You’re never more alive
than when you’re on the edge of death.
– Dennis Quaid, as Dexter Cornell.
What would you do if
you were told you had maybe twenty-four hours to live … no more than
forty-eight?
How would you react if
you were then told you’d been deliberately poisoned?
You’re still alive, the
poison ingested into your system, working through you.
Your life slowly and
painfully ebbs away, and you are fully aware of every moment of it.
In your last hours, you
know you’ve been murdered.
What would you do?
How would you spend
that remaining time?
Counting every second …
minute … hour …
This is the intriguing
premise of D.O.A. (1988), directed by Annabel Jankel and Rocky Morton, their
debut movie, released in the United States on March 18, 1988.A remake that becomes a reimagining of the 1949 original.
In a nostalgic homage
to classic noir thrillers, this neo-noir update opens with a night scene, shot
in grainy black and white.
Dexter Cornell (Dennis
Quaid) walks through a torrential rainstorm.
His jacket is torn.
He looks
beaten.
The title acronym: D.O.A.
is short for Dead On Arrival.
That’s what Dexter is on the verge of
being, as he stumbles into a police station, and knocks over a Christmas tree when
he approaches the Desk Sergeant (William Johnson).
Dexter is visibly in pain,
as he tells the cop he’s there to report a murder.
“Who was murdered?” the
Desk Sergeant asks.
Dexter raises his head,
looks him in the eye, and declares cryptically: “I was!”
In an interview room, Dexter
relays his story to Detectives Ulmer (Brion James), and Brockton (Jack Kehoe),
who record his statement onto video tape.
The rest of the story
is then told in retrospect and in color.A neat switch on some movies where
flashback sequences are shown in black and white, or a hazy color filter.
The movie switches to
color, as Dexter, now teaching his college class, writes the word COLOR on the
chalkboard.
Dexter asks his class
for references to the color green.
Star student and aspiring novelist, Nicholas
Lang (Robert Knepper), offers the most intelligent answer with a quote from Othello,
by William Shakespeare:
O, beware my lord of
jealousy. It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on.
Jealousy is a driving
theme of the movie.
Jealousy triggered by an
extra-marital affair.
Jealousy of other
people’s achievements.
Jealousy of status.
It’s the Christmas
season, but there’s no good cheer going around.Passions and tempers are as hot
as the unseasonal sweltering heat.
Dexter Cornell is not
happy with his life.
He’s a chain-smoking, alcohol-guzzling, depressive.
His
marriage has failed and, despite his attempts at reconciliation, his estranged
wife, Gail (Jane Kaczmarek), has long since given up.
Whenever they talk, she pesters
him to sign the divorce papers.
His success as a novelist secured him the respected
position of college English Professor.
Afraid of failure, he simply stopped
writing and settled into teaching.
Dexter gave up on what was truly important
to him.
His lack of passion then affected all aspects of his life.
Dennis Quaid is
convincing in the role.
A cynical everyman.
Weighed down by life.
Looking ever
more disheveled, shaky, and sweaty.
The first body on the
pile is Nicholas Lang.His on-campus death, at first thought to be suicide, is
later discovered to be murder.
The script is
intelligent.The caustic dialogue is wry and humorous, particularly in the
scene when the cops question Dexter in his ex-wife’s home.
Gail has been
murdered, and it is revealed that Dexter has been deliberately poisoned.
Brockton:
Careful, Cornell.
You’re upset.
Dexter:
You’re damn right I’m
upset. I find out I’m a murder victim and a suspect all in one goddam day.
Dexter evades arrest
for the murders of Gail and Lang.The cops refuse to believe he’s not the
culprit.
Dexter then sets out to solve the mystery himself.
The plot has effective
twists, turns, and red herrings along the way, as Dexter has dealings with Sydney
Fuller (Meg Ryan), an admiring student Dexter gets literally stuck on.
Mrs. Fitzwaring (Charlotte
Rampling), a shadowy Black Widow, and Lang’s benefactor.
Bernard (Christopher
Neame), Fitzwaring’s Chauffeur and violent right-hand man.
Cookie (Robin Johnson),
Fitzwaring’s daughter.
Hal Petersham (Daniel
Stern), Dexter’s friend and colleague.
Graham Corey (Jay
Patterson), Dexter’s disgruntled colleague.
Annabel Jankel and Rocky
Morton’s previous experience with directing music videos is evident in the
nightclub scene, where Dexter and Sydney get drunk at the bar, downing endless Martinis,
and the on-stage Rock band, Timbuk 3 (1983-1995), sing: Too Much Sex, Not
Enough Affection.
Their other directing credits include
Super Mario Bros (1993), and the Max Headroom TV show (1985).
This neo-noir mystery
thriller successfully has all the elements and atmosphere of a classic noir:
Rain-soaked streets.
Light cutting through Venetian
blinds.
Suspicion and mistakes
along wrong trails and dead-end leads.
Hard-nosed cops,
hardboiled dialogue, and sardonic wit.
Unscrupulous characters
chasing their own selfish motives.
A killer lurking in the
shadows, his motive as-yet unknown.
An ordinary man, who
doesn’t consider himself extraordinary, thrown into extraordinary
circumstances.
The production company,
Touchstone Pictures, set the tone for an old-style thriller.
Their logo
and name appear on screen in monochrome black and white, with a thunder crack
and lightning flash, before the movie even starts.
Two suspenseful
cliff-hanger set-pieces involve the off-camera killer indulging in some nail
gun fun, while Dexter and Sydney get unstuck in an ascending elevator
car, and a violent confrontation with two characters ending up dead in a tar
pit.
The cinematography and
editing are also effective, particularly in the scenes where Dexter looks out of
a high-rise dormitory window, the poison in his system taking hold, inducing in
him a reaction of acrophobia.
Dexter sees himself plummeting to the sidewalk.
A
sense of what Lang might have glimpsed in his last moments, as he plunged from
the college rooftop.
Dexter’s panicked and
aimless run through the crowded streets, after he has escaped the cops, and
wonders where to go and what the hell to do next.
The final wrap-up is
well handled.The reveal is a sudden,
but logical twist, with an insightful statement on the real value and reward of
what it is to be a writer.
In the climactic fight
scene, as Dexter’s energy and life ebbs, so the color also drains back to black
and white.
Dexter, transitioned from college English Professor to Private Detective in his own murder case,
then comes full circle, as he finishes relaying his findings to the two
detectives.
It’s no surprise that
Dexter accepts his fate.He has no other choice.
We know from the first scene
that he’s a dead man walking, searching for the motive and culprit behind his
own murder.
His story and quest are told with gallows humor and energetic pacing.
The color green is
always there, hanging over them, dooming them all.The green-eyed monster
of jealousy, poisoning minds, like the luminous green poison slowly killing
Dexter.
Dexter’s departure to
the afterlife, is shown as a final walk down a dimly lit corridor, towards an
open, light-filled door.The light intensifies and his silhouette vanishes.
As the end credits roll, it's a cinematic fade to
black for Dexter and the audience.
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