My Personal Worst Films: Double Jeopardy (1999)

Double Jeopardy «½
R, 105m. 1999

Cast & Credits: Ashley Judd (Libby Parsons), Tommy Lee Jones (Lehman), Bruce Greenwood), Roma Maffia (Margaret), Annabeth Gish (Angie), Davenia McFadden (Evelyn), Jay Brazeau (Bobby). Screenplay by David Weisberg and Douglas Cook. Directed by Bruce Beresford.

The trailer for "Double Jeopardy" provided me with enough information to tell what the film was about without actually seeing it.

Here now is that summary for you in two sentences. A happily married woman and mother named Libby Parsons (Ashley Judd) is framed by her husband (Bruce Greenwood) for his murder and sent to prison. When she gets out, Libby plots to make him pay for what he did to her despite the fact a parole officer (Tommy Lee Jones) is hot on her tail.

I had no desire to see "Double Jeopardy" until hearing the film was on its way to gross over $100 million at the box office. I have been pleasantly surprised by unexpected box office hits like this before. "The Sixth Sense" (1999) is one example and so was "Under Siege 2: Dark Territory" (1995), the Steven Seagal film that critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert gave thumbs up to.

"Double Jeopardy" was number one on the list of top ten box office hits for three weeks in a row when it opened in theaters Sept. 24. The film, however, hasn’t received any good reviews and is critic proof, in as much as "Star Wars - Episode I: The Phantom Menace" (1999) and Adam Sandler’s "The Waterboy" (1998) were before it. Most critics didn’t give those movies glowing recommendations. The public turned a deaf ear. So, what was it about "Double Jeopardy" that made people want to see it?

Tom Borys of the box office tracking firm, ACNielsen EDI, Inc. said in the Oct. 22, 1999 issue of Entertainment Weekly that “the empowered heroine (Judd) drew women.”

According to the EW column, women made up sixty percent of the movie’s $66 million box office take.

Too bad "Double Jeopardy" is nothing more than a predictable mystery that could easily pass as a forgettable movie-of-the-week were it not for the casting of stars, Ashley Judd and Tommy Lee Jones.

As a result of the trailer, (my heartfelt thanks going out to the movie’s distributor, Paramount Pictures, for revealing everything), absolutely nothing surprised me as I watched "Double Jeopardy." I knew the minute Libby got out of prison that she would search for her husband and son. I knew that when she found them, she’d likely kill her husband and reclaim her son. I knew the Jones character would eventually believe Libby’s story that she was really framed for murder and help find her husband.

The film has two memorable scenes though which occur when Libby is in prison. An inmate (Roma Maffia) explains the “double jeopardy” law to her. She tells Libby of a loophole in the law books that says after one has been convicted of a crime one didn’t commit and have served their time in prison, that former inmate can go out and kill the person who framed them for murder and the law cannot touch them. (I would never take anything I see and hear in movies seriously but I’d be interested to know if such an actual loophole exists).

The other great scene happens soon after where Libby takes that advice, stops trying to find out where her son is, and does her six years in prison. At this point, she becomes what Sigourney Weaver has been called in the Alien movies (1979-1997), “Rambolina.” Libby makes the most of her time working out with weights and running laps around the prison yard, even in the snow.

Instead of creating odd twists and turns, director Bruce Beresford ("Driving Miss Daisy" – 1989) borrows sequences done in countless other mystery thrillers. Libby, for example, makes the mistake of picking up the bloody knife she supposedly used to kill her husband. Why is it every time someone is framed for murder in a movie, the main character picks up the murder weapon thus making he or she an automatic suspect? My guess is Hollywood scriptwriters think people like Libby do exist and are apparently that stupid. Personally, if I woke up with blood all over myself not remembering a thing that happened the night before and saw a bloody knife on the floor, the last thing I’d do is pick it up but that’s me.

Let’s not forget about the old find-the-needle-in-a-haystack routine, which is once again put to great use here. Libby carries a red umbrella and loses herself in a crowd of people who also carry umbrellas. The Jones character can’t find her because there are too many of them to chase down. This technique was done in "The Thomas Crown Affair" (1999) remake. The difference between that film and this one is I thought the scenes in Thomas Crown were executed cleverly with humorous results.

A thought came to mind watching "Double Jeopardy." I thought about the character Tommy Lee Jones played as Deputy Sam Gerard in "The Fugitive" (1993) and its unnecessary sequel, "U.S. Marshals" (1998). Gerard displayed an uncooperative, know-it-all, no-nonsense attitude in both those pictures. He assumed the characters Harrison Ford and Wesley Snipes played were guilty of their crimes. Before the movies ended, Gerard believed he was chasing the wrong guy.

The only difference between the character Jones plays in "Double Jeopardy" and Sam Gerard in "The Fugitive" are they have two different names. Both characters hold the same beliefs, exhibit the same personality traits and work in law enforcement.

The filmmakers should have just made this into a third follow-up to "The Fugitive." If nothing else, I would have found it funny to learn that Sam Gerard was demoted from being a deputy to running a halfway house full of women on parole.

