
Also, as a deep cut, the guy who played Craig Mattey in THREE O'CLOCK HIGH is here too.
BETRAYED (1988; Costa-Gavras)
It's always intriguing to me to take a trip into the past via a movie that is almost thirty years old. The movie star landscape is totally different obviously. Tom Berenger was a solid box office draw as was Debra Winger was still going strong. Character actors like John Heard (one of my favorites) and John Mahoney were still regular go-to guys for big studio films. It was also a time when studios made middle budget adult dramas (which is sadly almost gone nowadays). BETRAYED is an interesting slow-burn thriller. We're set up to believe that Katie Phillips (Winger) is just a gal working the combines in the American Midwest. She's actually an FBI agent, under a false name conducting and undercover investigation of a one specific farmer and his family. At first it feels like a domestic romantic drama, but when it turns it turns hard into darker territory and almost becomes a horror movie. I won't go into details about what this movie is loosely based on, but it will justifiably make you pretty uncomfortable. Veteran director Costa-Gavras handles the material pretty well and coats everything in an aura of low-level dread (until its not low-level anymore). The script by Joe Eszterhas, is during the period a few years before he broke out big with BASIC INSTINCT, but it absolutely has an edge to it. I remember when thrillers along the lines of this one were coming out all the time. I felt like the thriller was the principle movie genre when I was a kid because my parents and our family used to see so many of them. There are plenty of thrilling films still around, but many of them veer more into straight horror territory. The adult drama variety thriller was an enjoyable genre. This movie actually has a moment of "discovery" where I felt myself trying to lean back away from the screen - as it was quite troublesome. Berenger is a charismatic actor who can play both wholesome and less than that in similar degrees of quality. I like it when an actor isn't afraid to go to dark places like that. I know I couldn't do it myself. That has to be truly challenging to find that grounded, humanized place wherein evil still flourishes.
BETRAYED (1988; Costa-Gavras)
It's always intriguing to me to take a trip into the past via a movie that is almost thirty years old. The movie star landscape is totally different obviously. Tom Berenger was a solid box office draw as was Debra Winger was still going strong. Character actors like John Heard (one of my favorites) and John Mahoney were still regular go-to guys for big studio films. It was also a time when studios made middle budget adult dramas (which is sadly almost gone nowadays). BETRAYED is an interesting slow-burn thriller. We're set up to believe that Katie Phillips (Winger) is just a gal working the combines in the American Midwest. She's actually an FBI agent, under a false name conducting and undercover investigation of a one specific farmer and his family. At first it feels like a domestic romantic drama, but when it turns it turns hard into darker territory and almost becomes a horror movie. I won't go into details about what this movie is loosely based on, but it will justifiably make you pretty uncomfortable. Veteran director Costa-Gavras handles the material pretty well and coats everything in an aura of low-level dread (until its not low-level anymore). The script by Joe Eszterhas, is during the period a few years before he broke out big with BASIC INSTINCT, but it absolutely has an edge to it. I remember when thrillers along the lines of this one were coming out all the time. I felt like the thriller was the principle movie genre when I was a kid because my parents and our family used to see so many of them. There are plenty of thrilling films still around, but many of them veer more into straight horror territory. The adult drama variety thriller was an enjoyable genre. This movie actually has a moment of "discovery" where I felt myself trying to lean back away from the screen - as it was quite troublesome. Berenger is a charismatic actor who can play both wholesome and less than that in similar degrees of quality. I like it when an actor isn't afraid to go to dark places like that. I know I couldn't do it myself. That has to be truly challenging to find that grounded, humanized place wherein evil still flourishes.
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