Pacific Heights (1990) Full Review

Film Scene Investigation

Here’s my review of Pacific Heights from 1990.   Thanks for watching and please subscribe. New content dropping every week.   For Exclusive Content: https://www.patreon.com/filmsceneinvestigation  Rumble: https://www.rumble.com/filmsceneinvestigations   Odysee: https://odysee.com/@filmsceneinvestigation:e  Daily Motion: https://www.dailymotion.com/Filmsceneinvestigation

Transcript

00:12hey guys welcome back to another film review with me beau here on the film scene investigation

00:19channel thank you so much for checking out the review in today's video i'm going to be taking

00:26a look at the psychological thriller pacific heights as always guys if you haven't already

00:34please do consider subscribing to the channel all support is greatly appreciated so pacific heights

00:42from 1990 was written by the screenwriter daniel pine and starred menely griffith matthew modine

00:50and michael keaton interestingly this was michael keaton's first role since portraying batman in the

00:581989 tim burton movie now before seeing this movie i must admit i had absolutely no idea this film

01:07even existed and that was quite surprising since i knew all of the actors that were involved

01:12i don't know how this movie escaped me for so long but uh i'm glad i finally got around to

01:21seeing it for the first time so when it comes to the story's narrative it followed a couple

01:29drake and patty who had just purchased a house in san francisco it was a really nice house located

01:38in the pacific heights neighborhood and yeah i mean it was a big investment for a young couple

01:44who were madly in love and you know just wanted to make a go of things it was a risk

01:52but a risk that

01:55they thought was worth taking so they decided that they would live upstairs and rent out the two

02:01apartments below this way they would have a steady stream of money coming in each month which would

02:08help them offset their mortgage while moving into the house was stressful everything seemed to be

02:17you know going okay until the businessman carter hayes showed up wanting to look at one of the

02:24apartments carter who was played by michael keaton was this charming guy who was eager to move into the

02:33apartment but hesitant to undergo a credit check instead carter gave drake a list of references to

02:43verify his identity and also offered an upfront cash payment which drake stupidly agreed to

02:51since carter had shown up in this flash sports car you know wearing a business suit drake just assumed

03:01that you know everything that carter was saying was true so the deal was made but things soon turned

03:10sour when carter moved into the property without handing over any money he had promised a bank transfer

03:19into drake's account but when drake checked nothing was there he even changed the locks on the downstairs

03:27apartment leaving patty and drake completely helpless and unable to enter their own property with no

03:35other option the couple decided to seek legal help but unfortunately for them the law seemed to be

03:43on carter's side he manipulated the legal process exploiting his tenants rights and basically

03:53just refused to leave the apartment it was a complete nightmare for the couple whose idea of renting out

04:01their downstairs apartment for you know more revenue completely backfired on them subsequently drake and

04:10patty's relationship became more strained due to the psychological mind games that carter was playing

04:17on them things eventually turned ugly when carter showed up one day unannounced and tried to give patty

04:25some flowers carter had caused so much stress for the couple and then suddenly he just showed up as if

04:34nothing could ever happened all this of course made drake very angry and he couldn't control his emotions

04:42within seconds drake launched himself at carter and the two began fighting patty was screaming at drake

04:51telling him to you know stop but drake just saw red he had just completely lost his temper it was

05:00a pretty

05:00one-sided fight with carter being left bloodied and bruised the police then showed up and saw what was

05:07going on and immediately arrested drake for the assault in the eyes of the authorities drake was the

05:16aggressor with carter being the victim even though drake pleaded for his innocence it was obvious that this

05:24was carter's plan all along to instigate a fight and get drake arrested so then he could press charges

05:33now when it comes to the social commentary of pacific heights the movie definitely focused in on the risk

05:42of home ownership the story exposed the very real issues of renting out your properties to people drake

05:53and patty's investment in the house signified their faith in the system that they believed in

06:00an all-american couple just trying to get on the property ladder and create a pathway to long-term

06:07stability however when carter showed up and basically called chaos for the couple

06:14his character basically exposed the fragility of the legal system carter's ability to manipulate the

06:24tenant laws reflected a broader issue over the weaponization of the legal process and that was

06:32very interesting to see it all play out on screen another theme that was explored was deception and the

06:39loss of trust you see it could be argued that if patty and drake had been more cautious perhaps someone

06:50like carter hayes a con man wouldn't have been able to get the upper hand as soon as carter showed

06:57up

06:58and was hesitant about giving a credit check i mean that was a big red flag yet drake just went

07:05along with

07:06what carter wanted both drake and patty stupidly equated wealth with being trustworthy and that just

07:17wasn't the case i mean carter showing up in a sports car wearing a suit it was all an act

07:25it was just a

07:25pretense drake just believed everything that carter said all drake could see was carter's materialistic

07:36wealth that was on show which completely blinded him making him think that carter was trustworthy

07:43this subsequent lapse in judgment only reinforced the notion that drake was a bad judge of character

07:53when it comes to the performances in this movie i have to say hands down michael keaton was brilliant

