In 1978, Irvin Kershner's supernatural thriller Eyes of Laura Mars proved a bigger hit with audiences than critics. Though it remains an uneven piece of work, it's grown in interest over the years because of a mesmerizing mix of high fashion, disco culture, slasher thrills, and pre-gentrification New York at its grittiest.
Fashion photographer Laura Mars (Faye Dunaway, replacing Barbra Streisand, who sings the theme song) is famed for provocative photos combining sex and violence (Helmut Newton provides the film's more risqué imagery). After an unknown assailant dispatches her nearest and dearest, Laura admits to Det. John Neville (Tommy Lee Jones) that she had visions two years before. They can arrive at any time, often while she's working on a photo shoot.
Throughout the film, she sees each murder as it takes place, though she can never see the killer. Kershner channels Mario Bava and Dario Argento in sequences filled with Giallo tropes, like black gloves, glinting daggers, and disorienting camera work from Magic cinematographer Victor J. Kemper.
The script from John Carpenter and Straw Dogs' David Zelag Goodman casts suspicion on several associates, including Laura's ex-con driver Tommy (a bug-eyed Brad Dourif) and her shiftless ex-husband Michael (Raúl Juliá). Kershner even suggests that Laura, while in a fugue state, could be the killer.
Top models Darlanne Fluegel and Lisa Taylor add to the fashion milieu verisimilitude, and they feature in some of the film's sexier sequences as their characters engage in catfights in front of burning vehicles or strike geometric poses to disco hits like the Michael Zager Band's "Let's All Chant."
Dunaway herself proves a compelling presence as the scenario grows in intensity, but she overdoes it at times. She screams and claws at the air in ways that come uncomfortably close to caricature—a tendency she would take to an extreme in Frank Perry's Joan Crawford biopic Mommie Dearest, which she would later claim as a destructive element of her career.
Jones, who plays both lawman and love interest, fares better, easily holding his own against more experienced actors, like Dourif and René Auberjonois as Laura's agent Donald (whose homosexuality goes unmentioned and accepted).
Eyes of Laura Mars arrived at a pivotal time for its primary players. Dunaway had just won the Oscar for Network, while the success of the film would propel Kershner to his most high-profile project to date: The Empire Strikes Back.
For Jones, it would mark his first significant role in a major motion picture, and for Carpenter, it arrived the same year as his Giallo-inspired Halloween. The actor would follow up with Coal Miner's Daughter, in which he played Loretta Lynn's devoted husband, confirming his star status when it became a critical and commercial sensation.
If not their best work, Eyes of Laura Mars captures the glamor and grit of 1970s New York in a highly entertaining style. Extra features include a commentary track from Irvin Kershner, a 1978 featurette, and radio and TV spots.
What type of library programming could use this title?
Library programming on the supernatural thriller and the Giallo style would find a prime example in Eyes of Laura Mars, along with films like Dario Argento's Suspiria, John Carpenter's Halloween, and Brian De Palma's Dressed to Kill.
What academic subjects would this film be suitable for?
Eyes of Laura Mars would be suitable for film studies courses on 1970s American cinema, New York City in the movies, and the work of Faye Dunaway. Arts courses on the representation of photography and fashion on film could also find it beneficial. Academic librarians should consider this classic film for those subjects.
What kind of film series would this narrative fit in?
Film series on 1970s thrillers could include Eyes of Laura Mars with other notable examples, like Klute with Jane Fonda, The Parallax View with Warren Beatty, and Three Days of the Condor with Dunaway and Robert Redford.