Mortal Thoughts (1991)

Director:

Alan Rudolph

Writers:

William Reilly (writer) &
Claude Kerven (writer)

Release Date:

19 April 1991 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Murder is a secret that should never be shared.

Plot:

Cynthia comes forward to talk to detective John about the murder of her best friend's husband. The story is told as a series of flashbacks...

Plot Keywords:

Flashback | Abusive Husband | Best Friend | Murder | Carnival

Cast

Demi Moore	...	Cynthia Kellogg
Glenne Headly	...	Joyce Urbanski
Bruce Willis	...	James Urbanski
John Pankow	...	Arthur Kellogg
Harvey Keitel	...	Det. John Woods
Billie Neal	...	Det. Linda Nealon
Frank Vincent	...	Dominic, Joyce's Father
Karen Shallo	...	Gloria, James' Mother
Crystal Field	...	Jeanette, Joyce's Mother
Marianne Leone	...	Aunt Rita (as Maryanne Leone)
Marc Baron	...	Usher (as Marc Tantillo)
Doris McCarthy	...	Pat, Cynthia's Mother
Christopher Scotellaro	...	Joey, James' Brother
Ron J. Amodea	...	Band Leader
Leonid Merzon	...	Yuri

MPAA:

Rated R for strong language, momentary violence, and for some drug content.

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Australia:M | Argentina:16 | Finland:K-14 | Germany:16 | Netherlands:12 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | Canada:AA (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

Bayonne, New Jersey, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

The James Urbanski role was only a tiny part in the film until 'Bruce Willis (I)' agreed to do the film.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: While Cynthia and Arthur are alone in the house arguing about the murder, you can briefly see a person in a white t-shirt (not a character in the movie) sitting to the left in the dark in the room behind Arthur.

Quotes:

James: Where's Mr. Morehead?
Joyce: Who?
James: You know, Mr Morehead.
Joyce: Who's that?
James: Arthur, got more head than hair.

Movie Connections:

References "The Simpsons" (1989)

Soundtrack:

JUST THE WAY YOU ARE

Very Ordinary Suspects

Bryan Singer's 'The Usual Suspects' was itself a rather unusual thriller: almost the entire plot consisted of a criminal suspect telling the police a lie. By literally representing the character's words in images, the film exploited the trust that any movie-watcher has to put in what they see; the very concept of cinema only works if the audience can believe their own eyes, so it's a somewhat underhand trick to take advantage of this. But 'The Usual Suspects' nonetheless worked as a film, for three reasons. Firstly, the lie was extraordinarily entertaining in itself. Secondly, it's essentially falsity was brilliantly revealed. And thirdly, this revelation forced the viewer to reconsider everything they had seen in the film. If all movies were like this, cinema would die, but as an isolated film, it definitely made the grade.

Alan Rudolph's curiously named 'Mortal Thoughts' (surely "morbid thoughts" are actually what feature in this film) is a kind of precursor to 'The Usual Susepcts', but less acclaimed, and with good reason. The basic tale is less interesting than in the later film; there's no cleverness in the revelation, and the actual truth does not anyway fundamentally change one's opinion of the characters. The film doesn't even try and fool the audience: Harvey Keitel's policeman tells the witness throughout that he doesn't believe what she is saying, and once you accept that the woman may be lying, then the possibilities are limitless (something Singer dealt with deftly by only uncovering the lie at the very end, before it truly sinks into the audience that if the story was a pack of lies, then the truth could be anything). The result is a film that is reasonably watchable, but hardly distinguished. Yet in the true story, revealed at the end, there's actually a tale of human drama that might have driven a pretty strong film. The secondary tale of someone merely lying about such a story, however, is comparatively dull.