Miracle Mile
Dir: Steve De Jarnatt
Star: Anthony Edwards, Mare Winningham, John Agar, Lou Hancock
This is my candidate for most
under-rated film. Its UK release unfortunately coincided with the Gulf War,
when people really didn't want to see a movie about the threat of nuclear
destruction, and it also got tied up in the bankruptcy of Hemdale, meaning
it has never received a video sell-through release here. Which is a
dreadful shame, as no other movie packs such an intensely emotional punch:
the first time I saw it, I couldn't speak for 20 minutes afterwards, and
the second time was worse still.
The set-up is simple: a guy (Edwards) accidentally gets a phone
call suggesting World War III is about to break out. Is it for real, and if
so, can he save his girl (Winningham)? It's a ticking time-bomb of a
movie, and as word of the rumour seeps out, Los Angeles descends into chaos
and anarchy, making his task that more difficult. It's almost impossible to
review the film without giving away the ending, but it has to rank as among
the most jaw-dropping in Hollywood history. Suffice it to say that it's a
film best seen with as little prior knowledge as possible.
Edwards and Winningham are perfect; they're not Cruise and Kidman, and
are all the more believable for it. The script had long been kicked around
the film industry, and you can see why, but there are very few false
moments in it, and De Jarnatt makes the unthinkable not only thinkable, but
disturbingly plausible. Both stars would go on to greater fame (Edwards in
E.R.) and Oscar nomination (Winningham for Georgia), but De Jarnatt has
yet to direct another film, and was last seen working on The X-Files. But
their one movie together is an absolute undiscovered gem.
A+
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