Legal Eagles *** (1986, Robert Redford. Debra Winger, Daryl Hannah, Brian Dennehy, Terence Stamp, Steven Hill) – Classic Movie Review 5967

Producer-director Ivan Reitman’s 1986 romantic comedy thriller provides a nice change of pace for Robert Redford as Tom Logan, a New York prosecuting assistant district attorney embroiled with with his adversary the defence lawyer Laura Kelly (Debra Winger) and her loopy young client Chelsea Deardon (Daryl Hannah) in a case of murder, arson and forgery in the glamorous Manhattan art world.

Hannah plays the daughter of a famous artist who died in a fire that supposedly destroyed his paintings, and she has been arrested for stealing one of her father’s paintings from an unscrupulous art dealer. Redford becomes involved with Hannah and mixed up in the murder of one of the dealers, for which Hannah is the prime suspect.

Written by Jim Cash and Jack Epps Jr (from a story by them and Reitman), it is light fluffy confection with a sub-Hitchcock script and handling, but it is the stars’ energy and sparkle that keep it bubbling along. The script and handling may lack the authentic Hitchcock touch, but the film is still enjoyable and entertaining.

It also features Brian Dennehy, Terence Stamp, Steven Hill, David Clennon, John McMartin, Jennie [Jennifer] Dundas, Roscoe Lee Browne (as Judge Dawkins), Christine Baranski, Sara Botsford, Brian Doyle-Murray, Grant Heslov, Robert Curtis Brown, Shannon Wilcox and Jay Thomas (waiter in restaurant).

It is shot by Laszlo Kovacs and scored by Elmer Bernstein.

American TV version shows a different ending.

It was advertised, rather misleadingly, as ‘A new comedy from the director of Ghostbusters‘.

RIP Steven Hill (1922–2016).

RIP Jay Thomas ((1948–2017).

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5967

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