TWILIGHT (1998)

Paul Newman, novelist Richard Russo and co-scripter/director Robert Benton knew they’d pulled off something special in NOBODY’S FOOL/’94, an unclassifiable quality film that even made a bit of money.  But it’s still a surprise to find them sitting out on any project for four years before reuniting on a very classifiable film, a hard-boiled Raymond Chandler-esque L.A. Private Eye mystery, the kind where the lead femme tells nothing but lies; the P.I. gets knocked out; your best friend sets you up; the police are incompetent and/or corrupt; and comic violence buffers real gore & gunplay.  No wonder reception was underwhelming.  (Commercially too, where FOOL doubled its modest budget in gross; TWILIGHT, with twice the budget, took in less than half.*)  But distance has markedly improved things.  No longer in competition with the earlier film, it can stand on its own as a neat little crime pic, with a cold case mystery to unravel as current messes pile up.  A prologue has Newman catching runaway teen Reese Witherspoon and a slug in his thigh for his trouble.  So his luck goes all thru the pic with Newman triggering trap after trap as he helps Witherspoon’s fading movie star parents Gene Hackman (dying of cancer) and Susan Sarandon (splitting the diff between Bette Davis & Jeanne Moreau).  Plus loads of character support from Stockard Channing, Liev Schrieber, James Garner (towering over everyone at 6'4"), many more, none for show, all with plenty to do.  Stuffed to the gills at barely over an hour and a half, the film (fun, touching, almost parsable as a mystery) deserves a second look.

DOUBLE-BILL/LINK:  *After this underperformed, the trio never tried again.  But NOBODY’S FOOL/’94 remains.  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2016/10/nobodys-fool-1994.html   OR:  For the Chandler template;: after doing real Chandler in MURDER, MY SWEET/’44, director Edward Dmytryk & star Dick Powell topped it with faux Chandler in CORNERED/’45.    https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2016/12/cornered-1945.html