In the sign of the virgin
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | In the sign of the virgin |
| Original title | The January Man |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1988 |
| length | 93 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Pat O'Connor |
| script | John Patrick Shanley |
| production |
Norman Jewison , Ezra Sverdlov |
| music | Marvin Hamlisch |
| camera | Jerzy Zieliński |
| cut | Lou Lombardo |
| occupation | |
| |
The January Man ( The January Man ) is a romantic thriller , which in the United States from 1988 Pat O'Connor was filmed.
action
New York City has been trembling for months at a brutal murderer of women . The killer has already murdered eleven single women in Manhattan . The latest victim is celebrity Alison Hawkins, who was strangled on New Years Eve. The murder victim is a friend of Bernadette Flynn, daughter of the charismatic Mayor of New York, Eamon Flynn. For the police chief Frank Starkey the investigation pressure increases. Under pressure from the mayor it remains only one way out: He reluctantly asks his brother Nick for help, an ex-cop and - case analyst , who struck off for unorthodox investigative methods suspended was and now as a kind of hippie - Star - firefighter works and u. a. Rescuing children from burning buildings. The politicians bring him back into active service with media coverage and pass him on to the grumpy Captain Vincent Alcoa, who knows him from before. Nick sets up an office of his choice, has an assistant ("Ed") with him and requests unusual material. Bernadette Flynn and Nick fall in love.
With a mixture of intuition, expertise and luck, Nick sets out to decipher the complicated system behind the series of murders. The past keeps catching up with him - in the form of his former girlfriend, the still desirable Christine, who had left him because of his brother Frank and is now married to him - and an ominous check from back then. He is supported in his investigations and in locating the murderer by his friend and neighbor, the painter Ed and Bernadette. Nick and his helpers finally found the scheme of the calendar data on the computer, the prime numbers, buildings along which he murders in two dimensions, according to the constellation Virgo , and the floors that resemble the notes of the pop hit Calendar Girl . Nick uses this data to calculate the next crime time and scene.
Bernadette makes herself available as a decoy and is actually attacked by the killer. However, she has her neck protected with a cuff so that she cannot be strangled. Nick storms out of hiding, frees her and overpowers the perpetrator.
Reviews
film-dienst : “Exciting detective film about an ingenious police officer and lovable outsider who persistently defies all norms. The production takes the stereotypes of the genre seriously, but brightens the atmosphere with well-dosed humor. "
Vincent Canby of the New York Times wrote, “Mr. Steiger has some authentically fun appearances as Mayor,” commented extensively on the hairstyles , and continued, “Pat O'Connor is what drives the talented comedian Kevin Kline to a high level of humor that one gets scared and anxious. "
Chris Hicks, Deseret News : "Harvey Keitel [...] seems to have flowed into a completely different film."
At rec.arts.movies.reviews, Cloyd Goodrum said: “None of the threads will be continued. New story lines are added [...] Quite interesting [...] "Roger Ebert called the film one of the worst films ever made. Nothing tried would work here. Washington Post's Rita Kempley also panned the film. On Rotten Tomatoes , the movie has a rate of 21%.
Web links
- In Virgo in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Under the sign of the Virgin in the online film database
- The January Man atRotten Tomatoes(English)
- Under the sign of the virgin at www.film.at
Individual evidence
- ↑ Vincent Canby : January Man (1989) Review / Film; Kevin Kline On the Trail Of a Killer. In: The New York Times . January 13, 2009, accessed April 13, 2009 : “Mr. Steiger has some genuinely funny moments as the Mayor […] Pat O'Connor […] allows this very gifted comic actor to work so hard trying to be funny that one alternately sweats and cringes while watching him "
- ↑ Chris Hicks: January Man, The. (No longer available online.) In: Deseret News. February 9, 1989, archived from the original on April 16, 2008 ; accessed on April 13, 2009 (English): "Harvey Keitel has probably lost his way" Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Cloyd Goodrum: January Man (1989). In: rec.arts.movies.reviews. 1989, accessed on April 13, 2009 (English, at IMDb ): "None of the subplots has been thought through and to make matters worse, further subplots are opened"
- ↑ Ebert's review
- ↑ Kempley's review
- ↑ Rotten Tomatoes (Eng.)
