ENTERTAINMENT
Pacific Heights entertaining, but average thriller
PACIFIC HEIGHTS
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By Chris Bouneff
Emerald News Editor
The Eugene rental market
never had it this bad.
And it’s a good thing, be
cause if Pacific Heights is any
indication of what it's like to
rent in San Francisco, then the
thing to do is move to the sub
urbs.
Loosely based on screenwrit
er Daniel Pvne's real-life expe
rience with trying to evict a
tenant. Pacific Heights quickly
shifts from a landlord-having
problems-with-tenant film to
more of a stalker flick,
Patty Palmer (Melanie Grif
fith) and Drake Goodman (Mat
thew Modine) try to live out
their dreams by buying an old
Victorian in San Francisco’s
Pacific Heights, but to realize
this dream they have to lever
age themselves to the hilt.
The saving grace are the two
rental apartments downstairs
that, if rented immediately,
will allow Patty and Drake to
make the mortgage payments.
Their first tenants are the
nearly perfect VVatanabe family,
who turn their apartment into a
paradise, hut Patty and Drake
have difficulty renting the oth
er unit.
In comes Carter Hayes (Mi
chael Keaton), who drives up
in his Porsche and starts flash
ing large bills in Drake's face.
Being cash-poor, and seeing
that Carter is a respectable fel
low. Drake agrees to rent the
place to him without checking
his references.
And this is where the heart of
the movie begins Carter moves
in without paying any rent, and
Drake and Patty soon learn that
once a renter is in, it's difficult
to get them out.
At first, Drake thinks the
whole thing is just a misunder
standing. and that the money
should be coming any day. In
the interim, (barter boards up
the windows, brings in a buddy
and begins dismantling the
apartment.
Tensions between landlord
and tenant grow worse during
some late-night hammering,
and Drake plays right into Car
ter's hands when lie takes ex
treme measures to silence the
work
The next day. Drake learns
that the law is on Carter's side
when the police show up and
tell him that he bettor apologize
to Girtc?r for his actions anti got
himself a good lawyer in case
Carter decides to file suit.
From there, it turns into a
puppet show with Charter pull
ing Drake's strings. Drake's
temper boils again after he fi
nally discovers Carter is the
kind of guy who suckers unsus
pecting landlords all the time.
Director John Schlesinger
(Midnight Cowboy and The h'al
con and the Snowman) keeps
the pace moving quickly, and
he cleverly clues in viewers to
Keaton's evil character in the
opening scene.
Keaton, who is better known
for his comical characters, does
a wonderful job as the psycho
who almost breaks up Patty's
and Drake's relationship and
drives them into bankruptcy.
Griffith, in her first film since
Working (iirl. continues her
string of roles where she plays
a whiny, victimized character
who eventually takes matters
into her own hands
Modine. on the other hand,
is a real surprise He almost
perfectly plays the repentant
character whose temper rises as
he realizes the stupidity of his
mistake
Hut even Keaton and Modine
cannot shadow some improba
ble occurrences to move this
stereotypical thriller plot along
Melanie Griffith and Michael Keaton play on opposite sides of
the fence in this psychological thriller.
wpwmm.
Matthew Motline. who rents Keaton the room, searches for
dues as the plot unfolds.
SIGMA KAPPA
SORORITY
information
meeting
MONDAY, October 8, 7:00 pm
180 PLC
Call Panhellenic Office
346-3888
All Women Students Welcome