The Bedroom Window (1987) Full Review

Film Scene Investigation

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Transcript

00:00hey guys it's me beau back on the film scene investigation channel thank you so much for

00:18checking out this review in today's video i'm going to be taking a look at the 1987

00:26crime thriller the bedroom window just before we get into the review guys if you haven't already

00:34please do consider subscribing to the channel all the support is greatly appreciated so 1987's

00:42the bedroom window was directed by the filmmaker curtis hansen and was based on the novel called

00:50the witness by the author anne holden costing around 8 million dollars to produce this movie

00:58went on to gross around about 12.8 million at the box office so you know while not a mega success

01:07it at least broke even when it comes to the narrative the movie focused on the character

01:14terry lambert a fun-loving executive who was played by actor steve gutenberg the film began

01:21with terry rushing back to his apartment so he could meet sylvia his boss's wife who was played

01:28by isabel houppert you see sylvia and terry were having this secret love affair that nobody knew

01:38anything about so the two hooked up and went to bed together later that night we saw sylvia overhear

01:46some screaming coming from outside of the apartment so naturally she being curious she decided to check

01:54out what was going on when she got to the window she saw this skinny looking guy dragging this young

02:01girl and basically trying to assault her the girl you know tried her best to get away but the

02:07guy just seemed too strong and powerful as all this played out sylvia was still standing by the

02:14window witnessing it all she wanted to help but of course she was too far away she ended up calling

02:21terry over opening the window and trying to you know distract the guy from assaulting the girl you see

02:28terry had missed everything so by the time he got to the window all he saw was the girl the victim

02:37getting helped up by the neighbors of course it wasn't a very nice experience for sylvia to witness

02:44you know seeing this girl getting mugged and she not being able to help in any way but they just went

02:50back to bed and that was the end of it but the next day terry went to work and read the newspaper

02:57where he saw that a girl had been murdered just a few blocks away from his apartment terry was

03:04immediately suspicious and assumed that the killer could have been the same guy that assaulted the

03:10girl the night before after discussing it with sylvia terry decided to contact the police and report

03:18what happened the night before in his eyes he was doing the right thing and he was potentially

03:25preventing further muggings and you know criminal activity to happen outside his apartment sylvia

03:33understood where terry was coming from i mean yeah it was the right thing to do but she was a lot more

03:41concerned with her husband potentially finding out that she was with terry when she shouldn't have been

03:48after all this was an affair a secret love affair between terry and sylvia and uh well she didn't

03:56want anyone finding out so the police came over to the apartment and spoke to terry they took his

04:03statement but since terry didn't actually see anything with his own eyes he just told the authorities

04:09sylvia's version of events and pretended like he had seen everything terry didn't want to lie

04:16to the police but this way the cops were able to get the information they needed and terry was able

04:23to hide sylvia's involvement days later detectives who were on the case contacted terry and asked him

04:31to help them with a police lineup terry went to the station and did the best he could but ultimately

04:38he never saw the incident in the first place so he was just guessing he had a hunch that it was one

04:45specific man with short red hair but since he wasn't there and only sylvia knew the true identity

04:53he couldn't successfully pinpoint anyone in the lineup terry had strong suspicions of this one guy

05:00and so even though he wasn't able to identify him and pick him out out of the lineup he saw the man

05:07leave the police station so he decided to follow him in his car when i saw terry get into his car

05:14and start following this man you know from the lineup to me it seemed a little bit ridiculous

05:21because you know let's face it in our reality you know would we be doing that not really so

05:28yeah one of uh i just put it down to bad writing it's fucking ridiculous really over the coming days

05:35terry got more and more involved with this murder investigation and eventually was called to be a

05:42star witness by the detectives they wanted terry to take the stand and give his testimony about what

05:49he saw that night but if he did testify it could potentially unravel his secret affair that he had

05:57with sylvia it was a tricky situation which only got worse for terry as later on the film he would become

06:05the prime suspect when watching the bedroom window i noticed that deception was a big theme within the

06:14narrative of the film terry's lie about witnessing the events only set off a string of incidents that put

06:23his life in jeopardy he wrongly assumed that he could trust sylvia and so he put his reputation on the line

06:31to protect their relationship and lied to the authorities like your typical noir protagonist

06:38terry's decision making just ended up causing more and more problems for him the theme of deception

06:46perfectly aligns with the classic noir conventions like moral ambiguity and the loss of trust when it

06:55comes to the acting in the bedroom window isabel huper delivered a very captivating performance as sylvia

07:03terry's love interest while some actors around her felt somewhat miscast isabel huper was you know

07:13perfect for the role of sylvia and yeah let's face it she was the best part of the movie the sylvia

07:19character was very devious very untrustworthy and ultimately only cared about herself and maintaining

07:27her marriage making sure her husband never found out that she cheated on him so ultimately towards the

07:34end of the film when terry was the prime suspect for a crime he didn't commit sylvia just let him get on

07:42with it she didn't care she kind of wiped her hands clean of the situation i also really loved

07:48the character's elegant style you know in dress sense i mean she looked a million dollars all the time

07:55and so in a way this was also the most stylish i've ever seen isabel huper on screen one of the best

08:03scenes in the whole film was when sylvia ended up getting murdered by henderson the man she originally saw

08:11outside the bedroom window henderson randomly appeared from the shadows he stabbed sylvia and

