Through Naked Eyes (1983) (TV)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

John Llewellyn Moxey

Writer:

Jeffrey Bloom (writer)

Release Date:

11 December 1983 (USA)

Genre:

Thriller

Plot:

A musician living in an apartment building likes to check out the residents of the building opposite...

Plot Keywords:

Serial Killer

Cast

David Soul	...	William Parrish
Pam Dawber	...	Anne Walsh
Fionnula Flanagan	...	Dr. Frances Muller
William Schallert	...	Terry Parrish
Dick Anthony Williams	...	Det. Wylie
Gerald Castillo	...	Sgt. Scopetta
Rod McCary	...	Terry Sheppard
Amy Morton	...	Karen
Ward Ohrman	...	Chairman
Michael Miller	...	Waiter
Arnold Kopek	...	One-armed Man
Rick Le Fevour	...	Stuntman
Rick Cluckey	...	Detective
Roberta Bassin	...	Newswoman
Rolf Boettger	...	Maitre d'

Runtime:

USA:91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M (video rating)

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Company:

American Broadcasting Company (ABC)

Fun but not a lot happening

This dippy mystery stars David Soul and Pam Dawber (Mindy!) as Anne and William, two people caught up in a tale of murderous goings on in a high rise apartment block. This is a fairly standard made-for-TV thriller, which attempts to generate thrills with it's central theme of snooping through binoculars at people in distant windows, which is what the two leads do to each other, and what the murderer seems to do to his victims, in fact so do the police while on surveillance! Sadly the idea of mixing murder with long distance surveillance has been done enough times already in the movies, and this one doesn't have anything new to offer. If anything, the actual snooping has very little to do with the plot or the uncovering of anything of much that may have provided extra excitement. What is VERY odd is that Anne and William actually start a romance together after spotting each other from distant windows which is not very wholesome when you think about it, especially as Anne actually uses a telescope rather than binoculars to peer at William, and does so in quite a predatory fashion! But all this is laughed off once they meet, confess their snooperish leanings and start to fall in love with each other...hmm, not sure about that myself! All the while, a murderer in the apartment complex is knifing random people to death and who knows who will be his next victim. The story does flow along quite well, with William being set up as the main suspect for most of the time, and there's some nice acting from all concerned. My only concern is that all the telescope-related action falls into nothing but window dressing as none of the peeping apparatus is ever used to pursue any interesting plot twists - except for the VERY obvious climax in which someone VERY obviously spots the murderer through binoculars and screams "Oh my god - He's in the apartment!!", which was the one thing I would have expected the film to try and do a new take on, but no luck I'm afraid.

There is some suspense, and the subplots about both main characters having other sides to them such as Anne's lecherous agent and William's father and current on-off girlfriend are kind of interesting. But I take this film to task because not a single loose end is tied up with regard to explaining the motivation behind the murders. Big disappointment there, and extremely lazy to roll the credits as soon as the script has the guilty party dealt with. A case of "job done, let's go home". Thanks a lot guys! So, fun and diverting, but a bit unsatisfying and with very little emphasis on binocular snooping except to show us that it's generally harmless but our romantic leads (particularly Anne) are a bit perverted.