Her Alibi (1989)

A writer of BAD detective novels is in full writers' block. He pretends to be the alibi of a beautiful woman who was arrested for murder at first thinking her innocent, but as she shows ... See full summary »

Director:

Bruce Beresford

Writer:

Charlie Peters

Stars:

Tom Selleck, Paulina Porizkova, William Daniels

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tom Selleck	...	Phil Blackwood
Paulina Porizkova	...	Nina Lonescu
William Daniels	...	Sam
James Farentino	...	Frank Polito
Hurd Hatfield	...	Troppa
Ronald Guttman	...	'Lucy' Comanescu
Victor Argo	...	Avram
Patrick Wayne	...	Gary Blackwood
Tess Harper	...	Sally Blackwood
Bill Smitrovich	...	Farrell
Bobo Lewis	...	Rose
Jane Welch	...	Millie
Austin Hay	...	Oliver
W. Benson Terry	...	FX
Joan Copeland	...	Audrey

Storyline

A writer of BAD detective novels is in full writers' block. He pretends to be the alibi of a beautiful woman who was arrested for murder at first thinking her innocent, but as she shows more and more interesting abilities (such as knife throwing) he begins to doubt his first assessment. He is still falling for her, but more and more nervous as time passes, and there are more close calls with death on his part.

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Plot Keywords:

detective | writer's block | romanian | hairy chest | bare chested male | 

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Taglines:

Tom Selleck is [Her Alibi]

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Mystery | Romance

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Romanian Spanish

Release Date:

3 February 1989 (USA)

Also Known As:

Mi testigo preferido

Filming Locations:

USA

Box Office

Gross USA:

$18,699,037

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The minor character of Dr. Singh was portrayed by a real life medico who was Pankaj Talwar M.D.

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Goofs

When Phil and Sam are in the restaurant at the beginning, and the camera is on Phil, a couple stroll by outside the window. The man has a boombox on his shoulder. The shot cuts to Sam and then cuts right back to Phil, and that same couple is strolling by the window in the same spot.

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Quotes

Phil Blackwood: [On phone] Absolutely, Lieutenant. She's great.
[Dog jumps on him]
Phil Blackwood: Down! Get down!
Frank Polito: Am I interrupting something?
Phil Blackwood: [to dog] Get down!
[Into phone]
Phil Blackwood: Yes. Yes, you are.
[Turns to Nina as she's trying to pull out an arrow in his leg]
Phil Blackwood: Don't pull it!
[Screams in pain]
[...]

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Connections

Featured in At the Movies: Her Alibi/Three Fugitives/Lawrence of Arabia/Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects/Voices of Sarafina (1989)

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Soundtracks

TUTTI FRUTTI
Written by Little Richard (as Richard Penniman), Dorothy La Bostrie and Joe Lubin
Performed by Little Richard
Courtesy of Dominion Entertainment, Inc.

User Reviews

How do you say in Romanian, get lost dick-face! Tremendous Fun

Philip Blackwood is a depressed writer who's lost his spark and his passion for writing. His successful detective character is the subject of endless predictable stories and his agent is on his back trying to get him to turn it around. As he goes to court with the usual oldies who attend in order to have something to Gossip about up steps the beautiful Nina, an eastern European arrested for murdering a fellow countryman with a pair of scissors. Tom Selleck decides to act as her alibi (Hey it's the title of the film as well!) and invites her to live with him as he believes she is innocent. As the police detective that drops by to chat with Philip Blackwood informs him, if the alibi is made up then he is not only a perjurer, but more importantly, he is liable to be the next victim in order for the alibi to stand forever. What follows is a series of ridiculous escapades in which Philip's life is under threat at every stage of the day, never knowing if the lovely Nina is a cold blooded killer or just deadly unlucky.

I had the fortune to get this film out of the video library on a whim and wound up falling in love with the film as much as Blackwood does with Nina, the parallels between his super-cool fictional world and the clumsy long suffering Blackwood are fantastic, and all the supporting cast do a great job.

Don't get me wrong, this is not an Annie Hall or a when harry met sally, it's silly ridiculous and as Farantino says "I gotta say, Phil, You're works a little predictable!" but it's still a good watch and a very fun film.