big flaw in the film; the flashbacks are talky and boring, revealing Bynum as a petty and uninteresting murder victim. We really don’t care why he was murdered—Bynum is so boring and smarmy, that it even seems like the killer did the world a public service in getting rid of him.
These flashbacks are clutter, a fature that is usally fatal to the thriller genre. The only flashback that’s actaully needed for the plot is the one where Bynum tells Rice about a weird nightmare he experienced before he died. The dream — which contains symbolic clues to the killer’s identity— is very creepy and is the best part of an otherwise dull film. It’s an obvious homage to the dream sequence in Spellbound, which was designed by uber-famous surreal artist Salvador Dali. Rice calls in his mother Grace — a psychiatrist herself, played by Tandy --to discuss the symbolism in the dream but comes up short. Sadly, this is the only use that Benton has for the talented Tandy.
Rice inevitably gets involved with Brooke romantically, but she’s hiding secrets herself. This sets up another big flaw in the film: an auction sequence that’s supposed to be another Hitchcock homage, this time to the auction scene in North by Northwest. The auction in Still of the Night takes place late in the evening, with Brooke on the phone taking bids from millionaires. A great set-up again, but all that happens is that Rice steals her office keys and snoops in her desk, finding a cliched clue in the form of an old newspaper clipping. A total let-down from a big build-up.
Eventually, the plot leads to an old beachhouse on Long Island owned by Brooke. Rice follows her there and realizes that the beachhouse was described in Bynum’s creepy dream. And that’s when Still of the Night turns Batesy. It's not done all that badly, but it's far too little, too late.
This film is mostly of interest to serious Hitchcock fans who may want to pause often to catch all the references. Still of the Night may also appeal to fans of Streep, catching her in a role she’s rarely played: the glamorous, romantic heroine. She looks gorgeous and has a stunning wardrobe. It’s also one of the few screen appearances where she actually wears an attractive hairstyle.
Currently streaming on US Amazon, free to Prime members.
