The Bedroom Window’s central mystery is not the identity of its killer, who stalks the streets of Baltimore raping and murdering young women he spots in bars. Nor is it how Steve Guttenberg’s Terry Lambert, the slick protégé of a construction executive, will clear his name after becoming hopelessly ensnared in the resulting investigation. It is, instead, how Guttenberg gets Isabelle Huppert’s Sylvia Wentworth, his boss’s wife, to come home with him. To that question, I maintain, writer-director Curtis Hanson provides no reasonable answer.
Was she enchanted after seeing him roller-skate his way through the Village People classic Can’t Stop the Music in his tightest pants and shorts? (Guttenberg doesn’t strut his stuff on wheels here, but ditches his clothes more than once.) Did the greatest screen actress of her generation secretly adore Police Academy? In the end, it doesn’t matter: The Bedroom Window is made more interesting by its unusual casting. And, just as importantly, it holds a special place in my heart for its repeated use of Robert Palmer’s “Hyperactive.”
My unabashed fondness of this dated ’80s song in a dated ’80s movie is sentimental in nature. “Hyperactive” reminds me of all the great loves of my life, from the one who danced wildly in her pajamas each week to the Mad Men theme to the one who “puts her makeup on at 6 am,” then “goes to work, gets home and puts it on again.” Window’s resident whirling dervish is Terry himself, an affable schemer eager to climb not only the corporate ladder but an icy Sylvia, whose philandering is more a byproduct of boredom than passion.
When Sylvia witnesses an aborted attack on cocktail waitress Denise Connelly (Elizabeth McGovern of Daphne) from Terry’s window, neither thinks too much of it, having watched as Denise was whisked to safety. But the next day’s newspaper carries headlines about a murder committed nearby shortly afterward, the victim again a young woman. Sylvia refuses to contact the police; her husband Collin (Paul Shenar) is wealthy and she has too much to lose. Terry’s chivalrous attempt to testify as her proxy—even though he didn’t see the assailant himself—starts off smoothly, before descending into a nightmare.
Hanson’s adaptation of Anne Holden’s novel derives its suspense mostly from Terry’s web of lies. It doesn’t take him long to confirm who is responsible for the so-called Dumpster Murders, but proving it to Detectives Quirke (Carl Lumbly) and Jessup (Frederick Coffin of The Deliberate Stranger) requires cooperation a double-crossing Sylvia is unwilling to provide. This section of the film, with its series of familiar contrivances, doesn’t completely match the tone of everything that came before it. But the Hitchcockian aftermath of a daring public stabbing reenergizes viewers just as our attention starts to flag.
Humorous touches—the Wentworths’ taciturn maid, a car that refuses to start after Terry sternly lectures a companion about the importance of not getting separated—distinguish The Bedroom Window from other ’80s thrillers. It’s not particularly gritty, sexy or glossy, and Guttenberg isn’t the most arresting leading man, but that works to Window’s advantage, freeing us to focus on its leading ladies instead.
McGovern, whose tough-talking waitress would’ve been a slam-dunk Barbara Stanwyck role in the pre-code era, plays a genuinely interesting character who sizes Terry up better than any detective. And Huppert, who does all she can to add mystery to the one-dimensional Sylvia, was soon back where she belonged, starring the next year in Claude Chabrol’s Une affaire de femmes, while the prolific Guttenberg failed to secure any César nominations for Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol or Amazon Women on the Moon.
Additional screenshots were shared on Instagram.
Streaming and DVD availability
The Bedroom Window is available on DVD and Blu-ray from KL Classics, and streams on Amazon.
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Cranky Lesbian is a disgruntled homosexual with too much time on her hands. Click for film reviews or to follow on Instagram.
Lisa
My favorite quote:
“Window’s resident whirling dervish is Terry himself, an affable schemer eager to climb not only the corporate ladder but an icy Sylvia, whose philandering is more a byproduct of boredom than passion.”
I don’t know how I happened to miss this film in its first run! Classic. I actually liked Steve Guttenberg in “Diner.” That was my introduction to him.
As usual, great review.
Cranky
Thanks, Lisa. Guttenberg has an interesting filmography and was a bit like a Labrador retriever in his ability to appeal to everybody.