I liked a lot of this film. The yachting scenes and the wonderful score by John Barry really added to the film. Sometimes I seemed to be watching 'Thunderball', the score of 'Masquerade' was so obviously from the same composer.
I really liked Meg Tilly, whom I had never heard of before this film. She was the perfect choice for the role of Olivia, the less-than-stunning heiress swept away by the gorgeous sailor Tim ( Rob Lowe). I never realized Meg is 4 years older than Rob until I consulted their entries in the IMDb. Here she plays a naive heiress several years younger than her love interest very convincingly.
The film alludes to the death of Olivia's mother in an explosion on her yacht. Since this death would greatly benefit Gateworth, he likely had a hand in it. Cop Mike mentions how many propane explosions occur each year, so this hints that he engineered this 'accident'. However this point is never cleared up in the film.
Rob Lowe and Meg Tilly really had chemistry together. Olivia had sort of drifted through her life in a fog because facing reality was too painful. Tim really cut through her defenses and awakened her to the joys of true love. Olivia immediately became pregnant and was overjoyed to have a child with her new love. Olivia's life became a joy instead of a long nightmare.
What kept getting in the way was the idiotic plot. Apparently the cop Mike had worked the sailboat racing circuit before joining the police force in Hampton Shores. He met Tim and Olivia's stepfather Gateworth and hatched a scheme to murder Olivia and loot her estate.
I could never figure out where the two outsiders expected to share in the loot from the estate. If Olivia died childless and unmarried, Gateworth stood to inherit the entire estate as the sole surviving heir. Why was accomplice Tim supposed to marry Olivia and muddy the chances of inheriting the estate? If Gateworth did in fact inherit the whole estate, why would he have shared the proceeds with his two accomplices? If these two suddenly became rich after the estate was settled, it would increase suspicion of foul play. Gateworth would already be under suspicion as the person to profit most from the untimely death of Olivia.
The cop Mike should have deduced that he would wind up dead after contributing to the death of Olivia. His knowledge of the circumstances of Olivia's death would always be a threat to Gateworth. Tim would also be a threat to the continued enjoyment of Gateworth's new riches. After the marriage of Tim and Olivia and the death of Gateworth, Mike would have no claim on the estate. He would have to blackmail Tim with planted evidence that Tim had murdered Gateworth's girlfriend to shut her up. If evidence of Tim's guilt suddenly appeared long after the girlfriend's death, questions about why evidence had been withheld would arise.
Tim's mistress Brooke Morrison, wife of his employer, was blackmailed into providing an alibi for Tim when Gateworth wound up dead in Olivia's bedroom. Brooke testified to the police that Tim had been in her bed when Gateworth was shot in Olivia's bedroom. The film fails to consider the problem Tim would have appearing in Brooke's bedroom fresh from his recent love scene with Olivia. To put it delicately, Brooke's nose would have to be numb not to detect the scents of recent lovemaking on her boy-toy Tim.
Strangely Brooke's husband never found out what his wife had been up to or else didn't care. He continued to employ Tim on his racing boat and sought his services in future racing events.
The film finale killed off almost everyone to tie off the plot threads. I could never understand how rogue cop Mike could hope to murder Olivia right under the nose of the Chief Of Police and escape the consequences.
It seemed that the writers ran out of ideas on how to write the climax. I suppose the viewer was supposed to just be swept along with the flow and not think too hard about the logic of the plot.
I really liked Meg Tilly, whom I had never heard of before this film. She was the perfect choice for the role of Olivia, the less-than-stunning heiress swept away by the gorgeous sailor Tim ( Rob Lowe). I never realized Meg is 4 years older than Rob until I consulted their entries in the IMDb. Here she plays a naive heiress several years younger than her love interest very convincingly.
The film alludes to the death of Olivia's mother in an explosion on her yacht. Since this death would greatly benefit Gateworth, he likely had a hand in it. Cop Mike mentions how many propane explosions occur each year, so this hints that he engineered this 'accident'. However this point is never cleared up in the film.
Rob Lowe and Meg Tilly really had chemistry together. Olivia had sort of drifted through her life in a fog because facing reality was too painful. Tim really cut through her defenses and awakened her to the joys of true love. Olivia immediately became pregnant and was overjoyed to have a child with her new love. Olivia's life became a joy instead of a long nightmare.
What kept getting in the way was the idiotic plot. Apparently the cop Mike had worked the sailboat racing circuit before joining the police force in Hampton Shores. He met Tim and Olivia's stepfather Gateworth and hatched a scheme to murder Olivia and loot her estate.
I could never figure out where the two outsiders expected to share in the loot from the estate. If Olivia died childless and unmarried, Gateworth stood to inherit the entire estate as the sole surviving heir. Why was accomplice Tim supposed to marry Olivia and muddy the chances of inheriting the estate? If Gateworth did in fact inherit the whole estate, why would he have shared the proceeds with his two accomplices? If these two suddenly became rich after the estate was settled, it would increase suspicion of foul play. Gateworth would already be under suspicion as the person to profit most from the untimely death of Olivia.
The cop Mike should have deduced that he would wind up dead after contributing to the death of Olivia. His knowledge of the circumstances of Olivia's death would always be a threat to Gateworth. Tim would also be a threat to the continued enjoyment of Gateworth's new riches. After the marriage of Tim and Olivia and the death of Gateworth, Mike would have no claim on the estate. He would have to blackmail Tim with planted evidence that Tim had murdered Gateworth's girlfriend to shut her up. If evidence of Tim's guilt suddenly appeared long after the girlfriend's death, questions about why evidence had been withheld would arise.
Tim's mistress Brooke Morrison, wife of his employer, was blackmailed into providing an alibi for Tim when Gateworth wound up dead in Olivia's bedroom. Brooke testified to the police that Tim had been in her bed when Gateworth was shot in Olivia's bedroom. The film fails to consider the problem Tim would have appearing in Brooke's bedroom fresh from his recent love scene with Olivia. To put it delicately, Brooke's nose would have to be numb not to detect the scents of recent lovemaking on her boy-toy Tim.
Strangely Brooke's husband never found out what his wife had been up to or else didn't care. He continued to employ Tim on his racing boat and sought his services in future racing events.
The film finale killed off almost everyone to tie off the plot threads. I could never understand how rogue cop Mike could hope to murder Olivia right under the nose of the Chief Of Police and escape the consequences.
It seemed that the writers ran out of ideas on how to write the climax. I suppose the viewer was supposed to just be swept along with the flow and not think too hard about the logic of the plot.