Last Embrace (1979)

How sad is this?

Great Film overall

Good start, but then it gets ruined

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Why watch "Last Embrace" if everything in it is so obviously copied from Hitchcock? Why not watch a good Hitchcock classic instead? Well, for those who just long to see a more modern movie, "Last Embrace" might be a good compromis. Some folks just cant stand to watch the old movies anymore, because they look old and dont connect to the modern world anymore. The story and the acting in itself is rather good and full of great suspense. The movie is about a man who fears for his life. Somebody is out trying to kill him, but he doesnt know wny. He tries to decipher a mysterious letter that is sent to him, written in an unknown language, in the hope to find out who is trying to kill him.Sometimes the acting by the supporting actors is somewhat overdramatic, deliberatedly done to again copy the original Hitchcock style in which characters often performed with large gestures. Nowadays that is unheard of and it would look a bit silly, but it was one of those Hitchcock characteristics that was (badly) copied into "Last Embrace" as well.As a soundtrack fan I must admit that I disliked the use of a fake old soundtrack score (in MONO). The score in itself was beautiful, but it didnt blend well with this modern version of a hitchcock story. I dont mind remakes of good movies, but at least make them in a modern way. Now the deliberatedly old sounding, music score constantly clashes with the modern settings. But most people probably wont mind this at all, this is just a personal irritant of mine, because I like music so much in movies... To conclude: if you never have seen a Hitchcock movie and even if you dont know Roy Scheider either, "Last Embrace" is still a good suspense thriller. It has stood the test of time nicely. It could have been better, but I have watched it several times over the years and I still get thrilled by it.

Although Jonathan Demme's 1992 Oscar-winner THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS was his first major suspense thriller, it wasn't the first film he'd ever made in that genre. That honor goes to Demme's 1979 thriller LAST EMBRACE (LE), which I first saw and loved during its original theatrical run. At the time, LE was touted as a romantic Hitchcockian thriller. While LE definitely has strong elements of VERTIGO and other Hitchcock classics, I've always considered it to be more of a paranoia thriller with film noir touches, which I guess makes LE what might be called "film shachor." :-) Cool, craggy yet suave Roy Scheider had long been one of our family's favorite tough-guy actors; to many fans. At first glance, he might not seem vulnerable enough to be convincing as a beleaguered paranoia film hero. However, Scheider proved to be perfect casting as Harry Hannan, a government agent with more baggage than Louis Vuitton. Harry is still heartbroken and guilt-ridden about his beloved wife getting killed while she accompanied him as cover on one of his assignments. After he spends time in a Connecticut sanitarium recovering from his nervous breakdown, Harry has barely had a chance to lose his institutional pallor when he's almost shoved in front of an express train. When he returns to his spy agency in New York City, his slippery spymaster Eckart (Christopher Walken) keeps him at arm's length; maybe Eckart thinks Harry's sharp cream-colored suit makes him too conspicuous for undercover work. Worst of all, Harry discovers he's one of several Jewish men getting death threats written in Biblical Hebrew from an unknown "Avenger of Blood"…and so far, he's the only one still alive.Everyone scoffs at poor Harry's jitters. Who can he trust? Certainly not his brother-in-law (Charles Napier), a fellow spook who blames Harry for his sister's violent death ("You're careless with people, Harry"). Our hero eventually joins forces with Ellie Fabian (Janet Margolin), a pretty New York graduate student who sublet his apartment while he was in the sanitarium. But the vulnerable Ellie seems to have her own issues and secrets. Will that spell doom for both Ellie and Harry? And how does a turn-of-the-20th-century Jewish brothel figure in the sinister fix Harry has found himself in? Scheider and Margolin had fine chemistry together; their characters' sensitivity and wariness made me feel for them, and they even had playful moments along the way. Ms. Margolin was at her loveliest, too. (Sadly, she died of ovarian cancer in 1993 at the age of 50. Janet, we hardly knew ye.) Scheider, Margolin, and Walken are aided and abetted by a rogues' gallery of stellar New York character actors, including John Glover as Ellie's insecure professor boyfriend; Marcia Rodd as Harry's nervous agency contact; David Margulies as a rabbi with connections; Joe Spinell and Jim McBride as thugs; Captain Arthur Haggerty as a bouncer waiting to use the phone; Mandy Patinkin and Max Wright in bit parts as commuters who may or may not have some 'splainin' to do; scene-stealer Sam Levene as the crotchety but likable head of a secret Jewish society; and director Demme himself cameo-ing as a stranger on a train.Some critics complained that despite Demme's obvious affection for the Hitchcockian material, LE could have used more of The Master of Suspense's zest and verve. I won't deny that the pace slows down at times, but with Roy Scheider at his peak and Janet Margolin's touching, multifaceted performance, I was willing to be patient. Demme and screenwriter David Shaber (adapting Murray Teigh Bloom's novel The 13th Man) make up for the film's flaws with plenty of appealingly quirky Demme-style characterization. Judaism's key role in LE's plot was fresh and intriguing, as well as making excellent use of an elaborate, well-crafted red herring. The settings contribute to the film's Demme-ness; his ace Director of Photography Tak Fujimoto really makes the New York City and Princeton, NJ locations integral to the plot and its Hitchcockian motifs, especially the bell tower sequence and an exciting climax at Niagara Falls (I can hear you making lewd jokes :-)). The film brims with only-in-New-York characters and situations; for instance, the competition for living space in Manhattan provides amusing undertones to Harry's first awkward encounters with Ellie. Miklos Rozsa's swooningly romantic yet foreboding score pulls together the film's emotional undercurrents beautifully. Between LAST EMBRACE and STILL OF THE NIGHT, if I'd been Roy Scheider, I'd have stayed out of Central Park and environs for fear of elusive assailants! LAST EMBRACE is also available on DVD: http://www.mgm.com/view/movie/1084/Last-Embrace/

"Last Embrace", directed by Jonathan Demme, takes itself way too seriously, for such a shallow film. The whole thing smacks of audience manipulation, and the exciting conclusion above Niagara Falls, in no way redeems what has preceded it. Someone is trying to kill Roy Scheider, and fine actors Christopher Walken, John Glover, and Charles Napier are essentially wasted as "red herrings". The story is far from tight, and leaves plenty of loose ends dangling uncomfortably. Once you witness the highly unlikely tub scene, you will better understand the lack of logic in this film. Everything about "Last Embrace" is disjointed, confusing, and really never comes together as entertainment. - MERK

I can see what the critics say about the Hitchcock aspects, and it it similar to the Marilyn Monroe film, Niagara (towards the end), but this is quite a good film from director Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs). When his wife and a cop are killed, Harry Hannan (Roy Scheider) has a breakdown, and the department he works for don't want him back. He knows someone is trying to kill him, but other suspicious deaths suggest there is more to it. His only help seems to be from the mousy Ellie Fabian (Janet Margolin) living in New York. She turns out to be a key suspect though (somehow), and there are great chase sequences that lead to Niagara Falls, where she dies. Also starring John Glover as Richard Peabody, Sam Levene as Sam Urdell, Charles Napier as Dave Quittle and Christopher Walken as Eckart. To be honest, all I was interested in was the good music by Miklós Rózsa, the big stars, the violence, and the great chases, but besides that, there is not much in my opinion. Good!