Someone to Watch Over Me
Tags: neo noir, murder

Plot synopsis:
Socialite Claire Gregory (Mimi Rogers) attends a party and art show sponsored by one of her oldest friends, Winn Hockings (Mark Moses). Accompanying her is her straitlaced boyfriend, Neil Steinhart (John Rubinstein). In another part of town, there is another party, this one for newly appointed NYPD detective Mike Keegan (Tom Berenger).
Winn is accosted by a former partner, Joey Venza (Andreas Katsulas), who is angry because Winn had not come to him to borrow money for his new art studio. After a short argument, he stabs Winn to death. Claire witnesses the killing as she steps out of the elevator; she screams and is spotted by Venza. He pursues her, but she manages to get back into the elevator just in time.
The police are called in and the new detective Keegan is there. He is a married man, but immediately falls for Claire. Along with fellow cops, he is assigned to protect Claire until she can make a positive ID of Venza (once he is arrested) and testify in court.
Keegan is determined to protect Claire and goes to extremes to do so. Venza makes numerous threats and attempts on her life, nearly succeeding at one point. Keegan and his wife Ellie (Lorraine Bracco) separate over his involvement in the case. He and Claire acknowledge their love but Keegan cannot bring himself to simply abandon his family.
At the end, Venza, who draws out Keegan by taking his son hostage, is shot by Ellie and killed. Claire breaks up with her staid boyfriend and intends to go to Europe to get over Keegan, who returns to his wife and son.

Review: I'll always remember the music (the title song as well as the classical pieces used throughout), the vestibule of Mimi Roger's apartment palace, the scene of Tom Berenger having breakfast with his family, Lorraine Bracco's fiery performance as his wife, and the haunting opening aerial shots of NYC lit up at night.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out how it all ends, but director Ridley Scott somehow manages to keep it compelling thanks to some great direction and wonderful performances from the cast.
This may not be the best film you'll ever see, but it's one of the better thrillers of the 1980's, and a worthy testament to Ridley Scott's versatility as a director.
This is a film with multiple agendas, and Ridley Scott, best known at the time for 1979's ALIEN and 1982's BLADE RUNNER, is frankly an odd choice to direct such a picture.
However, Scott proves himself to be up to the challenge, and film plays like a slightly abstract dream that isn't afraid to crash down into gritty realism on occasion.
With his film noir skills perfected with BLADE RUNNER, Scott turns the focus from the future to an equally idealized version of the present (well, 1987 to be exact), but he maintains the same sense of visual menace and harsh industrialism.Tom Berenger has received a considerable amount of criticism for the irritating fake Brooklyn accent he delivers his lines in, but I overall I found him to be quite acceptable in the role.
Jerry Orbach and John Rubinstein are also memorable supporting parts, but it is Lorraine Bracco who steals the picture as Berenger's feisty wife.
Long before she was best known as Tony Soprano's psychiatrist, Bracco brought to the screen the ultimate portrayal of the modern wife and mother - loving but fierce, tough but compassionate, and not afraid to slap some sense into the man who has done her wrong.And I love Sting's opening rendition of the title Gershwin classic..
Mimi Rogers puts in a credible performance as a tortured socialite and the thrill of the chase makes for some startling and real scenes which keep you on the edge of your seat.
In Queens, Mike Keegan (Tom Berenger) is celebrating with his wife Ellie (Lorraine Bracco), his son Tommy and friends his recent promotion to detective in a precinct in Manhattan.
Meanwhile, in a fancy club, the socialite Claire Gregory (Mimi Rogers) witnesses the murder of the owner of the place by the powerful mobster Joey Venza (Andreas Katsulas).
The story may be not original, the conclusion is quite moralist, but there is an important and unusual approach regarding the difference of classes and consequently of worlds, which is the basis for the conflictive romance between Claire and Mike.
The direction of Ridley Scott is tight and perfect, as usual, using different angles camera and magnificent photography and shadows in the night, to express the differences between the two worlds.
The cast is very inspired, and in my opinion, this is the best role of Mimi Rogers, amazingly perfect as an elegant, wealthy and needy of love woman and wearing a beautiful hair style.
