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Someone to Watch Over Me (1987)

Rate: 7
Viewed: 7/17

SomeWatch
7/17: Here's an underrated film from Ridley Scott: Someone to Watch Over Me.

As always, Tom Berenger makes a movie better with his presence. He's the single reason why I picked it up and doesn't disappoint me one bit. Tom Berenger's chemistry with Mimi Rogers is excellent. I was actually rooting for his character to go with her instead of the wife. Therefore, that's the main dilemma of the film: who to pick. I like Mimi Rogers' performance as well.

Ridley Scott's direction is at once decent and low-key with a great deal of sumptuous interior sets. He must have soaked in a lot of lessons from Orson Welles' The Lady from Shanghai to create the shootout scene between Tom Berenger's character and the professional assassin.

Of course, the bad guy is the one-armed dude from The Fugitive. It's a dead giveaway if I've ever seen one. His character's motive is never clear; he just wants the woman dead, no matter what. Honestly, if Venza walked away from it all, he would've been totally fine.

I mistook Lorraine Bracco for Lori Petty. They look alike. I didn't realize how thin Lorraine Bracco was back then. As a matter of fact, she used to be a fashion model in France before coming to Hollywood. Someone to Watch Over Me is her first major film role, and I can see her character saying the following:

"This is Ellie Keegan. I want to talk to you. Hello? Don't hang up on me! I want to talk to you! You keep away from my husband, you hear me? Hello? Open the door! Answer me! I'm gonna tell everybody who walks in this building that in 2R, Gregory, you are nothing but a whore! Is this the superintendent? Yes, I want you to know, sir, that you have a whore living in 2R! Gregory, Claire Gregory. Do you hear me? He's my husband! Get your own goddamn man!"

Ladies and gentlemen, the Oscar-nominated actress: Lorraine Bracco from Goodfellas.

All in all, thanks to Ridley Scott's sure-handed direction, Someone to Watch Over Me is a fine policier.