Jagged Edge **** (1985, Jeff Bridges, Glenn Close, Peter Coyote, Robert Loggia) – Classic Movie Review 2039

Director Richard Marquand’s 1985 thriller hit a jagged edge of the public nerve and the box-office jackpot. On a $15million budget, it took back more than $40million in the US plus £2,450,000 in the UK.

The trouble all starts when San Francisco heiress Page Forrester (Maria Mayenzet) is brutally murdered in her remote beach house. Her husband Jack (Jeff Bridges) is of course gutted, but then he finds himself accused of killing his wife for her money. After her funeral, Jack is arrested for her murder by district attorney Thomas Krasny (Peter Coyote).

Jack hires successful high-profile attorney Teddy Barnes (Glenn Close) as his defence lawyer, though she hasn’t handled a criminal case for many years and used to work for Krasny. A sexual spark ignites between them and Teddy soon finds herself defending the man she loves. Teddy visits private detective Sam Ransom (Robert Loggia), who used to work for Krasny’s office as well. He stopped private investigations at the same time as Teddy left Krasny’s office.

Teddy’s office begins receiving anonymous typed letters naming details of the case and saying Jack is innocent. All of the letter Ts are slightly raised, and analysis shows they were written on a 1942 Corona typewriter.

So, would you want Close as your defence lawyer? Would you trust smooth publisher Bridges? Would you hire Loggia as your creepy, blunt, loose-talking private eye? I didn’t think so, but it’s great to watch them performing these roles on screen.

Joe Eszterhas (Basic Instinct, Sliver, Jade) writes a hugely enjoyable, old-fashioned crime mystery, romantic thriller and courtroom drama, with nods in his screenplay to Alfred Hitchcock (particularly Suspicion), but with a sophisticated neo noir spin and an Eighties new-style frankness and explicitness. As Eszterhas’s plot twists and turns sleekly and satisfyingly, we’re kept guessing right up to the very last minute in this deliciously edge-of-seat, sweaty-palmed thriller.

The actors firmly grab hold of all their showy chances, with Bridges and Close at their brilliant best and Loggia on eye-catching Oscar-nominated Best Supporting Actor form. Welsh director Richard Marquand, also making knowing visual references to Hitchcock along the way, scores a deserved worldwide hit. The TV version edits for the film’s generous use of the F-Word and violence.

Leigh Taylor-Young, John Dehner, Karen Austin, Guy Boyd, Marshall Colt, Louis Giambalvo, James Karen and Lance Henriksen also co-star.

Durable and versatile character star Robert Loggia died on December 4 2015, aged 85.

In David and Jenny Barnes (Brandon Call and Christina Hutter)’s bedroom a poster for the Marquand-directed Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983) is showing. The old manual typewriter is a black 1942 Corona typewriter, the same one Eszterhas used to type up the screenplay.

Marquand’s final film was 1987’s Hearts of Fire, the original title of Jagged Edge’s screenplay, vetoed by Columbia studio, who disliked assigned a secretary to go through the script in an effort to come up with another title. The secretary found ‘a knife with a jagged edge’ in the description of the murder weapon.

The exteriors of the court room are really San Francisco’s City Hall.

The much-loved, durable and versatile character star Robert Loggia died on December 4 2015, aged 85.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2039

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