Fatal Attraction (1987)

A married man's one night stand comes back to haunt him when that lover begins to stalk him and his family.

Director:

Adrian Lyne

Writers:

James Dearden (screenplay), James Dearden (short film)

Stars:

Michael Douglas, Glenn Close, Anne Archer

Nominated for 6 Oscars. Another 7 wins & 14 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michael Douglas	...	Dan Gallagher
Glenn Close	...	Alex Forrest
Anne Archer	...	Beth Gallagher
Ellen Hamilton Latzen	...	Ellen Gallagher
Stuart Pankin	...	Jimmy
Ellen Foley	...	Hildy
Fred Gwynne	...	Arthur
Meg Mundy	...	Joan Rogerson
Tom Brennan	...	Howard Rogerson
Lois Smith	...	Martha
Mike Nussbaum	...	Bob Drimmer
J.J. Johnston	...	O'Rourke
Michael Arkin	...	Lieutenant
Sam Coppola	...	Fuselli (as Sam J. Coppola)
Eunice Prewitt	...	Receptionist

Storyline

Happily married New York lawyer Dan Callagher has an affair with his colleague Alex, and the two enjoy a love weekend while Dan's wife and kid are away. But Alex will not let go of him, and she will stop at nothing to have him for herself. Just how far will she go to get what she wants?.

---

Plot Keywords:

new york | sexual obsession | cuckolded husband | fondling | wronged wife | 

---

Taglines:

On the other side of drinks, dinner and a one night stand, lies a terrifying love story.

---

Genres:

Drama | Thriller

---

Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 September 1987 (USA)

Also Known As:

Diversion

Filming Locations:

400 East 14th Street, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$14,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$156,645,693 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

119 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Dolby Digital (5.1 surround)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Glenn Close still has the knife she used in the movie hanging in her kitchen.

---

Goofs

When Dan and Alex are making love in the elevator, they are first standing on the side closest to the windows, and then they move to the other side where shadows are cast from the windows. However, when we zoom in on them, they are back on the opposite side of the elevator.

---

Quotes

[first lines]
Beth Gallagher: [to Ellen] You better get going, kiddo. You're gonna be late.

---

Crazy Credits

Barbara Harris is sometimes credited under the name Barbara Iley. In the final credits here, under 'Party Guests', she is credited under both names.

---

Connections

Featured in Retrosexual: The 80's (2004)

---

Soundtracks

"SABINO"
Written by Ramon Rodriguez
Performed by Santiago Ceron
Courtesy of Sabroso Recording Company, Inc.

User Reviews

Made me squirm

Although I found myself checking the elapsed time during this movie to get some idea of when it would end, the final scenes made me squirm with sympathetic fright for the characters.

Roger Ebert says the filmmakers ruined a perfectly good psychological thriller by attaching a "Friday the 13th" ending. The IMDb Trivia page says the movie originally had a different ending in which Glenn Close's character commits suicide and Michael Douglas' character is arrested for her murder. Ebert and most serious film lovers would likely have preferred that ending. But making profitable movies sometimes means making them unpalatable for highbrow students of film.

Nevertheless, the "flawed" film resonated with women. I have vague memories of female friends and acquaintances in the late '80s seeing "Fatal Attraction" as an example of what SHOULD happen to any man who cheats on his wife. The movie found a place in our culture for a while, and the title was a euphemism for similar happenings in real life.

One wonders how much this movie had to do with the near universal creation of "stalker laws" in the 1990s.