Fatal Attraction (1987) (I Love the 80's; Widescreen)

The Thriller That Started It All

By Yahoo! Shopping User  Apr 13, 2003

"Fatal Attraction" is a thriller that was a turning point for the careers of Michael Douglas, Glenn Close, and Anne Archer, and for the audience itself, telling us about the dangers of adultery, and it still rings true to this day. This movie estab...lished Michael Douglas as an impulsive nice Yuppie gone wrong (and he would do this again and again in subsequent movies, even more successfully and a step further in "Basic Instinct,' but less successfully in "Fatal Attraction" and "Basic Instinct" clones), Glenn Close as an actress with the reputation of "When I'm bad, I'm better" after years of basically playing flaccid goody-goodies, and Anne Archer as a major star with her portrayal as Douglas's sympathetic, cheated wife who would rather protect her family rather than ditch her husband who had to go into business for himself (professionally and personally at a meeting with Close while Archer and young daughter went away on a weekend to the country). Able support from veteran comic character actor Stuart Pankin as Douglas' boisterous married friend who first philanders with Close at the party where Douglas gets to meet and then flirt with her. The problems with "Fatal Attraction" was the excessive use of blood and gore to get the message where Close attempts suicide and then tries to kill Douglas and Archer. The movie also has to deal with cruelty to animals, with the, well, infamous stew prepared by Close to get Douglas to admit the truth to his wife. But it is the story, the compelling acting, and the chemistry among the three leads that made it a big smash. Today, Douglas is known as Hollywood's bad boy, Close brings versatility to good people and bad people in the very vein of Jack Nicholson, and Archer is a low-key, soft-spoken but still underused actress who plays it cool in many high-tension thrillers and always remains calm in the face of danger. Read more Less