Apology

This one's a bit of a head-scratcher. - it's a example of that odd 1980's era of faux film-noir that tries to emulate classic 1040's-50's crime flicks - tough guy cops, tough-guy gals, B&W tonality, snappy cop repartee over gruesome butchered bodies, etc - but just doesn't have the same authenticity - somehow 80's stuff too self-aware and facilely stylistic.

Leslie Ann Warren as the female-at-risk lead is a questionable casting choice - Leslie's always a trooper as an actor and does her part well - but she's just not the tough gal "type" - but there are a lot of other fun early career cameo appearances - Chris Noth (Sex & the City), Harvey Fierstein as a recurrent grim comic relief as a street guy, etc.

The thing is supposed to be occurring in 1980's gritty grimy version of the Big Apple (i.e., pre-Disney-ized Times Square), but apparently was actually filmed in Toronto, so, just like the classic film-noir wanna-be-ism, the whole ambience of the settings just don't quite ring true.

Nonetheless, it's not a waste of time to watch; as mentioned, Leslie Ann Warren is quite OK, just not the type for the film noir genre - I mean, let's face it, the gal-at-risk has gotta be a platinum blonde hooving at least 5 packs a day and she's not & doesn't - and the basic story line does have some clever takes on updating the 40/50's crime noirs. Additionally most all of the male actors are good in their standard crime noir roles - cop investigator, wise-guy DA, chronically annoyed supervisory lieutenant, sleazy-voiced bad guy perp leaving deranged phone messages - I think because they're not trying too hard and just rolling with the irony.

So, if you just want something lite - crime noir "lite", that is - this wouldn't be the worst thing to spend an hour and a half watching. :-)

A woman begins a dangerous game with a serial killer looking to give her hotline an Apology after each murder he commits.

Lily is an artist who has set up a hotline called "Apology" that people can call in to say sorry for any wrong doing they have been in their lives either in the present or past. It's for an art exhibit she's creating where she plans to air the apologies in an artsy way. Meanwhile, someone is murdering gay men all over the city in gruesome ways. That same person ends up calling in and admits to raping his cousin when he was young, and eventually apologies on the hotline for committing one of the henious murders in the city.

Despite initial feelings that she is putting the integrity of the anonymous call-in hotline in jeopardy, Lily eventually works with the police regarding call from the serial killer. She meets Detective Hungate who is on this case and has instant chemistry with him. As the calls continue to come in, and the killer getting closer and closer to making contact with Lily, Hungate will have to catch him before it's too late. All is revealed in a well done conclusion.

Apology is a fun little horror thriller done on HBO in the mid-80s. The idea of the apology hotline was an interesting to insert into a horror movie storyline, and the filmmakers did a good job making the two fit well. We also get good character development with Lily and Hungate, plus the two actors have a great little chemistry. Lesley Ann Warren is a fun to watch horror heroine and Peter Weller plays off of that very well.

I highly recommend Apology if you have the chance to watch it. I don't believe this is on DVD, I was lucky years back to catch it on VHS in a video store that was going out of business. It has a great and creative story, good murder mystery, actors at the top of their game, plus a VERY catchy title song by Bill Champlin.

8/10

While these days HBO tv movies are pretty much synonymous with critical acclaim back in the mid 80s they were much more into making sleazy thrillers like this or The Glitter Dome. Peter Weller does a good job given what he has to work with. Hell, everyone does a good job, a lot of fun character actors in this really elevates it above the material. Also Robert Bierman's directing really adds a lot. Bierman is most known for directing Nic Cage's loopiest performance (and thats saying a lot) in Vampire's Kiss, a film that if it didn't ruin his career, certainly couldn't have helped it much. But here he demonstrates quite a lot of talent, both in directing the actors and shooting the movie in a way that makes it visually interesting. Overall I enjoyed this film a lot when I saw it on HBO about 20 years ago and just recently found a copy online. Unfortunately it seems to have suffered the same fate of many of HBO's films of that era (Glitter Dome, Cast a deadly spell, etc..) which have somehow never made it to DVD. Obscure film but if you run across it, give it a watch. Also interesting to note this was based (loosely) on a true story of a real "apology line" that ran in NYC for about 20 years, the real story of the life and tragic death of the real life Mr. Apology is possibly even more interesting than this film.

This film came out when shows like "Oprah" were just starting. The idea of someone selling their psyche for attention and/or catharsis. Before that, we were in the dark ages, when people kept their psychiatric issues to themselves, would never even think of group therapy or AA, let alone message boards on the internet. That being said, the plot is interesting, even if the acting is stylized, and rather artificial.

Lesley Ann-Warren plays a good neurotic- Peter Weller is passable. Harvey Fierstein has an interesting cameo part, as a homeless person. Some of the street shots are creative and interesting. The art project Warren creates is really not unbelievable; If one has ever seen Yoko Ono's exhibits- you will agree!.

The serial killer is portrayed by Jimmie Ray Weeks; he wears a bow-tie and looks like Wallace Shawn (from Woody Allen's movie "Manhattan"). If you want to see something unusual, this movie will fit the bill. John Glover is also in this film, and he always excels at portraying a psychotic New Yorker (he was also in a TV film with Lynn and Vanessa Redgrave- remake of "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane"-not to be missed!).

This one has kind of an odd plot but it has enough twists and turns to keep most people entertained for a few hours. It was interesting for me to have gone to college in Pittsburgh at about the same time and seen familiar landmarks used very effectively, especially their public transportation system.