The Film (3.50/5)

By mid-eighties director Ridley Scott had become highly regarded for his stylish, futuristic science fiction fantasy thrillers Alien, Blade Runner and Legend. With his 1987 film Someone to Watch Over Me, Scott made a cinematic move to a picture made in present day Manhattan, leaving the science fiction and fantasy genre to create a stylish romantic crime thriller.

In Someone to watch Over me, married New York officer Mike Keegan (Tom Berenger) falls for an upper class, high society woman, Claire Gregory (Mimi Rogers) who witnessed a murder that he has been assigned to protect. To her chagrin, Claire was the lone witness, who in plain sight saw a vicious gangster Joey Venza (Andreas Katsulas) stab her close friend Winn Hockings (Mark Moses) to death when they argue over money. All she has to do is identify him if or when he’s arrested and she’s free. Well, that would be too easy. Of course things do not go as planned and she, along with Keegan, his wife and child all become targets of Venza and his gang. And to make matters worse and more complicated Mike has an affair with Claire, and Ellie finds out about it, creating severe emotional drama. While on the hunt for Venza, Mike has is forced to make difficult decision in his love life. 

Someone to Watch Over Me is an above average, literate thriller. You have the main story of a cop trying to protect a witness with an erotic adulterer-themed subplot. The acting was especially good in this film; in particular what arguably could be the most powerful scene in the film is when Keegan’s wife Ellie Keegan (Lorraine Bracco) finds out that he is having an affair with Claire while having dinner at an upscale restaurant. The acting is excellent here, perhaps painfully too good to see how Ellie reacts to her long-time husband admitting he is sleeping with Claire. Berenger’s facial expressions of guilt are so good that he needn’t (and didn’t) say a word. This scene became an emotionally devastating moment for both Mike and Ellie and many viewers could identify with.

Outside of the love triangle, the film does have some fairly suspenseful scenes; one in particular that was creepy is when no music or noise is heard while hired gun is lurking around Claire’s apartment looking to kill her and Keegan. It became Hitchcockian in that regard and should be used more often in films for the great effect it creates. The lack of music while the scene develops gave the film an added punch. 

The direction by Scott is the slow build-up type which works fine and he keeps the picture moving as it all comes to together at the payoff. The lavish cinematography is by Steven B. Poster while the Michael Kamen provided the mellow, but enjoyable musical score.

Audio/Video (3.5/5)

Shout Factory’s presentation of Someone to Watch Over Me is a solid release. Starting with the video quality, the image looks marvelous. Taking place mostly indoors, the scenery, and characters have great depth, detail and textures. Exterior shots of New York City, in particular the Twin Towers look ravishing.  The image is clean without any damages to the elements, while at the same time it never has that smooth, glossy polished appearance by any stretch of the imagination, which is fitting for the film. The color palette leans toward a cooler side and aren’t vibrant or robust. Black levels are strong throughout the presentation, with excellent shadowing; you are easily able to see the activity during the films’ nighttime scenes. Flesh tones look accurate with lots of details in close-up shots.

English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 is the lone option for this release, and the dialog, action sounds and Michael Kamen’s music come in crisp and clear without any audio issues detected. There are optional English subtitles available as well. 

Extras (2/5)

It’s not too often a Shout Factory release of an eighties film lacks supplemental materials. For whatever reasons, perhaps the cast and crew weren’t available or just didn’t want to participate, we don’t have much in the way of extras. But what we do have are two insightful interviews

“Someone...To Write A Script – An Interview with screenwriter Howard Franklin” has the writer’s take and thoughts of Someone to Watch Over Me, what inspired him to write this story and working with Ridley Scott.

“Someone...To Shoot A Movie – An Interview With Director Of Photography Steven Poster” is another insightful look at the background of the film. Poster talks about having worked with Scott in Blade Runner and now working together on a film with a smaller budget along with giving insight as to why scenes were shot in certain ways.

Overall (3.5/5)

Fans of romantic crime films and Ridley Scott completists should definitely pick this one up. The excellent performances by the cast and the Noir type settings make this a solid picture. Should you not be an extras junkie, you won’t mind the lack of bonus materials. The clean image and flawless audio will make viewing Someone to Watch Over Me something to watch over and over.