Windows (1980)

Windows (1980) ** (out of 4) Emily (Talia Shire) walks into her apartment when she is attacked from behind. She is forced onto the ground with a knife where the man threatens to kill her unless she shows him what she has and that she moans in satisfaction so that he can record it. Police detective Luffrono (Joseph Cortese) questions Emily but she has no details of the man. Soon the two of them are striking up a relationship, which doesn't sit well with Emily's former neighbor Andrea (Elizabeth Ashley).WINDOWS is a film that I heard about decades ago when movies like SINGLE WHITE FEMALE and THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE were making big cash at the box office. It seems WINDOWS was pretty much forgotten for the most part yet I always wanted to see it even with the rather negative reviews that it got. I must admit that the film wasn't very good and in fact it's pretty silly when viewed today. The film attempts to be a psychological study of two troubled women but in the end it's basically about a lesbian who can't tell another woman she wants her.It's interesting that this same year also gave us CRUISING. That film was highly controversial and perhaps so much so that this film got away with the idea that a woman could be a nut simply because she was a lesbian and wants another woman. Instead of telling her she orders the woman to be sexually attacked and then she begins to stalk her. All of this should have made for a more interesting film but sadly WINDOWS just never really takes off. The biggest problem is the screenplay, which tries to avoid any real violence or anything all that dramatic and instead we just see the two women as they discuss their situations with the men in their lives. Emily has her cop friend and Andrea has her shrink.I'm not going to sit here and say that the movie doesn't have any good qualities because it does. Shire was very good in her role, although the screenplay doesn't give her too much to do except to act scared at times and at other times to stutter. She's still quite good as the fragile woman as is Ashley, although she's given even less to do. The real standout was Cortese who was excellent in the role of the detective. The film does benefit from some nice cinematography and the New York City locations were great.Some people might find the subject disturbing and some might find the film to be creepy but neither really worked on me. The film is mildly entertaining but it never has any real suspense and that's its real downfall. Gordon Willis was a wonderful cinematographer but it's easy to see why he never really blossomed as a director. The lack of any real energy or suspense kills the film and you just keep waiting for it to take off but it never does.

So silly that it's almost intelligent, and so bad that it's almost good. Explaining "Windows" is so embarrassing that everything about it sounds so unbelievable, so marvelous and so insane that one might think I'm inventing this film with such a nonsense plot. Brief details of the event: Talia Shire is having a fine day, walks back home and then she's assaulted by this mysterious man who threatened with a knife. The police is called, investigates and her dedicated neighbor Andrea (Elizabeth Ashley) comes to support her. Next thing we know is that she's the one who arranged for this attack so she could hear Talia screams and moans. Why? Because she's obsessed with her, she desperately loves her. That's what we're led to believe. The rest of the movie is just showing Andrea's failed attempts to get near her friend/neighbor, the analysis she has with her psychiatrist (should I feed you with more info or the picture is already formed in your head on who Andrea is), Shire's involvement with the detective (Joseph Cortese) following her case and interested in her as well. The screenplay by Barry Siegel (so far his only work) is pitiful, mildly gripping, prejudiced by its meanders. It's entirely limited to clichés from psycho films but also trying to make a drama that's isn't inquisitive nor fully interesting, and even flirts with the romance that only works in the detective/victim relationship but forces too much when the final moments walks in (one of the most annoying anti-climax endings ever made). It's the kind of screenplay that needed to be written and rewritten countless times to finally get the chance of being decent or appealing to audiences. This is so "Fatal Attraction" before "Fatal Attraction", with threats, deaths, obsessions and all when it could be a much lighter film, psychological and positive to be seen. Why people are so bothered by the portrayal given to the lesbian character in here? It wasn't so prejudicial, it showed a variation of a behavior and it wasn't setting this psychotic mannerisms as a pattern like the one developed in the controversial "Crusing" where all the gay characters were strong male sympathizers of S&M (even with that in mind, the bad reviews and the protests, that movie accomplishes to be greater than "Windows"). It's a little focused on stereotypes but it's not so hurtful or annoying. "Windows" was Gordon Willis first and only film sitting on the director's chair, after many years as being one of the greatest cinematographers of all time. His photography here is beautiful, dark, perfectly match with the movie, and he filmed glorious shots of New York's street scene of the 1980's and there's lots of them in the movie, perhaps the most enjoyable aspect of the film. Too bad his direction of actors is cheap, confused and inspireless. I don't blame him all that much. With a script like that, there isn't much one can do. I might blame the casting director just a little. At times, there's this vague sensation of seeing something that is about to be good, a thoughtful project but when the actors are talking, "acting" and representing everything sounds phony and creepy. Stranger than this is when all the actors seem to getting up on scene while the story keeps going down and ridiculous. Shire shows some versatility in playing the stutter victim but there isn't much she can do with a weak, fragile, broken to pieces character. Ashley is playing this male hater yet with some masculine aspects, rough, rarely delicate (only when reading her love poem to the doctor) and this is the kind of character that in a good movie would be more important than the victim, a profound characterization of body and soul. But no, she's out of time and it's unbearable to watch at times. I have said too much, I know, you're probably running to watch this now. Gladly, this is a little difficult to find. I'll take the suggestion of a fellow reviewer here and support a remake of this film since there's things in it that can be better explored now. But I add this: trade the women and replace them for men. I'm imagining this movie right now. It can be awesome, far more violent and please, whoever made this, emphasize just a little the romantic point of view of someone's suffering for not having the other person instead of just planning attacks and recording moans. That was so brutal and wrecked of what could be a good film. 4/10

