Deadly Companion

Last updated
Deadly Companion
Deadly companion poster.jpg
The VHS artwork for Deadly Companion
Directed byGeorge Bloomfield
Written by Thomas Hedley Jr.
Charles Dennis
Based on The Three Roads by Ross Macdonald
Produced byJerome S. Simon
David Main
Starring Michael Sarrazin
Susan Clark
Anthony Perkins
Howard Duff
Kate Reid
Al Waxman
Cinematography René Verzier
Edited byGeorge Appleby
Music by Paul Hoffert
Production
company
Quadrant Films
Distributed byQuadrant Films
Release date
  • May 12, 1980 (1980-05-12)
Running time
96 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish

Deadly Companion (also known as Double Negative) is a 1980 Canadian thriller film based on the novel The Three Roads by Ross Macdonald.

Contents

Plot

Michael Taylor is tormented by his sheer lack of memory concerning the night his wife was found brutally killed. Michael's girlfriend Paula helps him attempt to make sense of it all.

Cast

Production

A 1979 article in The Globe and Mail on the film's production revealed that the script process was chaotic, saying that the film was "directed by George Bloomfield from a script by three Toronto writers who have adapted a Ross McDonald novel. The cast is in turn adapting the work of the three writers. 'This is one of those things that's in progress,' Miss Clark says, plonking herself on the floor in the corridor, 'so it's a big question mark. The three writers seemed to be coming from three different places. We have improvised: the locations have stayed the same, and so has the intent of the individual scenes, but...'" [1]

Bloomfield said that Anthony Perkins "had a ball" with his debauched character: "He brought a tremendous amount to it. I suspect that Tony was a person who had a very free-flowing fantasy life, which he drew on." Perkins came up with the idea of filming a sex scene with both characters wearing sunglasses in bed. Susan Clark said, "He was very alive and always able to find some quirk in the character. But the man himself was very private, very mischievous. He would throw a line one way in rehearsal — then do a different inflection to see if you were really listening during the take." [2]

Casting

Anthony Perkins plays a blackmailer; Al Waxman, Maury Chaykin, Kenneth Welsh and Michael Ironside appear in minor roles.

Several cast members of the Canadian comedy show SCTV appear in this film, all playing small dramatic roles. (Director George Bloomfield had directed SCTV from 1977 through 1979, and brought the cast into the fold.) John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara (her second film), and Dave Thomas (his film debut) all have minor or bit parts; of the SCTV players, only O'Hara is in more than one scene, and Levy is visible for less than five seconds. A similar flock of SCTV cast members had small roles in Bloomfield's previous feature Nothing Personal , which was released just six weeks earlier than Deadly Companion.

Release

Some later video releases of the film misleadingly give some or all of the SCTV cast top billing. In the actual film credits, no SCTV member is billed higher than 11th.

Reception

Spies and Sleuths called the movie "a muddle film that cannot untie its tangled skein of a plot, although a Perkins performance is always worth watching." [3]

Starburst wrote, "This convoluted thriller is not without its merits (not least some clever dialogue and well observed performances by, among others, Anthony Perkins.) The trouble is, Bloomfield has not learned from the brilliant Point Blank that an oblique, difficult narrative can be gripping (even if one is only gradually aware of what's going on) — here the effect is wearingly muddlesome." [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Candy</span> Canadian actor and comedian (1950–1994)

John Franklin Candy was a Canadian actor and comedian who is best known for his work in Hollywood films. Candy first rose to national prominence in the 1970s as a member of the Toronto branch of the Second City and its SCTV sketch comedy series. He rose to international fame in the 1980s with his roles in comedic films such as Stripes, Splash, Brewster's Millions, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Spaceballs, The Great Outdoors, Uncle Buck, and Cool Runnings. He also appeared in supporting roles in The Blues Brothers, National Lampoon's Vacation, Little Shop of Horrors, and Home Alone, and featured in dramatic roles in Only the Lonely and JFK.

<i>Second City Television</i> Canadian television sketch comedy show

Second City Television, commonly shortened to SCTV and later known as SCTV Network and SCTV Channel, is a Canadian television sketch comedy show that ran intermittently between 1976 and 1984. It was created as an offshoot from Toronto's Second City troupe. It is a rare example of a Canadian show that moved successfully to U.S. television, where it aired on NBC in 1981–1983.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthony Perkins</span> American actor (1932–1992)

Anthony Perkins was an American actor, director, and singer. He is most notable for the role of Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's suspense thriller Psycho, which made him an influential figure in pop culture and the realm of horror films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catherine O'Hara</span> Canadian–American actress (born 1954)

Catherine Anne O'Hara is a Canadian and American actress. She is known for her comedy work on Second City Television (1976–1984) and Schitt's Creek (2015–2020) and in films such as After Hours (1985), Beetlejuice (1988), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), and the first two installments of the Home Alone franchise: Home Alone (1990) and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992). Her other film appearances include the mockumentary films written and directed by Christopher Guest: Waiting for Guffman (1996), Best in Show (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003), and For Your Consideration (2006).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eugene Levy</span> Canadian actor, comedian (born 1946)

Eugene Levy is a Canadian actor and comedian. Known for portraying flustered and unconventional figures, Levy has won multiple accolades throughout his career including four Primetime Emmy Awards, a Grammy Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. He was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2011, and was made Companion of the Order of Canada in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dave Thomas (actor)</span> Canadian actor and comedian (b. 1948)

David William Thomas is a Canadian actor, comedian and television writer, known for being one half of the duo Bob and Doug McKenzie with Rick Moranis. He appeared as Doug McKenzie on SCTV, for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award out of two nominations, and in the film Strange Brew (1983), which he also co-directed. As a duo, they made two albums, The Great White North and Strange Brew, the former gaining them a Grammy Award nomination and a Juno Award.

