Twilight
                                                                                                       
Director: Robert Benton
Year: 1998
Rating: 7.0
I came across a comment that said of this film, "This is the real sequel to Harper". That was enough for me to go in search of it. Even before I saw the incredible cast. Harper is the 1966 film in which Paul Newman plays private eye Lew Harper, an adaption of a Ross Macdonald novel. Nine years later The Drowning Pool came out, again with Newman as the private detective. Many were disappointed with this sequel, partly because they move it out of Los Angeles to Louisiana. But though not as good as Harper, I enjoyed it and Newman gives a typically cool dispassionate performance.



But it is hard to imagine that director and writer Robert Benton (The Late Show, Still of the Night) didn't have Harper and Ross Macdonald in the back of his mind. Like Macdonalds books, it is set in Los Angeles, has a first person narrative and is a twisty plot that digs into the past. Newman is very much Harper (Archer in the books) but older, battered and broke. I think this counts as neo-noir, but for me it is simply an old-fashioned detective film with no flash, no CGI, no big action set pieces - just a stubborn older man who has to finish it. Find the truth. Even if people have to die.



Harry Ross (Newman) as a P.I. locates an underage runaway girl in Mexico. Played by Reese Witherspoon and much to my shock she has a topless scene. In an altercation, she accidentally shoots Ross in the leg. The man she was with is played by Liev Schreiber. The film is filled with such a great cast even in smaller parts. In repayment for his trouble, the parents allow Ross to live at their sprawling mansion. His main duty is to play gin with the father. The parents are played by Gene Hackman and Susan Sarandon. Ross is retired but agrees to do Jack (Hackman) a small favor. Deliver a package to a woman (Margo Martindale), but instead he finds a dying man (E. Emmet Walsh) shot in the stomach who tries to kill him. This is the kickoff of a solid little mystery filled with great dialogue, a few more killings and lots of deceit.



Also showing up are James Garner as an old friend, Stockard Channing as a cop, Giancarlo Esposito as a wanna-be detective and John Spencer as a policeman. There is so much talent in this one and their interactions are so natural. Newman, Hackman and Garner were all getting up there in age as are their characters and the sense of mortality and obsolescence surrounds them. The film landed with a thud at the box office. And has fallen into near obscurity. This and The Late Show with Art Carney as an old detective makes a great double feature.