IMDb > Last Embrace (1979)

Last Embrace (1979) More at IMDbPro »

Overview

User Rating:
6.3/10   798 votes
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Director:
Jonathan Demme
Writers:
Murray Teigh Bloom (novel)
David Shaber (screenplay)
Contact:
View company contact information for Last Embrace on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
4 May 1979 (USA) more
Genre:
Thriller more
Tagline:
It begins with an ancient warning. It ends at the edge of Niagara Falls. In between there are 5 murders. Solve the mystery. Or die trying. more
Plot:
Harry breaks down and loses his job after his wife is assassinated - could it be his turn next ? full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
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User Comments:
Avenger of the Blood more (28 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Roy Scheider ... Harry Hannan
Janet Margolin ... Ellie Fabian
John Glover ... Richard Peabody
Sam Levene ... Sam Urdell
Charles Napier ... Dave Quittle

Christopher Walken ... Eckart
Jacqueline Brookes ... Dr. Coopersmith
David Margulies ... Rabbi Josh Drexel
Andrew Duncan ... Bernie Meckler
Marcia Rodd ... Adrian
Gary Goetzman ... Tour Guide (as Gary Getzman)
Lou Gilbert ... Rabbi Jacobs

Mandy Patinkin ... First Commuter
Max Wright ... Second Commuter
Sandy McLeod ... Dorothy Hannan
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Additional Details

Parents Guide:
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Runtime:
102 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Sound Mix:
Stereo
Certification:
Iceland:16 | Australia:M | Netherlands:16 (DVD rating) | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:18 | Canada:AA
Filming Locations:
Niagara Falls, New York, USA more
Company:
Taylor-Wigutow Productions more

Fun Stuff

Goofs:
Factual errors: Sam translates the Hebrew name "Zvi Migdal" as "big tower". While "migdal" does mean "tower", the word "zvi" means "deer". And it would more properly be called Migdal Zvi, not Zvi Migdal. more
Movie Connections:
References The Birds (1963) more
Soundtrack:
THE FORTIES more

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User Comments

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8 out of 14 people found the following comment useful.
Avenger of the Blood, 15 September 2004
9/10
Author: sol from Brooklyn NY USA

****SPOILERS**** Hitchcock-type thriller that is in a lot of ways as good or even, shall I dare say it, better then most of the classic thrillers directed by that legendary film maker.

Gripping from start to finish "Last Embrace" is one of those forgotten films by the movie-going public that over the years, since it's release back in 1979, that when re-discovered it has the Hitchcock thrillers compared to it instead of the other way around.

Surviving an assassination attempt that took his wife's Dorothy, Sandy McLoad, life government agent Harry Hannan, Roy Scheider, suffered a nervous breakdown from holding himself responsible for his wife's death by taking her to the restaurant where she was killed. Harry ends up being hospitalized for over three months in a Connecticut sanitarium. Harry needs to get back to work to get his life together again and be normal but the head of the agency that Harry works for Mr. Eckert, Christopher Walken, has doubts about Harry's ability to do his job. Later Mr.Eckart comes to the conclusion to terminate Harrys services as well as Harry himself.

The movie "Last Embrace" is much deeper and more interesting then you at first would have thought. Harry is being shadowed by an unseen killer who already murdered five people, a sixth person is later murdered in a Niagara Falls hotel. The only connection that the victims have with each other is a chilling note that they, including Harry, received written in ancient Hebrew and Aramaic. With a quote from the book of Deuteronomy stating "Avenger of the Blood".

Based on the Murrary Teigh Bloom novel thriller "The 13th Man" the film "Last Embrace" is a well thought out story that keeps you guessing to just where it's taking you until the very end. It's then where all at once you begin to realize all the clues that you, and Harry, missed that were right in front of you. But are so well hidden it would have taken a Det.Columbo or Sherlock Holmes to spot them.

Roy Scheider gives one of his best performances as the troubled and guilt-ridden Harry Hannan. The beautiful Janet Margolin was never better as Ellie Fabian the young women with a past and secret that was the key to what was the real reason behind all those shocking and ritualistic-like murders in the movie.

The late Sam Levene, in what I think was his last film, was very effective as the private detective Sam Urdell working for a Jewish group who were concerned about the murders and the connection that they had to a deadly and mysterious Hebrew death threat. As well as all of the murder victims being Jewish.

The ending of the movie is a real shocker even though by that time you have an idea of just what it's going to be. "Last Embrace" is easily one of the best thrillers of the 1970's 80's 90's or of any other decade of great movie thrillers that you can think of and undoubtedly one of the ten best of all times.

The film has so many memorable scenes in it that it's hard to pick which one was the best. The two that I especially liked are first the one where Harry has a shoot-out with Dave Quittle,Charles Napler, his wife Dorothy's brother who was sent by Eckert to kill Harry at a Princeton NJ bell tower Where Dave ends up not only dead but stone deaf as well. And of course the final scene between Harry and Ellie at Niagara Falls that even the great Alfred Hitchcock would have been proud of making.

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Way too overrated! (spoilers within) kayzed
R rating....... herbstnebel2ss
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