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Someone to Watch Over Me (1987)
Starring Tom Berenger, Mimi Rogers, Lorraine, Bracco, and Jerry Orbach. Cinematography by Steven B. Poster. Editing by Claire Simpson. Produced by Thierry de Ganay and Harold Schneider. Written by Howard Franklin. Directed by Ridley Scott.
Mike Keegan is a New York cop that’s just made detective. He lives a happy family life in Queens with his wife and child. His first assignment as a detective is to protect Claire Gregory, a Manhattan socialite, who has witnessed the brutal murder of one of her friends. Since the murder she has been threatened that if she testifies against the killer, she will share a similar fate. Mike and Claire clash at first, struggling with the other’s difference in lifestyle, but when the killer begins to haunt Claire she clings to Mike. And Mike clings right back. The two soon fall in love but Mike’s comfortable home in Queens soon falls apart.
After the initial box office failures of both Blade Runner and Legend, Ridley Scott decided that it was time to do something a little more straight laced. A little more “normal”. His first attempt in this new direction was with a highly paced surfing bank robber movie titled Johnny Utah. But problems in the developmental stages left Scott disgruntled and he eventually left the project. The film was eventually released as Point Break, with Kathryn Bigelow directing and her husband James Cameron producing. So Scott was in search of a new project during a party in 1985 where he met screenwriter Howard Franklin. Conversation eventually drifted over to Franklin’s idea for a film and Scott liked it. It had the potential to be more intimate and actor friendly; qualities that critics had been accusing Scott of not having. So with a concept in hand, Scott and Franklin developed Someone to Watch Over Me from the ground up.
Scott claimed that after the massive productions of his last two pictures, the eleven weeks he spent shooting Someone to Watch Over Me was a walk in the park. He was able to focus more on his performers and their performances than ever before. But that’s not to say that he was taking any time off in the visual design department. The camerawork flows beautifully through the amazingly well crafted set pieces. The picture nearly brags of Scott’s skills as a visual artist. But despite his abilities behind the camera, Someone to Watch Over Me was yet another box office disappointment. Possibly a victim of poor promotion, the film only spent a short run in theaters and was gone before you knew it. Unlike his previous pictures that have found a fan base on home video, Someone to Watch Over Me is still waiting for it’s rediscovery. But mature romance isn’t exactly the makings of a cult following.
Budget: $???
Total US Gross: $10,278,549
Genre: Romance
Runtime: 106 Minutes
US Release Date: 10/9/87
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Awards: none
Tagline: He’s A Streetwise Cop Who Just Made Detective. She’s A Slumming Sophisticate Who Just Saw A Murder. A Kill Is The Only Thing They Had In Common. Until Tonight.
Quote: “And then what? I’ll never be safe. I’ll have to leave the country! You can’t protect me, and you can’t keep him in jail! And you knew that all the goddamn time!”
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