slightlymad22
An unusual choice for Michael Keaton to follow up his first "Batman" movie with him going from hero and to outright villain.Plot In A Paragraph: Drake Goodman (Modine) and Patty Palmer (Griffith)an unmarried couple, purchase an expensive 19th-century house in the exclusive Pacific Heights neighbourhood. They rent one of the building's two first-floor apartments to the Watanabes, a kindly Japanese couple. Not long after, Carter Hayes (Keaton) visits to view the remaining vacant unit and immediately expresses a desire to move in. Hayes drives an expensive Porsche and carries large amounts of cash on him. He convinces Drake to waive the credit check in exchange for a list of personal references and an upfront payment of the first six months' rent, to be paid by wire transfer. Before any of that happens he moves in unannounced and refuses to leave.Melanie Griffith whilst looking great is awful acting wise, and Matthew Modine had me questioning how this man forged a career as an actor. Some of my main annoyances came from his character, and I had my concerns that he may end up being the real psycho, but his performance really was dire.It's Keaton as the villain of the piece, who shines and gives the movie it's best scenes. Tippi Hedren and Dan Hedaya have small roles and Beverley D'Angelo has an uncredited role as a former lover/business partner of Carter's. I'm not sure why she is uncredited though.
Spikeopath
Pacific Heights is directed by John Schlesinger and written by Daniel Pyne. It stars Michael Keaton, Melanie Griffith, Matthew Modine, Laurie Metcalf and Mako. Music is by Hans Zimmer and cinematography by Amir M. Mokri.Young couple Patty and Drake plough all their resources into buying a large house in the affluent Pacific Heights area of San Francisco. With two apartments to rent they think their numbers have come in when they manage to find tenants for both. But one man, the mysterious Carter Hayes (Keaton), soon proves to be anything but the perfect tenant…There are twin terrors at work here, one is the tenant from hell, the other is the laws that protect him as he manipulates the system to its very stupid core. The makers do a very good job of making the film unsettling throughout, the ghastly menace who invades someone's home and holds all the ace cards is a constant terrifying presence.Schlesinger for two thirds of the piece crafts a tightly wound thriller, unfortunately it just gets too daft for its own good as the cat and mousery reaches the culmination of plotting. Keaton is great, expanding upon the dark part of Bruce Wayne portrayal to be scarily smooth and convincing. Griffith is good value as well, and it's great to see a female character showing great resourcefulness, but both actors are let down by Pyne's screenplay in the last third where the psycho versus good lady section is too far fetched. Whilst Modine isn't a good enough actor to pull off the furious husband act.A mixed bag, but mostly it beats a good thriller heart to keep it above average. 6.5/10
PeterMitchell-506-564364
This is one of those 90's psychological thrillers I could watch and never get sick of. I've probably watched it twenty times through, and loved it as much as the last watch. Keaton is one main reason, in a trademark performance, probably his best, Nightshift and Clean And Sober, contenders. This is a smart sleek thriller, thanks to a different and well formulated story that will appease the hunger of thriller fans. A young couple, (Modine and Griffith-equally yery good) so much in love, become landlords, renting out this two story Victorian house, to some suitable trusting tenants, to keep money in flow. Only one, they rent it to, is Keaton, a manipulative con man/psychopath, with a secret life and history of scre..ng women over, the starting scene, sees him getting his just desserts, by two heavies, wielding baseball bats, that work him over. Tracking this house down, he obtains an apartment by lying and conning his way into in, masquerading as an applicable client, flashing notes like they were silver, smooth talking them, in that ever likable Keaton voice, we love. He has much more in store for this couple, as a sick twisted game of Keaton's begins, with some help too. His underlying intention is to literally drive them + the remaining tenants, out of this house, which as Modine drunkenly states, ending a sentence at the viewer's humorous expense, "... this SOB just think's it's business as usual". Modine, his character having violent tendencies, when under pressure, that brings on some bad cursing (he's great here, frighteningly angry in his flare ups) plays right into Keaton's hands. One scene, has Keaton call the cops, then walk up to Modine's door, with flowers in apology, for all the stress and heartbreak he caused, that led to Griffith had a miscarriage. Sure enough, he's met by a punch from Modine, that sends him tumbling down the stairs, and crashing through the front door out onto the house path where Modine just goes radge on him, and is, as Keaton beautifully planned it, arrested. Not knowing how Keaton's gonna go about his intentions, on the first view of this film, is what makes it a stylishly good thriller. This poor couple who's life is turned into a sheer nightmare of landlord hell, where they reach utter depths of despair, really gets you angry, you wanna put the knife into Keaton, as does the other tenants like Mako, a soft sided character here, who practices tai chi on his balcony, it's reminds of his kung fu movie playing days. He also doesn't like arse...es (Keaton and co) hammering at all hours of the morning, where he and his misses are forced to leave after his cupboards become inundated with cockroaches, who are the stars of another unnerving moment. One fine Keaton moment has him just sitting in his Porsche in the garage, just watching Griffith, his eyes remaining fixed on her, even after she's noticed. She went down to change the lights but Keaton saved her the trouble, by flashing a torch through his windshield. He's not just a conman of frightening i.q. He's a real psycho too. His demise too was grand, in how he bought it, a happy ending for our two, ensuing. PH was one of the hip thrillers of 91, solid, hard to fault. It's a thriller, that knows where it's going, it's building climax, quite intense, where we learn just how pi...d off this psycho gets, when he's really angry. A definite watcher.