Tom Berenger is outstanding as Mike, and Lorraine Bracco is also fantastic in the role of a simple woman and wounded wife.
The music score is awesome, highlighting the three versions of the song of George and Ira Gershwin, which gives the title of the film, specially the last one with the interpretation of Roberta Flack.
Berenger is solid in the lead and Bracco fantastic as the fiery wife, while Rogers is sultry in a very classy way as the other woman.
Brooklyn Detective Tom Berenger is assigned to watch over socialite Mimi Rogers after she witnesses a brutal murder where a high profile Mafioso is involved.
Berenger gets caught between two worlds; the upper class one he takes a liking to and the normal one (with a wife and kid) in the slums of Queens which he seems to be tiring of.Highly stylish drama/thriller courtesy of Ridley Scott, who directs with his usual visual flair and examines the world of the wealthy seen through the eyes of a middle class voyeur and mixes in some solid suspense to boot.
The drama aspect is well handled, pitting Berenger in a dire situation where he must ultimately choose between a life he's already made for himself and a life that can seem very tempting from his perspective.Suspense is also plenty with some fantastic sequences, particularly one inside Mimi Rogers' apartment, not too unlike Dario Argento's Opera in some respects (and even beat it by a year, I think).Tom Berenger does well in the lead, displaying easily the conflicts his character is facing, Rogers is a stunner and gives a subdued and convincing performance.
The usually intolerable Lorraine Bracco gives a forceful performance, and one the whole her relationship with Berenger is not only well played out but wholly believable.Recommended..
Ridley Scott's SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME had the misfortune to come out during a time when FATAL ATTRACTION was going to change the whole look of the psycho-thriller movie.
It's a mixed bag of a production, with some decent performances and a nice visual style, but it doesn't really do much we haven't seen before.It's clear from the outset that Scott is most interested in the dark and brooding cinematography here, because this is a fine-looking movie.
Tom Berenger is an acceptable hero and Mimi Rogers is ever-intriguing as the object of his desire, but I can't help but think there's a little too much romance here and not enough thrills.
Solid thriller about a NYC detective protecting a rich socialite from the killer that she saw in the commission of a murder.
Tom Berenger, Mike Keegan, is great as a NYC cop, sporting a very good New York City working-class class accent, being assigned on his first case as a NYC detective to keep eye-witness Mimi Rogers, Claire Gregory, alive and well to identify the murderer Andreas Katsulas, Joey Venza, of a nightclub owner Mark Moses, Win Hockings, who was a good friend of hers.
Det. Keegan falls in love with the beautiful, which is obvious to everyone watching the movie, Miss.Gregory which ends up almost wrecking his marriage as well as his job to no fault of his own under the circumstances that he was put in, the guy's only human!
With Mimi Rogers giving one of her best performances as a woman who's life is turned upside down by what she saw.
Very good interacting between Tom Berenger and his wife in the movie Ellie, Lorraine Bracco, on how the rigors of Det.Keegan being a cop in a big city can create havoc for his family as well as his professional life with a frightening and suspenseful ending that strikes home in more ways then one."Someone to watch over me" has a good story and great acting all around with Lorraine Bracco a real stand out in one of the best police thrillers of the 1980's..
A working class, married cop is assigned to protect a rich socialite from a psychopath in Ridley Scott's 1988 film: what follows is a completely predictable thriller, with indifferent acting, forced local accents and a conclusion that advocates keeping guns at home.
Brooklyn detective (Berenger) gets promoted & has new assignment - Keep watch over rich & sultry Manhattanite Claire Gregory (Mimi Rogers) becuz she witnessed a murder.
'Watch' this film & find out.Berenger looks fit & handsome as usual, especially back in the '80's.
Tony DiBenedetto (the big burly limo driver from My Favorite Year) was also 'on the watch' & played Berenger's best friend.
Tom Berenger plays police officer and family man Mike Keegen, who is assigned to protect socialite Claire Gregory, played by Mimi Rogers, who has witnessed a murder related to the organized crime, which of course puts her life in danger.
Despite their class differences, they grow to like each other, much to the resentment of his wife Ellie(played by Lorraine Bracco) Will Tom fall in love with Claire, and can he stop the assassins out to kill her?
