Rear Window *** (1998, Christopher Reeve, Daryl Hannah, Robert Forster) – Classic Movie Review 7786

In his first film since he was paralysed in real life in a horse-riding fall, poor Christopher Reeve does sterling work as Jason Kemp, the quadriplegic wheelchair-bound accident victim who alleviates his boredom by spying on nearby apartments, in director Jeff Bleckner’s superior 1998 TV movie remake of the 1954 Hitchcock classic Rear Window.

He then comes to believe a neighbour has murdered his wife. But, of course, neither his colleagues nor his neighbours believe him, so it is up to him to try to prove that his suspicions are right.

This much revised ‘modern update’ of Cornell Woolrich’s story is made with great care and professionalism, and justifies its existence by daring to be different from the original and not a simple copy like the 1998 Psycho remake.

Despite being well cast, Daryl Hannah and Robert Foster have disappointingly little to go on in the Grace Kelly (girl-friend) and Wendell Corey (friendly cop) roles, now Jason’s colleague Claudia Henderson and the patient detective Charlie Moore.

It goes without saying that it is not in the Hitchcock Rear Window class, but it is worth a peek. The teleplay is by Eric Ellis Overmyer and Larry Gross, based on the story by Cornell Woolrich.

Also in the cast are Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Anne Twomey, Ritchie Coster, Allison Mackie and Ali Marsh.

Christopher Reeve was paralysed in a horseback-riding accident near Culpeper, Virginia, on 27 May 1995. He died suddenly of heart failure on 10 October 2004, aged 52.

Psycho ***** (1960, Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, John Gavin, Patricia Hitchcock, Martin Balsam, John McIntire, Lurene Tuttle) – Classic Movie Review 8

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7786

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