Jonathan Demme did a series of flops for studios - he got chances though because he was clearly talented and the movies were interesting. This is an attempt at a Hitchcock type thing with Roy Scheider as a secret agent recovering from the death of his wife who is convinced people want to kill him.
Maybe it would've worked better if he hadn't been a secret agent. Maybe people didn't like Scheider as a stand alone star - or Janet Margolin had been a bigger name.
It's full of neat touches like the person playing guitar. The shift to Margolin being a hooker looks a little silly. The film is uncertain about its POV. It probably needed to be entirely Demme's POV.
Why does Chris Walken want Scheider dead? Charles Napier had enough motivation as the brother of Scheider's dead wife. Why did Demme have Scheider start to seduce Margolin and have her going "no no no" but still submit? Not very sexy. Why have the whole final chase with no stakes? He figured out she did it... she escapes... so what? Why not have someone try to kill her or him as well?
It doesn't get what Vertigo made clear - that the lying woman genuinely loves the new guy. It's not clear that Margolin has fallen in love with Scheider.
Also revenge for a grandmother's death seems so ancient. It's like two generations. If Scheider had been descended from Nazis maybe. Or He did it. Or if it was just her mother and dad.
The whole thing is silly but I kept watching and Demme kept trying different things.
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