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| Images courtesy of Columbia Pictures |
Just a few years before making cinema history with The
Empire Strikes Back as well as the James Bond film Never Say Never Again
before concluding his career with Robocop 2, director Irvin Kirshner
had a sizable track record dating back to the late 1950s before he landed on
his 1978 American supernatural-infused giallo thriller Eyes of Laura Mars. The brainchild of John Carpenter who wrote
the story and co-wrote the screenplay with David Zelag Goodman (much to
Carpenter’s chagrin) after Jon Peters caught wind of the project thinking it
would be a good vehicle for then-girlfriend Barbara Streisand to star. Despite already having worked with Kirshner
on Up the Sandbox, Streisand passed on the film but that didn’t stop
Columbia head Peter Guber from pursuing another actress (ultimately going with
Faye Dunaway) or the Jon Peters from getting an original song out of her with
the theme track Prisoner.
Controversial New York based fashion photographer Laura Mars
(Faye Dunaway) is a hot button topic for the art world, often depicting her
young models into violent scenarios with a sexualized emphasis on their outfits
or lack thereof. On the cusp of a press
tour for her newly released photography book The Eyes of Laura Mars attended
by scoffing Lieutenant John Neville (Tommy Lee Jones), the titular camerawoman
amid a haughty press tour begins experiencing bizarre, increasingly violent first-person
visions of a masked assailant murdering close colleagues of hers. Convinced they’re clairvoyant psychic visions
and believing she herself might be the killer’s next victim, she joins forces
with the Lieutenant trying to solve the mysterious murders and make sense of
her premonitions before landing on an unspeakable discovery.
Co-starring Brad Dourif as a suspicious close confidante,
Rene Auberjonois as Laura’s longtime boss Donald Phelps and a young Raul Julia
as her sleazy ex-husband now turned prime suspect on the run, The Eyes of
Laura Mars has all the story beats and rhythms of a classic Italian giallo. From the production design depicting high luxuriousness by Gene Callahan to the
art direction and set decoration by Robert Gundlach and John Godfrey, all reflecting the gaudiness of the world shot
brilliantly by Dog Day Afternoon cinematographer Victor J. Kemper. The costume designs by Theoni V. Aldredge are
almost like a character unto themselves, playing to increasingly wild and even
zany heights over the course of the film.
Artie Kane’s soundtrack appropriately captures the low-key splendor of
the world but dives deeply into nerve-wracking strings of terror during the
horrific psychic visions which would make Penderecki blush.
Despite reported tensions between Jon Peters and his
not-first-choice of actress Faye Dunaway, the actress having shortly wrapped
Sidney Lumet’s Network is arguably at the peak of her powers here as a
powerful countercultural icon whose world starts coming apart at the seams in
slow motion. Imbuing her scream queen
with a Florinda Balkan quality, Laura Mars comes across as a resourceful
heroine trying desperately to prove her visions to someone else while
professional colleagues sense an impending nervous breakdown. Tommy Lee Jones as the homicide detective and
skeptic John Neville in a way performs a dress rehearsal for what would or
wouldn’t become his Oscar-winning role in The Fugitive. Brad Dourif as a suspicious bearded assistant
with a violent past was also hitting his character-actor stride having just
finished One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
Released theatrically in 1978, the film became an instant
box office success, grossing around $20 million against a $7 million budget
with strong soundtrack album sales and over the years garnering a cult
following as another rare example of the American giallo film with overarching
Italian influences on full display. Sadly
it was among the last (for awhile) respectable films for Faye Dunaway as her
career took an unfounded nose dive with the poorly received and misunderstood Mommie
Dearest but nevertheless remains a high note on the actress’ filmography. While Kirshner would dive head over heels
into the Star Wars universe as well as bit parts in acting like Martin
Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ, Eyes of Laura Mars represents
perhaps one of the director’s last top-to-bottom films without the creative
baggage his later works would bring to his output. It also, despite John Carpenter’s misgivings,
also stands as one of the eventual horror icon’s first real brushes with
Hollywood, forecasting what would or wouldn’t become the director’s greatest
film with The Thing.
--Andrew Kotwicki
