| Mike's Murder | |
| Caption: | Theatrical release poster |
| Director: | James Bridges |
| Producer: | James Bridges |
| Screenplay: | James Bridges |
| Music: | John Barry Joe Jackson |
| Cinematography: | Reynaldo Villalobos |
| Editing: | Dede Allen Jeff Gourson |
| Studio: | The Ladd Company |
| Distributor: | Warner Bros. |
| Runtime: | 109 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Budget: | $6.3 million[1] |
| Gross: | $1 million |
Mike's Murder is a 1984 American neo-noir[2] mystery film written and directed by James Bridges and starring Debra Winger, Mark Keyloun and Paul Winfield.
In Los Angeles, bank teller Betty Parrish (Debra Winger) has a one-night stand with a young tennis instructor named Mike Chuhutsky (Mark Keyloun), but then has only random contact with him over the course of the next two years.
Mike is a drug dealer on the side. One day she sees him on the street and gives him a ride. He tells her he is being chased for encroaching on another criminal's territory. Later, a friend of his calls to tell her that Mike is dead, brutally murdered.
Betty cannot let go of him without understanding him better and tries to find out more. It leads to her discovering Mike's hidden side, including a disturbed acquaintance of his named Pete (Darrell Larson) and a record producer named Philip (Paul Winfield) who apparently was involved with Mike in a gay relationship. Betty's life is placed in peril by the story's end.
Bridges wrote the film specifically for Winger, having worked with her on Urban Cowboy. Filming began in May of 1982 and was announced as completed the following August. After disastrous preview screenings in January of 1983, Bridges decided to re-structure the original version, from a subjective film focused on Betty’s point of view to a more objective, chronological story. Flashbacks and Betty’s fantasy sequences were removed, and only the aftermath of the killing was shown. He shot additional scenes (expanding the role of “Pete”) and re-scored the film with music composed by John Barry.
The film had a very brief theatrical run during March of 1984 in New York City and Los Angeles. In late September 1984, Warner Bros. tried a different distribution pattern and released the film on one or two screens, particularly in college towns. Among the cities included in the re-opening were New Haven, CT, Columbus, OH, Seattle, WA, and Minneapolis, MN. It had a one-week run in San Francisco, CA that November.
Winger's performance in Mike's Murder led the critic Pauline Kael to describe the actress as "a major reason to go on seeing movies in the 1980s".[3]
Warner Home Video issued Mike's Murder on VHS in 1985 and 1991. Warner Bros. Digital Distribution released it on 4 August 2009, as part of the Warner Archive Collection series.