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Last Embrace

Last Embrace (1979)

May. 04,1979
|
6.1
|
R
| Thriller Mystery Romance

Secret agent Harry Hannan suffers a mental breakdown when a botched mission in Mexico results in the death of his wife. He is sent to a mental asylum, after which he eventually returns to work. But, once again, he begins to doubt his sanity when he receives a bizarre death threat written in Hebrew. Not knowing which of his colleagues wants to kill him, Hannan teams up with pretty young college student Ellie Fabian to attempt to unravel the mystery.

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betty dalton
1979/05/04

Why watch "Last Embrace" if everything in it is so obviously copied from Hitchcock? Why not watch a good Hitchcock classic instead? Well, for those who just long to see a more modern movie, "Last Embrace" might be a good compromis. Some folks just cant stand to watch the old movies anymore, because they look old and dont connect to the modern world anymore. The story and the acting in itself is rather good and full of great suspense. The movie is about a man who fears for his life. Somebody is out trying to kill him, but he doesnt know wny. He tries to decipher a mysterious letter that is sent to him, written in an unknown language, in the hope to find out who is trying to kill him.Sometimes the acting by the supporting actors is somewhat overdramatic, deliberatedly done to again copy the original Hitchcock style in which characters often performed with large gestures. Nowadays that is unheard of and it would look a bit silly, but it was one of those Hitchcock characteristics that was (badly) copied into "Last Embrace" as well.As a soundtrack fan I must admit that I disliked the use of a fake old soundtrack score (in MONO). The score in itself was beautiful, but it didnt blend well with this modern version of a hitchcock story. I dont mind remakes of good movies, but at least make them in a modern way. Now the deliberatedly old sounding, music score constantly clashes with the modern settings. But most people probably wont mind this at all, this is just a personal irritant of mine, because I like music so much in movies... To conclude: if you never have seen a Hitchcock movie and even if you dont know Roy Scheider either, "Last Embrace" is still a good suspense thriller. It has stood the test of time nicely. It could have been better, but I have watched it several times over the years and I still get thrilled by it.

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moonspinner55
1979/05/05

Jonathan Demme is such a character-oriented director that, to see him pulling a Brian De Palma (which is to say, aping Hitchcock), it's predictably distressing when he fails to work up much suspense within this mystery. Working from David Shaber's mediocre adaptation of Murray Teigh Bloom's novel "The 13th Man", Demme attempts to strike a chord somewhere between Alan J. Pakula's paranoia dramas and Hitchcock's dangling-participle thrillers. Roy Scheider stars as a retired secret agent mourning the murder of his wife, now busy dodging the bad guys who are out to kill him. Takes off right away, but the script is full of flimsy threads and any early excitement quickly dies out. There's a visually impressive climax at Niagra Falls, but Demme gets next-to-nothing out of his cast, and even less out of this tepid story. ** from ****

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Dakota
1979/05/06

Disappointingly lacklustre thriller stars Roy Scheider as an investigator targeted for death by a mysterious assailant. Janet Margolin plays the student who helps Scheider unravel the mystery. Frequently referred to as 'Hitchcockian' don't let that promise of quality fool you into thinking The Last Embrace is anywhere near the same level as a good Hitchcock movie because it isn't. Film is humourless, the performances are unmemorable & the whole thing just never catches fire in the way that distinguishes the truly gripping thriller. Miklos Rozsa's derivative Hitch-inspired score also gets tiresome pretty darn quick. I was going to give The Last Embrace three stars but seeing as it manages one exciting sequence in a climax set at Niagara Falls it can have four.

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Neil Doyle
1979/05/07

There are so many similarities between this relatively obscure thriller directed by Jonathan Demme and the works of either Alfred Hitchcock or Brian dePalma, that it's hard to know where to begin. Even the plot outline suggests a Hitchcock film with someone like James Stewart carrying the lead.But here it's ROY SCHEIDER, a very intense Scheider (even more so than in JAWS), because he never recovered from a nervous breakdown after his wife's sudden demise. And little does he know that he's a part of a plan of vengeance when he starts receiving threatening notes--nor does he know who to trust, and when. Naturally, in a story of this sort, we have to have a femme fatale and in this case it's JANET MARGOLIN as someone who tells him she wants to help solve his dilemma.There are some tricky camera shots, odd angled and always interesting, and Scheider really does carry the film with an extra intense portrayal of a hunted man who doesn't know who his enemies are.Add to this the somber score fashioned by none other than Miklos Rozsa (who did that wonderful SPELLBOUND score for Hitch), and you have all the elements of a first-rate crime story.Unfortunately, there are a couple of drawbacks. The tale is a bit too leisurely in building up to the suspenseful moments--and only Scheider and Margolin are seen to advantage. CHRISTOPHER WALKEN has what amounts to a cameo role and most of the other members of the cast are unfamiliar faces.But it is suspenseful in a calculated, contrived sort of way and does build to a terrific climax at Niagara Falls.

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