After clinching the Oscar
for Best Supporting Actor for his turn as the dogged Harrison-hunting
US Marshal Sam Gerard in The Fugitive, Tommy
Lee Jones finally broke into the mainstream consciousness and clocked
up an enviable run of hits, almost always playing a stone-faced no-nonsense
lawman. Zip back to the arse end of the Seventies though, and one of
Jones’ first major movie roles, and you’ll discover him in
this histrionic supernatural slasher movie as…a stone-faced no-nonsense
lawman. Those famous Easter Island features are slightly softer, and
the hair is a lot more voluminous and bouncy, but it appears that Tommy
Lee Jones was actually born craggy.
He plays Detective John Neville, the idealistic young cop assigned to
investigate a series of grisly murders surrounding controversial fashion
photographer Laura Mars (Faye Dunaway). Her images of semi-clad women
in violent poses has made her the enfant terrible of the New York art
scene, but her success is blighted by the fact that people close to her
keep getting bumped off by a psychotic maniac. To make matters worse,
Laura has developed an inexplicable ability to see through the killer’s
eyes as they commit their gruesome deeds. Haunted by these visions, and
with her work and sanity imperilled by the ordeal, Laura finds comfort
in the arms of Tommy Lee’s hunky gumshoe.
Eyes of Laura Mars hails from that post-Exorcist period during which
big stars and major studios were pumping out glossy horror flicks in
the hope of capitalising on the public’s thirst for vaguely respectable
horror and while it certainly isn’t the worst of this period (see:
Kirk Douglas), nor does it deserve the mostly positive reputation it
has since developed. Really nothing more than a rather clumsy whodunit,
enlivened by nasty murders and some star quality, the movie presents
such an outrageously obvious parade of characters as potential suspects
that any savvy moviegoer soon realises that the actual culprit must be
the only main character not being portrayed as an unstable lunatic.
This supporting cast of possible killers includes Brad Dourif (see: Angela
Bassett) as a strung-out ex-con somehow hired as Laura’s driver,
Raul Julia as her angry alcoholic ex-husband and Rene Auberjonois as
her camp yet paranoid manager.
The twist (which I’m about to spoil, so run for your life if you
wish to remain unsullied) is revealed when the killer comes for Laura,
and she sees herself from his point of view. Of course, the only person
around is…Tommy Lee Jones.
Yes, her sour-faced
cop lover has been the knife-wielding loon all along, his flimsy motive
for slaughtering
her colleagues rather hastily explained via a vague confession during
which he rambles about an abusive childhood and the sanctity of death.
Sadly, we never learn quite why this outrageous psychosis never came
up before during his years as a New York homicide detective. His exposition
delivered, Tommy Lee begs Laura to shoot him, a task which she understandably
performs through a veil of tears before fleeing into the Manhattan
night. Thus exits Tommy Lee Jones, and thus ends his only venture into
the clammy
embrace of horror movies.
Need to know: The song which plays over the end credits
is the chilling ballad “Love Theme from Eyes of Laura Mars (Prisoner)” sung
by that obscure horror icon, Barbra Streisand. Eyes of Laura Mars was
co-written by John Carpenter, then a hot property thanks to the runaway
success of his ultra-cheap Halloween, and makes obvious use of his fondness
for crafting murder scenes from the killer’s point of view. The
director was Irvin Kershner, who followed Laura Mars with a little known
sci-fi flick called The Empire Strikes Back and the “unofficial” Bond
film Never Say Never Again, in which Connery returned to the role after
a twelve year absence.
Availability: Eyes of Laura Mars is available in a
decent DVD edition in the UK and US.
