(This trailer is not is widescreen format, but the film itself is.)
BY LEE PFEIFFER
A decade before the release of the teenage vampire sensation "Twilight" in 2008, there was another film with the same title that couldn't be more different in tone and style. While the horror flick helped launch the careers of up-and-coming actors, the 1998 film was gently acknowledging that its already legendary stars were coming to the end of theirs. This is evidenced by the title, which has a dual meaning: the time of day as well as the stage of life its central characters find themselves in. "Twilight" was written and directed by Robert Benton and stars Paul Newman, Susan Sarandon, Gene Hackman and James Garner. Benton and Newman had found considerable acclaim and success with their previous collaboration, "Nobody's Fool", but "Twilight" received mixed reviews and performed poorly at the boxoffice. Therefore, there's probably a good chance you never saw it. The failure of movie is puzzling, given the public's affection for the film noir genre. Purists may argue that true film noir requires that a movie be made on a modest budget and shot in black and white. "Twilight" doesn't apply to either of these rules. It has a high-priced cast and gorgeous color cinematography by Piotr Sobocinski, but in many ways it evokes the very best of the noir genre, in a way that director Dick Richards' 1975 detective flick "Farewell My Lovely" also succeeded in doing. It has all the central elements: the protagonist is a down-and-out private eye (are there any other kind in noir films?), a deceptive man who sends him out on a mission to make some fast money, a sultry femme fatale and an abundance of supporting characters who are as eccentric as they are threatening. Oh, and most of the action takes place in the dead of night.
The film is set in contemporary L.A. Newman plays Harry Ross, a one-time cop who was fired for alcoholism, an affliction that saw his career as a private dick also fail. In the process, he lost his wife and kids and remains alienated from them. Harry survives due to the generosity of his benefactors, old friend Jack Ames (Gene Hackman) and his wife Catherine (Susan Sarandon), both of whom were once prominent and popular actors whose careers and finances are on a downward trend. Harry is allowed to live rent-free at their lavish home, where he earns a few bucks here and there by acting as a Man Friday for Jack, running errands for him that often involve people of dubious backgrounds. Jack has just learned that his cancer has been determined to be terminal and he's given about six months to live. He takes it in stride but resents having to spend much of his time in bed. Catherine seems to be devoted to him but even Jack knows that she and Harry have long had eyes for each other. Also sharing the residence is Jack and Catherine's precocious teenage daughter Mel (Reese Witherspoon), who Harry had to to fly to Mexico to retrieve from the arms of an older paramour, Jeff Willis (Liev Schrieiber), who accidentally shot Harry in the leg during an altercation. Now Jack has another mission for Harry; a seemingly easy one: deliver an envelope stuffed with money to a man named Lester Ivar (M. Emmett Walsh) with no questions asked. Needless to say, things go awry from the start and Harry finds himself being shot at, beaten up and framed for murder, all due to a blackmail plot against Jack and Catherine, who were long suspected of murdering her first husband so they could be together. As with any noir or noir-like film, it doesn't pay to go into much detail about the plot, as it would compromise all the twists and turns in Robert Benton's screenplay, which, in true genre form, is complex but thoroughly compelling.
"Twilight" is the kind of film that celebrates the kinds of characters that existed in crime movies of the 1940s and 1950s. Everyone speaks the same lingo, dishing out insults and wisecracks with abandon. It's the kind of film where a cuckolded husband learns his best friend has been sleeping with his wife and deals with it by simply telling him to knock it off. The performances are uniformly excellent, with Newman at age 73 displaying the same cynical wit that made "Harper" such a pleasure to watch. He's also still drop-dead handsome, even though his character acknowledges his advanced years. (A running gag in the film is that Harry is unaware that the rumor mill has it that his "pecker had been shot off" in the incident in Mexico.) Sarandon burns up the screen as the diva-like object of both Harry and Jack's affections and Reese Witherspoon displays the talents that would see her rise to stardom. Hackman is very good, but his screen time is limited, though the dialogue he shares with Newman is terrific. There's also a standout turn in a supporting role by James Garner, as a friend of both men who is a retired cop who serves as a "Mr. Fix-It" on the L.A. crime scene. There is also an excellent performance by Stockard Channing as a tough-as-nails LAPD lieutenant and former flame of Harry's. Liev Schrieber and Margo Martindale fill out the ranks as a team of murderous blackmailers who are as eccentric as any characters to be found in an old John Huston movie and there is an amusing turn by Giancarlo Esposito as an aspiring private eye who idolizes Harry. The film is also complimented by an impressive score by the legendary Elmer Bernstein.
The critical and boxoffice failure of "Twilight" shouldn't distract from the fact that this is a first-rate detective film well worth checking out. It is currently streaming on Amazon Prime, free for Prime members and available for rental by non-members.