Windows (1980) Starring Talia Shire and Elizabeth Ashley

The scene near the end is so pathetic when Ashley keeps asking Shire to pull up her shirt so she can look at her tits.

That was one powerful telescope.

The only film the great cinematographer Gordon Willis directed. He sensibly returned to his first career after this tanked.

Well, the cinematography on this film is far and away the best thing about it.

I hated that Shire left that beautiful apartment for the sterile, boring one across the river.

[quote] Well, the cinematography on this film is far and away the best thing about it.

For the most part, I agree, but there are a few shots where Willis lights Shire and Cortese or Shire and Ashley as though he was shooting them at Camp Crystal Lake in Friday the 13th. Very harsh spotlight and shadows and it's so out of place with the rest of the movie and doesn't seem to come from a practical place.

The OP’s description is — and I mean this sincerely — more entertaining than the movie itself.

Now I have this in my head.

Are there really 'predatory lesbians'?

The biggest confusing thing for me was the plot device of the next door neighbors, Ida and Sam Marx. Sam disappears at one point, though we only see him once, and he has exactly one line, so why we would be invested in him disappearing makes no sense. Even worse, we don't see him disappear or see any scene that leads up to it. We're merely told about it. Then they discover his body in the basement, dead. We're not even necessarily led to think that Andrea has killed him, she would have no reason TO kill him, and as far as we know, they never even met each other. But because she is the villain (and murders her shrink), we automatically assume she had something to do with it due to the tropes of horror movies. I still have no idea what that plot point was supposed to be. A red herring? It doesn't advance the story one bit.

Then his wife, before she ever finds out he's dead, has a heart attack (we assume) and is taken to the hospital. Why? No idea. There's even a scene where Shire's character is seen calling the hospital, trying to track her down to tell her that her husband is dead. They never connect and Shire is told that the character is currently undergoing emergency surgery. And then we never see nor hear about the character again. I suppose scenes could have been filmed that were left on the cutting room floor, but the movie is so short that it would seem they would want as much in there as possible, and that scene is so short, you could easily cut it without it affecting the running time.

Lastly, we're led to believe throughout the first two thirds of the film that Shire was actually raped. The word they use is assault, but it's used around someone to whom it would not be ethical telling someone else's business. So we're then watching this woman who was supposedly JUST raped be romanced by the detective investigating the case, and thinking about him- What the fuck is wrong with you? This woman was just raped and you're trying to date her and spend the night. It really casts a bad light on that character for no reason when a line earlier on explaining things would have gone a way to making the detective seem less sleazy. And there's no reason for us (or for Emily) to think he IS sleazy. What would have made sense would be for Andrea to make Emily think he's sleazy, to keep trying to turn Emily off men, but she doesn't do that.

Yes, I realize I'm giving this film way more analysis than it deserves.

Who could believe that Shire is the object of this sexy lesbian's lust? It's been years since I've seen it but doesn't Ashley masturbate with the knife that was used to threaten Shire? I mean this is some hilarious shit.

Shire’s haircut in this is terrible. How would she be the object of anybody’s desire???

[quote] Who could believe that Shire is the object of this sexy lesbian's lust? It's been years since I've seen it but doesn't Ashley masturbate with the knife that was used to threaten Shire? I mean this is some hilarious shit.

She doesn't masturbate with the knife, but she may be masturbating while holding the knife to her own mouth. It's unclear.

It's somewhat similar to John Carpenter's TV Movie "Someone's Watching Me" starring Lauren Hutton. His future wife, big tittied Adrienne Barbeau plays Hutton's lesbian co-worker who has no sexual interest in her. Unlike Windows, its very good.

I just watched today after reading this thread. The whole movie feels so underdeveloped. The acting was beyond sedate and felt like a table read (after quaaludes). The script is a first draft and the editing makes the whole thing feel like a rough cut. The cinematography was obviously first rate but Gordon Willis was not a director.

R15, Someone's Watching Me is good and, unlike windows, doesn't use homophobic tropes

Someone's Watching Me had Adrienne calmly announce she's a lesbian, Hutton has no problem with it and they have a great friendship without the slightest hint of sexual tension.

Watching it, truly it's all about Windows, kinda like Rear Window in reverse.

R16 Thank you! I’m gonna check that one out. I’m a sucker for early Carpenter.

R18, it was done literally a few months before Halloween and you can see him experimenting with things he would use again in Halloween.

Funnily enough, the script for Windows went through a lot of permutations before it finally got shot. It was originally called "Corky," which was Talia Shire's character's name before it was changed to Emily. And the character of Andrea was not a lesbian, but a pre-op transsexual. However, it has not been made clear to me if the character was MTF or FTM.

R15, since you just watched it, I'm curious what your thoughts were (if you care to share) on the neighbors and the death of Mr. Marx.

R1 pathetic? I thought it was fuckin’ hot.

R21 It was bizarre. The husband had only one line and then he’s gone until he shows up dead in a body bag. The wife fared a bit better but not by much. Their first scene with Talia Shire was just weird - all ominous looks and not even a proper introduction. And the wife’s sickness was treated as if she was already dead. It feels like both actors wanted out of the shoot and this is what we were left with.

R19 I’m sold. The precision and control Carpenter displayed in Halloween is unbelievable. I’m going to watch this weekend.

R20 It makes sense that the script went through a bunch of rewrites. The whole thing just feels cobbled together. I’m glad they changed the name Corky to Emily. It was already so hard to get invested in that character.

R24, it is also noted that the Lauren Hutton character is like a grownup version of Jamie Lee Curtis' Laurie. He even introduces them similarly. Hutton has a tough interview, is hired and literally is dragged into a control room to begin working that very second. She aces it. When we see Laurie, she's daydreaming in class and the teacher calls on her. We've seen the setup before because it's meant to embarrass her. Instead, Laurie answers the question and then some. We know both are not to be messed with.

R26 You’re really selling me on this. Did Caprenter score this too?

R27, no, he had to work with a composer but he said it was important in his work in Halloween because he learned how to really build up the score. He talks about the movie with great pride.

R28 Thank you for this. We should hang out.