THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW

Feckless(FP): That movie we saw last night reminds me of a line from another movie titled Body Heat that came out in the '80s.

Oddvark(OC): What line was that Feckless?

FP: Well, the character played by Mickey Rourke is speaking with the character played by William Hurt about committing a crime. I'm paraphrasing, but Rourke tells Hurt that there are about a million ways to screw up when committing a crime and even a genius can only think of about half of them. He then say, "And you're no genius."

OC: Sure, I remember that movie. The William Hurt character ends up going to prison.

FP: That's right. Well the entire premise behind The Woman in the Window is based upon the idea expressed by Rourke in Body Heat. The Edward G. Robinson character kills a man in self-defense. However, he is in a compromising position when he slays his foe. He and the Joan Bennett character then conspire to hide the body and cover up the killing. They are both subsequently blackmailed by the Dan Duryea character.

OC: Dan Duryea! He's great in everything he does.

FP: Yes, he is one of the greatest character actors of all time and almost always deliveres a wonderful performance. Most audiences today don't recognize Dan Duryea; they don't know what they're missing.

OC: So what happens to Eddy G and Joan Bennett?

FP: I'm not going to give that away. However, I will say that this is a movie with two endings. I prefer the first to the second. The plot, dialogue, and acting are all superb. The film is directed by Fritz Lang of silent movie fame. He escaped Nazi Germany and came to the U.S. where he directed a few movies. He never regained the artistic heights that he achieved with silent films like Metropolis, but he did make a couple of solid films like The Woman in the Window. It is a very good piece of flimmaking done in less than 100 minutes.

OC: I couldn't help but notice that Eddy G has a few drinks in the film.

FP: Yes Oddvark, you're not the only one who likes to tipple now and then.

OC: Yeah, but he had his delivered by a butler and drank his sitting in a leather armchair by the fire. Nobody delivers mine as I sit in a rotting old lazyboy in front of a space heater.

FP: Yes, the Edward G. Robinson character was a member of a gentlemen's club. It was a quiet place for men to go to read, smoke a cigar, play billiards and have a glass of port or sherry. There are very few gentlemen's clubs around these days.

OC: There's a gentlemen's club out by the airport Feckless.

FP: That's not the same Oddvark. There was no pole dancing in the old days.