Customer Reviews

Physical Evidence

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This Rank thriller directed by Michael Crichton has a scuzzy screenplay by Bill Phillips, from a story by Phillips and Steve Ransohoff, which is half courtroom drama and half street investigation. The title is explained by the means of execution of a hood being found in the home of Burt Reynolds, a Boston cop on suspension for "unwarranted violence". In spite of the obvious setup, Reynolds is charged with the murder and Theresa Russell becomes his defence attorney. Russell is given more screentime than Reynolds, and the treatment even allows for her breathy mannerisms by making her an inexperienced and ambitious. At one point someone even tells her "I can do without the dramatics" which gets a laugh. As Russell's boyfriend, Ted McGinley benefits from the same effect, with his ineffectualness used for himbo-ism. She and Reynolds banter well, and thankfully the inevitable romance is given a light touch. The only Phillips line that passes for wit is someone referring to the "reverse Midas touch, where everything touched turns to manure", though Reynolds is around to underplay. If the divisive focus and ultimately the seriousness with which we are supposed to take the court case are questionable, Crichton pulls us along with his skill. He creates multiple scenes of messy group anger, and provides a beautifully executed climactic chase. Ned Beatty is also pleasing as the District Attorney, probably the only one who attempts the region dialect.

The other day, I was thinking about movies I've enjoyed over the years, and thought of this film starring Burt Reynolds and Theresa Russell--from the late 80s.

PHYSICAL EVIDENCE - Format: [DVD Movie] was a flick that I thought would be fun to see again. And it was.

My favorite parts were the interactions between the characters. Theresa Russell portrayed a defense attorney named Jennifer Hudson, while Burt Reynolds was Joe Paris, the cop on trial for murder.

Watching the growing attraction between these characters as they tried to solve the case (in between trial scenes) was fun, if a bit predictable.

The movie was set in Boston, so I also enjoyed the street scenes, as well as the interiors of some really gorgeous homes, like the loft where Theresa Russell's character lived with her very annoying fiance, who was materialistic and a bit of an obsessive-compulsive snob.

Lots of action, some violence, and a few thrill scenes, especially toward the end--all added up to a so-so movie that I'll probably watch again, but it certainly wasn't one of my favorites. Not like I thought it would be, since back in the eighties I obviously had different tastes.

However, I decided that it deserved three stars.

Physical Evidence is one of those films that you want to like but really should be a lot better than it actually is. Developed as a sequel to Jagged Edge for Glenn Close and Robert Loggia, it gives the impression that all involved only made it while they were waiting for something better to come along. The premise is perfectly serviceable, it's mostly technically efficient if horribly uninspired with even Henry Mancini's musacky score surprisingly pleasant, but you can't help feeling that things would have turned out better if one of the leads had turned out to be the killer (as is rumoured was originally the case). As the opening scene of his little-seen, personally disastrous Heat (1986) showed, Reynolds has all the makings of a great screen villain. As is, there are few surprises and a feeling of half-hearted filming by numbers as it builds up a head of intertia as it ambles disinterestedly towards a less than grand will-this-do? finale.

Reynolds is fine, sailing through on charisma in what is clearly a star vehicle. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of Theresa Russell. An impressive and fearless actress in husband Nic Roeg's films which allow her to delve into the darker side of human nature, she's trapped in a part that requires star quality rather than depth, and she ain't got it in spades. She doesn't fluff her lines or bump into the other actors, but that's about all that can be said in favour of her astonishingly stilted and often amateurish performance that lets the film down badly. Aside from Ned Beatty's prosecutor the supporting cast add only a slightly surreal presence in a Boston where everyone seems to have a badly disguised Canadian accent and the streets bear a startling resemblance to Toronto and Montreal.

Likewise, director Michael Crichton, who in Westworld, Coma and The First Great Train Robbery showed that he knew how to lean an audience to the edge of their seats, seems to handle the action in a purely perfunctory fashion - indeed, in one brief chase the shots don't even match and seem thrown together almost arbitrarily. The climax itself has no flair and is completely bereft of threat or danger, and many scenes are played for far less than they are worth. It's no great surprise that, aside from uncredited reshoots on The 13th Warrior, Crichton hasn't directed since.

Its watchable enough in an 80s TV movie sort of way, even if it never lives up to the promise of its opening. Whether that's enough of a reason to buy it is down to individual taste.

This movie does not work on any level. Ned Beatty turns in a decent performance as the prosecuting attorney, but nothing else about this movie makes any sense. The plot is convoluted and silly, the writing is poor, and Theresa Russell is beautiful but unconvincing. The role of the obviously framed cop could have been played by anyone, and Burt Reynolds phones in his performance from another planet. There is no suspense, no urgency. Reynolds doesn't seem to care that he is about to be convicted for a crime he didn't committed; for that matter, no one else does either.

What is amazing is that this totally forgettable dreck made it to DVD, whereas Russell's much better performance in "Impulse" remains only on VHS.

i have to say i think burt looks good here and is very good as the hard drinking cop,it's just that the rest of the movie is so bad that burt's acting gets lost!
a sleeze ball crook is found dead(in a most origanl way,the only other good thing in the movie) and everything points to burt. theresa russell(lost and very poor as a lawyer) takes his case and they set out to find the killer. michael crichton directs this mess with out any real fire except for the opening scenes. and yet another nail in the coffin of burt's career!!