Directed by Ridley Scott("Alien") this routine film seems like a waste of his talents, though he does imbue it with a glossy style, the story doesn't deserve such special treatment, being fairly obvious and predictable, despite a good cast.
Ridley Scott brings back to the screens all the glamour of the noir films of the forties.
Although Platoon is still Tom Berenger's best movie, Someone to Watch Over Me comes in second place.
The plot is a little bit predictable, but Ridley Scott does such a great job and adds so much style to the film that we can forget the fails in the story and the cliches.
It's about a cop from Brooklin (Berenger) who has to protect the life of a beautiful socialite, witness of a murder.
The visual aspects of Someone to Watch Over Me - visual is a trademark of all Scott's films - are powerful and impressive, for the first time Scott showed the world of the rich and famous in a way never seen before.
Ridley Scott told that he wanted to make Someone to Watch Over Me in the tradition of John Garfield's old noir films, and with the help of director of photography John Poster, his cameras deliver to us a bright, beautiful, sometimes menacing New York.
The opening scene of the film, Sting singing Someone to Watch Over Me and the camera showing to all of us the lights of New York is one of the key moments of the movie.
Tom Berenger, Mimi Rogers and Lorraine Bracco, represent the blue-collar cop, the high-society lady and blue-collar wife to perfection.
Society girl witnesses killing, blue-collar cop is assigned to guard her in her plush digs, they consummate a romantic relationship, blue-collar wife gets hurt (and very angry!), and the killer menaces all.Jerry Orbach and John Rubenstein round-out the primary cast.
But I would regard her as an actress, and particularly in this role, as being as sexy and sensual as, say Sharon Stone, even in "Basic Instinct." Berenger does the "aw shucks, everyman" type of character as well as anyone.The film's title song, one of Gershwin's best, has several versions during the film - and the one at the beginning, by Sting, is memorable.
Because not long before that, I had been in New York City, on business - and one Saturday evening, with a colleague and his wife, had dinner at the Four Seasons, where Sting and his party were at a nearby table.The next night, when I had flown home, he sang this song (a longer, complete version) on a television tribute to Gershwin.While this song has been used in other films (e.g.
There is added beauty[ Lorraine Bracco,beautiful, aspiring to lower middle-class respectability, with a New York accent that charms and makes one's heart smile fondly] There is the astounding sudden evil violence of Andreas Katsulas as Venza.
It's almost as if those involved where intrigued by the premise but simply grew weary and bored the longer they were involved.Said premise is effectively that family man cop Mike is assigned to protect wealthy socialite Claire after she witness a murder and the mobster who did it vows to come after her.
Mike's wife and Claire have almost no contact so we don't get any feisty scenes or morality questioning ones.Then you have the romance and it just doesn't work.
Tom Berenger is one of the few serious actors of the time who could convincingly play a tough cop and Mimi Rogers does her best at giving Claire a gentle, attractive personality.
To the film's credit it is done with subtlety and isn't completely rushed, but for it to work you really must believe that these two characters are genuinely in love with each other and I never got a sense of that.Lorraine Bracco performance as Mike's wife Ellie is one of the films best features.
I also think the scenes Berenger and Bracco share are always engaging and well-acted.There is a distinct lack of danger and intensity throughout the film that is really noticeable.
While the climax certainly gets across that the stakes are high, it's a boring situation and one that is entirely predictable.Scott's visual flair is evident throughout the film.
The opening credits sequence, featuring Sting's title track, floats over New York at night and it is a beautiful way to open the film.
Questions have to be asked over the sets however, with Claire's apartment appearing to be never ending.In reflecting on the film, Someone to Watch Over Me becomes something curious.
There is no questions over Ridley Scott's ability, I just wish that he'd have attempted to go against the grain with a story like this.
Disappointing thriller from Ridley Scott.
Mainly thanks to the director and actors.Ridley Scott directs it with passion , so the simple story is never boring and actually intriguing.
It's also interesting how Scott can make a simple thriller visually attractive.
Everything feels natural and real.Tom Berenger (mostly known for his performance in "Platoon" as the psycho soldier) gives a great performance as shy , down to Earth cop.