By 1980, New York City, universally known as "the Big Apple," had become the incarnation of a paranoiac's nightmare. Movies like Michael Winner's revenge thriller "Death Wish," Walter Hill's gang epic "The Warriors," and William Friedkin's homosexual murder mystery "Cruising" had spawned this unsavory image and lenser turned director Gordon Willis' "Windows," an excellently made but egriegously scripted sizzler, starring Talia Shire and Elizabeth Ashley, appropriates this negativity for maximum impact. Clearly, at 96 minutes, the R-rated "Windows" exemplifies the theme of women versus women.The voyeurish plot involves a mousey Emily Hollander (Talia Shire of the "Rocky" franchise), who is at the mercy of lesbian stalker Andrea Glassen (Elizabeth Ashley of "The Carpetbaggers"). Ashley pays a cretinous cabbie to rape Emily and tape record the performance. Later, after Emily has moved out of the apartment where she was raped and into a security apartment complex, Glassen has Emily's tabby cat killed and frozen. Glissen sets up a telescope and then watches Emily constantly before she confronts her with the truth that she must possess her! Along the way, Emily becomes involved with an N.Y.P.D. detective (Joseph Cortese).Ace lenser Gordon Willis, who photographed Woody Allen's "Manhattan" and Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather, Part II," makes his directorial debut. Not surprisingly, Willis also doubles as his own cameraman. The technical credits are great, especially Willis' striking photography, two-time Oscar nominated Barry Malkin's suspenseful editing, and Ennio Morricone's atmospheric orchestral score. Talia Shire as victim and Elizabeth Ashley as predator deliver emotionally taut performances.However, the Razzie nominated Barry Siegel screenplay is as sordid as it is stupid. Logic and motivation must have been thrown out the window. Happily, Siegel never wrote another screenplay. We are never told what it is that attracts Ashley to Shire. Presumably, only lesbians will know, but may hate this movie, too, for its phobic attitude. Similarly, Willis never called the shots on another movie, though he continued to lens them. My advice, unless you are written a term paper about "Windows," avoid it.

I only viewed this film one time in my life, at a theatre some twenty years ago in 1980. It's rare that one can recall how awful a movie is based on a single screening two decades later, but trust me about WINDOWS. I don't believe the flick has ever been released for home video on any format, and it appears to be lost. Thank Heavens. I'll never forget the audience howling in uncontrollable laughter at the goings-on in this abomination!