08:01playing the con man carter hayes and honestly he was the best part of the film it was a standout

08:09performance from keaton and it was very refreshing to see this darker side of him aside that we don't

08:16usually see in a lot of his other films i mean this character was a serious psychopath i mean he

08:23went from

08:24being charming and charismatic to sinister and psychotic you could also feel this

08:32brooding presence even when the carter hayes character wasn't on screen as i mentioned keaton

08:40had just played batman in tim burton's 1989 movie and it's clear that he brought some of those darker

08:48aspects from batman into his carter hayes character you know the constant psychological damage that

08:58carter subjected the couple to i mean that kind of made him more than just a one-dimensional bad guy

09:06he was this force of nature that once he entered the lives of patty and drake i mean he basically

09:14ruined them and tore them apart just some brilliant work from michael keaton whose efforts undoubtedly

09:24elevated the film's quality as for matthew modine i thought he was perfect for the role as the down

09:31to earth homeowner drake goodman all he wanted to do was to rent out his downstairs apartment

09:40i mean that shouldn't be a big deal but it just turned into a complete nightmare that nobody could

09:49have foreseen coming once carter's evil intentions had been revealed it left drake being extremely

09:57frustrated and he was helpless in the situation with the law subsequently on carter's side and you could

10:05definitely feel the character's frustration through modine's portrayal when it comes to actress melanie

10:13griffith i thought she was good in her role as patty but if i'm honest i thought she was probably

10:22the

10:23weakest out of the three main characters she didn't do anything wrong she was fine but i just thought that

10:32the actress's performance was lacking any real significance i've never really been a massive

10:40fan of melanie griffith nor have i really ever rated her as an actress visually yes she looked the part

10:51but um yeah besides that i really wasn't all that impressed one positive thing i should mention though

10:58was the great chemistry between modine and griffith they seemed like a legitimate couple who were in

11:08love just trying to you know get on the property ladder and having their relationship feel very believable was

11:16definitely or added some realism to the overall story now a key element that i wanted to bring up

11:24was the use of san francisco as a backdrop to the story the filmmakers made pacific heights look like a

11:34wonderful place to live that was the intention as to disguise from the harsh realities that surrounded it

11:41in some ways the neighborhood with all the elegant homes on show was a visual metaphor for the american dream

11:50the ideal life that both drake and patty wanted to live was subsequently ruined by carter's manipulation

11:59of the legal process clearly a lot of thought had gone into the location of the film and i thought

12:10it really

12:10paid off it was a real contrast to what we see visually to what was actually happening to the characters

12:17and soul dislikes for pacific heights from 1990 my biggest dislike for the film would have to be

12:26the whole sequence where we saw melanie griffith's character patty go on a quest to track down carter hayes

12:35so in the lead-up to this both patty and drake had been able to gain access to the apartment

12:42only to find out

12:44that it had been completely demolished by carter and he had vanished patty then decided to go after carter

12:53to try and locate him which he subsequently did and discovered that he was a serial con artist he had

13:02several different identities and had already targeted his next victim now i had no issues with the story

13:10itself i just wasn't keen on the patty character suddenly becoming this pseudo detective in context

13:21to the story she had just lost her baby and drake had been shot and was injured so it just

13:28didn't seem

13:28right that the character would just suddenly take off like she did patty was in no fit state to be

13:35going after and chasing down some shady individuals i mean at the end of the day it just seemed really

13:43illogical an illogical narrative choice that i wish had been changed i think it would have made more

13:49sense if drake had you know gone after carter himself or maybe even if they hired a private

13:58investigator you know just something along those lines either way i just wasn't really into the story

14:06suddenly taking a detour and showing manly griffith's character you know doing all this

14:11detective work the sequence also kind of pushed the drake character into the background which almost kind

14:21made him obsolete i don't know if this was an attempt by the filmmakers to emasculate the character but

14:31either way i just i just wasn't a fan and so ratings for pacific heights from 1990 i'm going to

14:42be rating

14:42this movie a 4.5 out of 10 pacific heights was a very entertaining movie a very character driven drama

14:53that showcased the societal issues over greed wealth and power the story played out as your usual typical

15:03thriller with the kind of slow pacing and the suspense and the you know building tension throughout the movie

15:11since the large majority of the movie was confined to the house it subsequently created this

15:19very claustrophobic feel which only added to the sinister atmosphere overall i thought the pacific heights

15:30was a decent entry within the thriller genre as i mentioned michael keaton was brilliant he was the major

15:38highlight showcasing his versatility as an actor if you've seen this one please let me know your thoughts and

15:47memories in the comment section below if you haven't i would say it's worth a watch but i can't say

15:56it's

15:56essential viewing unless of course you're a michael keaton fan and well that's all from me today guys i do

16:04hope you've

16:04enjoyed this review of the 1990 thriller pacific heights i'll be back next week of course with another

16:11movie review don't forget to like and subscribe and of course guys take care

16:21so

16:29you

16:30you

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