Mimi Rogers is also great as the independent and feisty wife of Berenger.
Not the best movie in Ridley's Scott career , but certainly not the worst.
There is a tiny redeeming feature in some of the photography, mostly the outdoor night scenes that can make the viewer think, "right, that's the Blade Runner touch." If not for those I would have rated it a 1 rather than a 2.The "luxurious" apartment of the poor beautiful rich girl is, btw, an exercise in kitsch -- bad taste at its peak.If you haven't seen this movie, and want to watch it, DO IT WITH THE MUTE ON.
You will understand the plot, such as it is, perfectly well without it.It is interesting to see a much younger Lorraine Bracco, after getting to know her character on the Sopranos about 13+ years later..
I came across this one while looking up Ridley Scott's movies, and this one looked like one of his weaker ones, so I didnt expect much, but I was surprised.
The action was great, the music was cool, and the actors had great chemestry, Lorraine Bracco gave the best performance.
After seeing this, I think this is one of Ridley Scott's better movies, the ones that were supposed to be his best(Blade Runner and Gladiator) bored the hell out of me.
Most things in the movie seemed over done, say the stereotypical NY Queens wife and NY cop.
"Someone To Watch Over Me" is a visual treat with some exceptionally beautiful shots (such as those of New York City at night and a number of stunning interiors) which together with a marvellous musical score contribute strongly to the movie's incredibly rich atmosphere.
Instead, the focus is on the powerful impact they all have on the various people involved.Newly promoted police detective Mike Keegan (Tom Berenger) is given responsibility for protecting a wealthy Manhattan socialite Claire Gregory (Mimi Rogers) whose life is in danger because she was the only person who witnessed the brutal murder of one of her close friends.
He soon becomes attracted to Claire and her glamorous lifestyle; she appreciates the level of security his presence provides and soon the unlikely couple fall in love.Mike's wife Ellie (Lorraine Bracco) becomes suspicious about the nature of his relationship with Claire and his tacit admission about their affair leads to the break up of his family.
Ultimately the intensity of Mike's anguish and Claire's desolation are both incredibly profound."Someone To Watch Over Me" is a romantic thriller which is beautifully directed by Ridley Scott and features consistently good performances by its talented cast.
Lorraine Bracco provides the stand out performance as Mike's feisty, down-to-earth wife whose instincts are totally reliable and Andreas Katsulas' physiognomy and bearing make him the perfect choice for the story's villain..
The concept in a story about two people from two different walks of life getting involved in a love affair that will consume them, is not exactly new in mainstream movies.
If then, a murder is thrown in, it adds another layer to the film.Ridley Scott, is a director with a keen sense of style.
We realize from the beginning these lovers are doomed.The best thing in the film are the two leads, Mimi Rogers is an exciting presence in whatever she decides to appear in, as it's the case here.
Tom Berenger, with his rough good looks is perfect for the awkward detective that can't resist a woman out of his league.
Lorraine Bracco, who in this film bears an uncanny resemblance with Debra Winger, plays the wife of the detective, and is also a cop.
Andreas Katsulas is at his best creepy self as the man who doesn't want to be identified and will do anything to get his accuser out of the picture.Ridley Scott delivers with his usual elegance and eye for the luxury most of us mere mortals can't afford..
A Manhattan socialite (Mimi Rogers) accidentally witnesses a murder.
A detective (Tom Berenger), with a loving wife (Lorraine Bracco) and kid, is assigned to watch over her.
His marriage begins to crumble and the killer is still on the loose...Very good, forgotten thriller from Ridley Scott.
Most of the movie takes place at night...even the indoor scenes in Rogers' gorgeous, huge apartment are mostly in dark or shadow.
And there's TONS of fog in the outside scenes (Manhattan looks like London with all of that fog)  Along with a great jazz score the movie has a very moody, sensual quality that I loved.
Bracco plays down the role of Berenger's wife.
At the end Berenger has to pick between Bracco and Rogers.
Rogers comes across MUCH better and kinder than Bracco does, BUT this is a Hollywood film and the hero can't leave his wife and kid.