©10/25/99

Appreciation: The General Cinema Northpark I & II movie theater (1965-1998)

In the months since the first televised two-minute trailer of “Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace” (1999) aired on news and entertainment shows last November, everyone I know had been asking if I, along with probably the rest of the country, was going to stand outside in line opening day May 19 this year to see the most anticipated film of probably the whole decade.

I would have said yes at the time if the Northpark General Cinemas I & II located in North Dallas was still open. If there was any theater in Dallas I would have gone to and if there was any justification to my making that day an official personal holiday to see Phantom Menace at, it would have been that one.

Hard to believe that inside the unattractive, rectangular, shaped building were two auditoriums that sat up to 1,200 people in Cinema 1 and 500 more patrons in Cinema 2, according to an Oct. 21, 1998, article in The Dallas Morning News.

I fell in love with the place in the summer of 1991 when a friend of mine and I went to see a restored print of director Stanley Kubrick’s “Spartacus” (1960). From that moment on my opinion changed when it came to seeing movies on the big screen.

Auditorium I at Northpark.

Northpark I & II was nothing like the movie houses I went to in the Mesquite area, all of which are now closed except for AMC 30 located off I-635 and I-80. I cannot count how many bad experiences I had going to some of those roach-infested joints where the seats were either broken or smelled of someone’s sweat or body odor from the previous person who sat in it or there were problems with the picture or sound quality. The movie screens were not exceptionally large and unlike the ones at Northpark, half of them did not cover the entire front wall.

If it wasn’t those issues I was having to put up with, it was the sounds of incredibly annoying, irritating, inconsiderate patrons, most of them kids, who constantly talked, ate popcorn, and got up in the middle of the movie headed to the bathroom.

No one ever talked as the pictures played at Northpark. If any sounds emanated from the audiences, it came from the ones who blew their noses weeping silently as they learned about the thousands of Jews who were executed by the Germans during World War II, and from the people who applauded when Ralph Fiennes’ sadistic Nazi commander died at the end of “Schindler’s List” (1993).

That was one of the few rare moments where I remember audience participation being that high other than when a few over excited fans sang 20th Century Fox’s opening prelude to “Star Wars: The Special Edition” in January 1997.

There were never any technical difficulties with the picture quality or the THX Dolby Digital Surround Sound system. What I especially loved was how there were usually only about ten or twenty people there during an afternoon matinee. You could still sit anywhere in the place without having your view obstructed, though the chairs were nothing like those found in today’s futuristic megaplexes that feature comfortable, stadium seating that go up two stories.

People from all over the Dallas area came to see movies there. But the crowds Northpark most attracted, though very few in numbers, were those hardcore film aficionados like me and senior citizens who enjoyed watching old classics on the big screen. It was a completely different atmosphere.

In summer’s past, the place would offer special midnight weekend only showings of “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968), “Raiders of the Lost Ark” (1981), “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” (1982), and even “Dune” (1984). My only problem with that was I could not go because I worked 12-hour shifts Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays and did not get off until 5 a.m.

There were times when management would do little promotions of the features they were showing. When “The Crucible” played there in December 1996, a rave review from The New York Times was posted on a large white cardboard display outside the entrance. When I bought advance tickets for “Star Wars: The Special Edition”, composer John Williams’ musical soundtrack was playing on the speakers outside.

Since its opening in September 1965, the cineplex was home to such critical favorites as “The Graduate” (1967), “Airport” (1970), “Network” (1976), the Star Wars trilogy (1977, 1980, 1983), and “E.T. The Extra Terrestrial” (1982). The most talked about incident was when the 1982 sneak preview of “Blade Runner” was shown. Sitting among the audience trying to gauge people’s reactions, unbeknownst to anyone there at the time, was actor Harrison Ford. The science fiction film was a box office flop back then but has since gained a cult following.

Since 1991, a handful of the movies I saw at Northpark was a combination of first run films, exclusives, and anniversary re-releases that included “Dr. Zhivago” (1965), “Fearless” (1993), “Giant” (1965), “The Godfather” (1972), “JFK” (1991), “Quiz Show” (1994), “Titanic” (1997), “Twister” (1996), “Vertigo” (1965), and “Waterworld” (1995). There were only three movies I saw there that did not get my seal of approval all from 1996: “The Nutty Professor”, “Sleepers” and “Up Close and Personal”.

But in the words of Ray Liotta’s Henry Hill who winced at having to bid goodbye to the gangster life at the end of Martin Scorsese’s “Goodfellas” (1990), “Now it’s all over.”

The General Cinema Northpark I & II closed its doors forever on Oct. 22, 1998; a victim not just to the huge twenty plus multiplex theaters movie lovers flock to now but a victim to construction and mall expansion.

In a year or so, a store or two will be built where the theater once stood.

Today, the cineplex, which sits across the street from one of the mausoleums at Hillcrest Memorial Cemetery where baseball legend Mickey Mantle is buried, is like a cold, dark, quiet, empty tomb.

All that is left to remind anyone there was a movie theater there are the rusted, black Roman numerals I and II emblazoned on the outside walls and above the lobby entrance.

The glass casing near the box office that once posted the features and show times is gone now. The farewell note management left inside the day the place closed, however, is still fresh in my mind.

