Dead as a Doorman

Someone has killed three Atlanta doormen (so much for the "city that never sleeps") over the period of a few days. Night doorman Terry Reilly (Bradley Whitford) was a witness to the first murder and now the killer might be after him. Of course, this fits in perfectly to Terry's world as he is a part-time writer of mystery stories and he teams up with Linda Regan (Sharon Sharth), niece of one of the victims, to try to solve this case. I believe the real title of this should be DUMB AS DIRT. Movies like this are so curious to me. You have a lead character who is such a fan of mysteries (with the obligatory Bogart movie posters on his wall), yet the filmmakers plan the dumbest mystery one can imagine. Seriously, who reads a script like this and is like, "Yes, I will give you money to make this." Well, at least I got to see Bradley Whitford's movie debut. The film is short (73 minutes) and pads out its 84 minute run time with a hilarious end credit sequence that shows them re-playing bits from the film for every character with the actors name on screen. I'm talking EVVVVERY character from the leads to the short order cook who has one word of dialog to the lady who walks past the camera with a dog in one shot.

My review was written in May 1986 after a screening at Cannes Film Festival Market.

"Doorman" is an uneventful, low-budget mystery thriller shot and set in Atlanta. Pic has the earnest, simple approach of a B-picture, but lacks any attention-grabbing elements to make it competitive in international markets.

Bradley Whitford plays Terry Reilly, an apartment building doorman, who is a budding mystery writer on the side. When three doormen (including the worker on the other shift at his building) are killed and Riley's name is in the newspaper as an eyewitness, he is marked as a murder target. Teaming up with Linda Rega (Sharon Schlarth), whose uncle was one of the murdered doormen, he tries to unravel the mystery of who broke their necks and why. Following up on a clue of missing packages being delivered to new residents in each of the three buildings, Reilly pieces together evidence of a conspiracy. With Regan's help, he corners the baddies in a contrived climax at a local roller skating rink.

Cast, particularly Whitford, performs capably but not only is this story interesting, it is enacted too cheaply. Verbal mentions of gun-running and other elements of international intrigue are no substitute for exotic locations and large-scale action set pieces. Filmmaker Gary Youngman delivers a dull car chase and squeaky-clean content that would probably garner a G rating. Pic's best chances would be in a tv syndication package.

Since IMDb has no plot summary, here's a short overview without giving away spoilers:

The story is about a mysterious killer rampaging on the necks of some doormen. 30-something Terry Reilly starts a private investigation, fearing he could be the next prey. He finds help in the person of the 30-something Linda Regan, a niece of one of the victims.

I received the film as a trash present, so I suppose it was meant to be bad-taste. It certainly has its moments when you just laugh out loud, especially the killing scenes.

Story is mediocre with minor illogical moments, but not plain bad. Music gets cheesy from times to times, but it also is bearable and can partly be blamed on the general 80's misconception of what is to be done with a synthesizer.

To summarize, there are action movies having popcorn quality - and then there are trash films that have popcorn quality. Doorman belongs to the second group.