Word: alex
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Three archetypes for a modern mortality play. Alex Forrest, a career woman whose forcefulness sheathes a precarious ego. Dan Gallagher, a guy who seems to have embraced personal and career contradictions in a big, easy bear hug. Beth Gallagher, comfortable in her roles as wife, mother and natural stunner. But what if Alex is a creature of insatiable lust and leeching possessiveness? And if Dan's amiability has made him too soft to resist Alex's attentions or, later, to protect his family from her vengeance? And if Beth, supermom in disguise, is roused to confront the beast Alex...
...Paramount, which also released the year's No. 1 and No. 3 films (Beverly Hills Cop II and The Untouchables), is getting more than that. People can't stop talking about this movie, arguing about its characters, seeing in Dan, Beth and Alex creepy visions of themselves and their old flames. "Everybody can identify with obsessive love," says Co-Producer Sherry Lansing. "All of us have made a call in the middle of the night when we shouldn't have, or driven by somebody's house when we shouldn't have. I've never boiled a rabbit...
...some come to visit. Glenn Close, who plays Alex, was recently approached by a mid-40s woman with her husband in tow: "She had enjoyed Fatal Attraction, and was taking him to see it 'so he'll never cheat on me.' And he goes, 'Huh-huh' -- this nervous little laugh." Sidney Ganis, Paramount's marketing boss, observes, "There is a fever out there. It is more than a movie. It's part movie, part real life." Adrian Lyne, the film's director, is amazed by its reach: "The movie is almost like a living thing that feeds off the public...
...monster? Alex Forrest, creature of the id. And who are the heroes? An American family, right or wrong, weak or strong, Dan or Beth. And how does a film with no surefire stars, no space-age special effects, no ringing affirmation of the human spirit, no discernible pretensions toward art, no unanimous blessing from the critics -- and not a single teenager among its cast of characters -- luck into the national bloodstream? By tapping the current mood of sexual malaise with a cautionary -- indeed, reactionary -- tale about an errant husband, a faithful wife and a career woman unlucky in love...
Like any phenomenal film, Fatal Attraction transforms a theater full of strangers into a community: confidant to Dan, cheerleader to Beth, lynch mob for Alex. And they leave the movie with golden word of mouth. "I saw a lot of couples looking at each other sideways as they walked out," says Jim Stegall, 35, a Miami ad salesman. "The meaning of that look was obvious: Don't even think about having an affair." Director Lyne says, "I've had men ring me up and say, 'Thanks a million, buddy, you've ruined it for us.' " A Manhattan psychoanalyst told...