The message said in bold, white letters, “Thanks for the memories. 33 years. Goodbye.”

©10/28/98

My Personal Worst Films: Random Hearts (1999)

Random Hearts «½
R, 133m. 1999

Cast & Credits: Harrison Ford (Dutch Van Den Broeck), Kristin Scott Thomas (Kay Chandler), Charles S. Dutton (Alcee), Bonnie Hunt (Wendy Judd), Dennis Haysbert (Detective Beaufort), Sydney Pollack (Carl Broman), Richard Jenkins (Truman). Screenplay by Kurt Luedtke based on Warren Adler’s novel. Directed by Sydney Pollack.

"Random Hearts" offers two of the most boring perspectives in how the two main characters deal with their grief after learning their significant others were having an affair prior to dying in a plane crash.

The movie was made to be a tearjerker but by the time it ended, I had no reason to feel pity or compassion for either of the two leads played by Harrison Ford and Kristin Scott Thomas. Both play characters who don’t know one another but whose lives are drawn together unexpectedly by tragedy.

I am sure the idea looked great on paper. The film asks a number of intriguing questions on the subject of adultery. What would you do if your wife ran off on an unexpected trip you didn’t know about only to die in a plane crash? What would you do if you found out she was on the passenger list under an assumed name? What would you do if you found out after all this time, she was cheating on you? What can you do? You can’t file for divorce. Your wife is already dead.

Such are the questions Ford’s internal affairs Detective Dutch Van Den Broeck pursues. The answer for him is to question the wife, a Republican congresswoman named Kay Chandler (Thomas) whose husband (Peter Coyote) also died on the flight and whom Van Den Brock’s wife was sitting next to.

I have always assumed when it comes to people having affairs that the persons most hurt by their spouse’s actions would be the woman. What’s interesting here is it turns out to be the man.

Ford’s Van Den Broeck treats his loss as an obsession that almost ruins his career in law enforcement as he endlessly tries to find out why his wife was cheating on him for months. At one point, he meets Kay in Miami at the very hotel their spouses were reportedly going to stay in that weekend and the two walk the party streets at night like happy zombies just going through the motions. It is only a matter of time before the couple reluctantly make love in Kay’s car at the airport shortly after they have a good cry.

In Chandler’s case, she wants to put the issue behind her. To her, it is all in the past. She is like First Lady Hillary Clinton, who after learning about her husband’s latest infidelities over a year and a half ago, refused to shed any emotion in public. Chandler repeatedly tells Van Den Broeck to “Let it go” almost every time they meet and forget about what’s happened.

What was astounding as I sat there watching Random Hearts was how neither one asked themselves much less thought about why their spouses had an affair but to me, the answer was obvious. Kay was simply too busy with her reelection campaign in Washington to notice there was something going on. When Kay learns her husband died on the plane, she insists he wasn’t going to Miami. He was headed to New York. While Van Den Broeck was too busy investigating corrupt cops to consider what was going on at home.

The two leads have some memorable moments though.

Ford stares for hours at their family photo the two took together years back while waiting for the dreaded phone call to come from airline authorities. He is a towering, brooding, troubled presence who wants answers but the most he ever gets is the message his wife leaves on Coyote’s answering machine that asks, “What are we doing?”

The best scene Thomas has is where her daughter asks if her father, whom she idolizes, was having an affair with Van Den Broeck’s wife. Chandler doesn’t know how to explain it to her. It brought to mind in this post Clinton/Monica Lewinsky era how the president’s daughter, Chelsea, might have felt when the real truth came out about her father’s infidelities.

The movie unfortunately falls apart in the last 45 minutes as it throws one unexpected and needless subplot after another. Ford’s character, for example, is trying to bring a corrupt officer to justice while Chandler’s friend (Bonnie Hunt) tells Kay how she knew about her husband’s affairs but never said a word.

More annoying is composer Dave Grusin’s upbeat musical score on piano. A movie like this would have benefited from John Barry’s sad, melodramatic slow-moving tones he did for "Dances With Wolves" (1990) and "Chaplin" (1992). If nothing else, Barry’s music probably would have made the film more emotionally effective.

If 1999 is remembered for anything when it comes to motion pictures, it will probably be the year a new Star Wars movie came out that reviled most critics and disappointed fans of the original trilogy, that people blamed excessive violence in movies like "The Matrix" (1999) to influence two misguided souls to go on a killing spree in Littleton, Colorado, and that adultery was a hot subject in movies.

"Random Hearts" marks the fifth film and probably not the last to address the subject. "Pushing Tin", "Summer of Sam" and "American Beauty" incorporated the idea in subplots. While Stanley Kubrick’s "Eyes Wide Shut" presented another perspective that a woman dreaming about cheating on her husband with another man is just as bad as committing the actual act itself.

Director Sydney Pollack ("Tootsie" - 1982) makes it clear in Random Hearts he wanted the audience to feel sorry for Dutch Van Den Broeck and Kay Chandler. Both characters go through a lot of emotional turmoil throughout the film, but I saw nothing at the center.

I only saw emptiness.

©10/14/99