| Pacific Heights | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster |
|
| Directed by | John Schlesinger |
| Produced by | Scott Rudin William Sackheim |
| Written by | Daniel Pyne |
| Starring | Melanie Griffith Matthew Modine Michael Keaton Laurie Metcalf Mako Carl Lumbly Dorian Harewood |
| Music by | Hans Zimmer |
| Cinematography | Amir M. Mokri |
| Editing by | Steven Ramirez Mark Warner |
| Studio | Morgan Creek Productions |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox (theatrical) Warner Bros. (DVD) |
| Release date(s) | September 28, 1990 |
| Running time | 102 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $18 million |
| Box office | $44,926,706 |
Pacific Heights is a 1990 thriller film directed by John Schlesinger and starring Melanie Griffith, Matthew Modine, and Michael Keaton. Griffith's real-life mother Tippi Hedren has a cameo as a rich older woman who is conned by Keaton's character. The original music score was composed by Hans Zimmer. The film's tagline is: "It seemed like the perfect house. He seemed like the perfect tenant. Until they asked him to leave."
Contents |
Carter Hayes (Michael Keaton), who is in bed with a woman (Beverly D'Angelo), is suddenly attacked by hired thugs who tell him to leave town or face worse consequences.
An unmarried couple, Patty Palmer (Melanie Griffith) and Drake Goodman (Matthew Modine) buy a $750,000-plus polychrome house in the exclusive San Francisco neighborhood of Pacific Heights, where they renovate it and plan to rent the two apartments on the first floor to cover most of the monthly mortgage.
Hayes has all the trappings of a good tenant. In reality, he is a con artist who does not pay either the rent or the security deposit, and changes the locks on all the doors.
In short order, Hayes causes the couple all sorts of trouble through scare tactics, verbal baiting and turning his own apartment into a dark, cockroach-infested den. It is all part of an elaborate scheme to use California tenant laws against the owners and obtain the property cheaply.
The constant stress causes Patty to have a miscarriage. Drake then assaults Hayes, who takes out a restraining order against him. Drake is shot by Hayes, who is not incriminated due to Drake's disobeying the restraining order.
Hayes then vanishes almost without a trace, stealing Drake's identity. Patty becomes determined to have revenge. She searches what remains of the apartment and is able to track down Hayes and his new con game in Los Angeles that involves a wealthy widow (Tippi Hedren).
Patty poses as Carter's wife in order to get into his hotel room. She charges expensive room service on his credit cards and then has Drake call in to have them declared stolen. Carter is arrested. He is able to charm his way out of jail and returns to the Pacific Heights apartment to ambush Patty, but she manages to kill him with some help from Drake, who actually was assaulted by Carter but survived.
The film received mixed reviews from critics and has a 43% rating on the Rotten Tomatoes aggregator site, with 10 out of 23 critics giving the film a positive review.[1] Janet Maslin of the New York Times characterized the film as "perhaps the first eviction thriller," writing that it "taps into a previously unexplored subject, the source of so much excitement and so many conversational gambits within young urban professional circles. It is, of course, real estate."[2] Roger Ebert called the film "a horror film for yuppies", and said the script relied on too many horror clichés, such as the dark basement or murder of a family pet.[3] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly agreed, writing, "the actors are stranded with a perfunctory, deadwood script that's all concept and no follow-through."[4] And Desson Howe of the Washington Post summed up the film this way: "This is a yuppie conceit; this is not interesting to human beings."[5]
However, Chris Hicks of the Salt Lake City Deseret News was among the critics who praised the acting, especially of Keaton, and found enjoyment in having Patty getting her revenge on a man who had manipulated the law to wreck her dreams and hurt the man she loved.[6] In contrast, the Washington Post's Howe criticized Modine's acting, remarking that as he "... goes from clean cut boyfriend to arrested, frothing debtor in screen minutes, loses his cool so easily and maniacally, you wonder if he'll turn out to be the real psycho."[5]
This film was listed as #94 on Bravo's The 100 Scariest Movie Moments.
The story location of the film Pacific Heights (1990) is set in Pacific Heights area of San Francisco. However, the true filmed location of the focal house in the film, is located on Potrero Hill in San Francisco, specifically at the corner of 19th and Texas Street.
The DVD edition of the film was released in 1999 by Warner Home Video and includes only a trailer for the film.
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Melanie Griffith | Patty Palmer |
| Matthew Modine | Drake Goodman |
| Michael Keaton | Carter Hayes |
| Laurie Metcalf | Stephanie MacDonald |
| Mako | Toshio Watanabe |
| Nobu McCarthy | Mira Watanabe |
| Dorian Harewood | Dennis Reed |
| Tippi Hedren | Florence Peters |
| Beverly D'Angelo (uncredited) | Ann Miller |
| Carl Lumbly | Lou Baker |
| Sheila McCarthy | Liz Hamilton |
| Luca Bercovici | Greg |
| Jerry Hardin | Bennett Fidlow |
| Dan Hedaya | Loan Officer |
| Guy Boyd | Warning Cop |
| Nicholas Pryor | Hotel Manager |
| Tracey Walter | Exterminator |
| James Staley | District Attorney |
| F. William Parker | Judge |
| O-Lan Jones | Hotel Maid |
| Miriam Margolyes | Realtor |
| J.P. Bumstead | 1st Deputy Sheriff |
| Hal Landon Jr. | 2nd Deputy Sheriff |
| D.W. Moffett | Bill |
| Barbara Tyson | Amy |
|
|||||||||||||||||