The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise. It is the oldest improvisational theater troupe to be continuously based in Chicago, with training programs and live theatres in Toronto and Los Angeles. The Second City Theatre opened on December 16, 1959, and has become one of the most influential and prolific comedy theatres in the English-speaking world. In February 2021, ZMC, a private equity investment firm based in Manhattan, purchased the Second City.

King of Kensington is a Canadian television sitcom which aired on CBC Television from 1975 to 1980.

<i>The Last Polka</i> 1985 Canadian TV series or program

The Last Polka is a 1985 comedy television film. It was written by and starred John Candy and Eugene Levy, and directed by John Blanchard.

The Earle Grey Award is the lifetime achievement award for television acting of the Canadian Screen Awards, and its predecessor the Gemini Awards. It can be presented to an individual or collaborative team, and may be presented posthumously.

The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and featuring Martin Short's fictional character Ed Grimley. The show aired on NBC from September 10 to December 3, 1988 for a single season of 13 episodes. The show is the only Saturday morning animated adaptation of both an SCTV character and a Saturday Night Live character, and the first Saturday morning cartoon featuring an SCTV cast member.

<i>Speed Zone</i> 1989 film by Jim Drake

Speed Zone is a 1989 American action comedy film set around an illegal cross-country race. The plot follows the race sponsors, who must line up new contestants after the previous racers are all arrested before the race begins.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Juul Haalmeyer</span> Canadian costume designer

Juul Haalmeyer is a costume designer, best known for doing costume design on several iterations of SCTV. Haalmeyer also worked as a costume designer for many movies, television shows, theatre productions, concerts wardrobes for various artists and specials like Bridge to Silence, All My Sons, Long Day's Journey into Night, Noddy, the Shining Time Station Family Specials, Mr. Conductor's Thomas Tales, Diamonds, Andrea Martin: Together Again, and Ghostwriter.

<i>Club Paradise</i> 1986 film by Harold Ramis

Club Paradise is a 1986 American comedy film directed by Harold Ramis and starring Robin Williams, Twiggy, Peter O'Toole and Jimmy Cliff. Set in a fictional Caribbean banana republic, it follows a group of vacationers' attempts to create a luxury resort from a seedy nightclub, and the series of events that take place.

<i>Maniac Mansion</i> (TV series) TV series or program

Maniac Mansion is a sitcom created by George Lucas, which aired concurrently on YTV in Canada and The Family Channel in the United States for three seasons from September 14, 1990, to April 4, 1993.

<i>Goodbye Again</i> (1961 film) 1961 film by Anatole Litvak

Goodbye Again is a 1961 American-French romantic drama film produced and directed by Anatole Litvak. The screenplay was written by Samuel A. Taylor, based on the novel Aimez-vous Brahms? by Françoise Sagan. The film, released by United Artists, stars Ingrid Bergman, Anthony Perkins, Yves Montand, and Jessie Royce Landis.

<i>Crimes of Passion</i> (1984 film) 1984 film by Ken Russell

Crimes of Passion is a 1984 American erotic thriller film directed by Ken Russell and starring Kathleen Turner, Anthony Perkins, and John Laughlin. The film explores themes of human relationships and mental illness. A mix of sex and suspense, the film opened to controversy over its content and to negative reviews.

<i>Sleuth</i> (2007 film) 2007 British film

Sleuth is a 2007 thriller film directed by Kenneth Branagh and starring Jude Law and Michael Caine. The screenplay by Harold Pinter is an adaptation of Anthony Shaffer's play, Sleuth. Caine had previously starred in a 1972 version, where he played Law's role against Laurence Olivier.

Nothing Personal is a 1980 Canadian-American romantic comedy film starring Suzanne Somers and Donald Sutherland. Sutherland plays a professor who objects to the killing of baby seals. Somers, a Harvard-educated attorney, tries to aid him.

References

  1. ↑ Scott, Jay (February 10, 1979). "Double Negative developing". The Globe and Mail . ProQuest   387097490.
  2. ↑ Winecoff, Charles (1996). Split Image: The Life of Anthony Perkins. Dutton. p. 384. ISBN   978-0525940647 . Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  3. ↑ Mulay, James J.; Curran, Daniel; Wallenfeldt, Jeffrey H. (1988). Spies and Sleuths: Mystery, Spy and Suspense Films on Videocassette. CineBooks. p. 30. ISBN   978-0933997189 . Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  4. ↑ Forshaw, Barry (August 1984). "Muddled Negative". Starburst (72): 42. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.