08:19then ran off leaving terry to pick up the pieces it was a great scene that certainly caught me off guard

08:26as i assumed that sylvia would at least survive until the very end of the movie overall once isabel

08:34huper's character was killed off the story did start to decline and uh my interests started to

08:42wane as for actress elizabeth mcgovin i thought she did an okay job playing the character denise the

08:49victim of the original assault the denise character came into the story more towards the end as she tried

08:57to help terry vindicate himself the two would end up having this romantic relationship that uh to be

09:05honest it did feel very forced for me it didn't feel very believable that these two would hook up

09:12especially in the situation that terry found himself in and you know let's face it gutenberg and mcgovin

09:20had pretty much zero sexual chemistry it it was what it was but it did feel as i said it felt

09:29forced it was like hey we need another you know relationship sex scene and whatever let's insert

09:35this and you know it was whatever but um i could have done without it as for the practical side of

09:43things the bedroom window was a very well made production it can't be denied clearly a lot of time and

09:50effort had gone into it and uh yeah there were some great locations used as well the cinematographer

09:56gilbert taylor evoked a lot of classic noir sensibilities that really blended well with the

10:03story all of that combined really amplified the mysterious dark vibe that the film had

10:11so dislikes for the bedroom window from 1987 my biggest dislike for the film

10:20unfortunately would have to be the lead star steve gutenberg now this is an actor who i'm have

10:29been very aware of many years you know even as a kid watching the police academy movies

10:36and yeah you know he's he's good he's very good he has comedic talent but in the bedroom window

10:44to me he just didn't feel very believable now from my understanding gutenberg was very keen to star in

10:54the bedroom window as it was an opportunity for him to you know branch out you know outside of comedy

11:01and you know fair enough you know you have to say you know give credit to the guy for at least trying

11:06and you know trying something different and challenging himself you know i wouldn't say that gutenberg was

11:13terrible in any way he was okay but at times he just felt very out of place you know him

11:21in this straight role that we're supposed to you know take him seriously and yeah i just i just didn't

11:27buy it i think it may have been down to his facial expressions and his you know line delivery all of that

11:36it just um i just don't think it really mixed well with you know a neo-noir 80s movie commendable

11:44absolutely for him trying something different but uh i don't know it just wasn't very convincing

11:49and also when it came to the relationship between terry and sylvia i just didn't believe that those two

11:59would ever hook up i mean ultimately you know sylvia a femme fatale very glamorous very beautiful and then

12:07there's steve gutenberg who's you know this kind of comedic dorky guy the more i think about it it just

12:15seemed kind of silly you know to think that sylvia would be you know going behind her husband's back to

12:22date this small-time executive with you know this shabby apartment it just seemed a mismatch also

12:31the overall characterization of terry i just didn't really like it you know him becoming this

12:38pseudo detective following people in his car even at one point uh showed up to a crime scene i mean

12:46as all this was playing out i was thinking to myself uh haven't you got a job to go to

12:54you know i feel a little bit bad for criticizing gutenberg because you know so many actors you know

13:00stay in their lane and uh at least he you know tried something different and that's very commendable

13:05so you know credit to him but i can't lie and say that yeah he was a great leading man i also think

13:14that you know look at the guy's career he never really went on to be this big hollywood leading

13:20man did he he was you know very much part of these big ensemble pieces and so yeah he tried he failed

13:30but credit to him for at least attempting something different with his career and so ratings for the

13:37the bedroom window from 1987 i'm going to be rating this movie a four out of ten the bedroom window

13:47from 1987 was certainly an intriguing movie that explored voyeurism and deception and in some ways

13:56it did um it did remind me of the classic alfred hitchcock movie rear window where voyeurism was you know

14:05a plot device within the film while i enjoyed the movie to be honest the longer it went on i became

14:14less invested in the story and like i mentioned earlier once isabel hubert's character sylvia had

14:21been killed off things just became pretty mid pretty meh it certainly started to drag in the final third

14:30and especially once sylvia was killed off i um yeah i was just kind of waiting for this movie to hurry up

14:38and finish i would also be remissed if i didn't mention the actual title of the movie the bedroom window

14:45now i don't know if it's just me um but uh that is a very unimaginative title for a film and i really

14:56believe that it potentially hampered you know the film's box office because let's face it the bedroom

15:02window it's not all that enticing for an audience you know the more i think about it the more i am

15:09surprised that they you know went with the bedroom window now obviously in pre-production you have

15:15working titles and so yeah that makes sense it's just a working title we'll change it later but the

15:21fact that the studio kept it it's very boring you know and um yeah that that should have been changed

15:28if you've seen the bedroom window then please let me know your thoughts and memories in the comment

15:34section below for all of those who haven't yet it's a very minor recommendation from me now as you guys

15:43know i'm a fan of isabel hubert so that was enough you know to get me through this and um she's a great

15:50talent and the best thing about this movie but if you're not necessarily a fan of isabel hubert

15:56um and you're not really into you know noir films then maybe give this one a miss and well that is all

16:05from me today guys i do hope you've enjoyed my review of the 1987 movie the bedroom window i'll be

16:12back next week with another cult movie review just want to say a big thank you to all my new subscribers

16:18i really do appreciate you guys support and if you haven't already please do consider subscribing

16:23all the support is greatly appreciated take care

16:35you

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