Robert Redford`s character, Tom Logan, learns this the hard way in Ivan Reitman`s 1986 film. It all begins when he agrees to counsel Chelsea Deardon (Daryl Hannah), the daughter of famous painter Sebastian Deardon, after she tries to steal one of her father`s works. It`s complicated because she`s trying to find a painting that her father dedicated to her shortly before her murder, which Chelsea saw herself when she was eight years old. Characterizing Chelsea as an “emotionally disturbed” young woman who never fully grew up evokes a familiar prejudice against artists and implies that her work is merely a coping mechanism for a trauma she has experienced. Artists rarely seem well-suited in the entertainment industry, and they also don`t have a regular workday like normal people. Moreover, Chelsea`s alluring artistry reminds us of the sexism that extends beyond the art world to culture as a whole. It`s unclear how successful her artistic career is, but it`s her appearance, not her talent, that turns out to be her most effective way to get what she wants. She makes quite a show, but aside from being counterintuitive behavior for someone who nearly died in a fire, her job would undoubtedly trigger any smoke detector within a 100-foot range. But Chelsea doesn`t care, she`s an artist.
It`s exotic and chaotic at the same time and full of secrets. Armed men follow her at night. And could she even have killed someone? Her own criminal record has made her a reluctant enfant terrible, but her motives are pure, despite a series of bad decisions, such as seducing her lawyer. The filmmakers spared no expenses. The director is Ivan Reitman, whose previous loan was “Ghostbusters,” which was supposed to be a tech explosion. This time, in a film nominally about real people, fires and explosions distract a trifle. ð1/2аÑÐμÐ1/4 ðºÑÑпð1/2ðμйÑÐμÐ1/4 ð² ð1/4Ð ̧ÑÐμð1/4аа· ð̧ð1/2Ðμ ð¿ÑÐμÐ ́ÑÑаа°Ð²Ð»ÐμÐ1/2Ñð»ÐμкÑÑÐ3/4Ð1/2Ð1/2ÑÐμ ðºÐ1/2Ð ̧гР̧, ðºð3/4ÑÐ3/4ÑÑÐμ ð1/4жÐ1/2Ð3/4 ÑÐ ̧ÑаÑÑð² бÑаÑз ÐμÑÐμ, Ð1/2аааÐ1/2Ð3/4Ð1/4лÐμÑÐ3/4Ð1/2Ðμð»Ð ̧ ÑпÐμÑÐ ̧алÑÐ1/2Ð3/4Ð1/4 ÑÑÑÑÑÐ3/4йÑÑйÑÑвðμ. Chelsea, on the other hand, who was so traumatized by the violent episode she experienced as a child, is now a performance artist. “What`s a what?” asks Logan. He discovers exactly what it means later when he gets a front row seat for one of his multimedia works. After inviting him into her spacious apartment in SoHo, she casually sets fire to paper sculptures of a house and a birthday cake and large-scale portraits of herself that burn in a small hell. It`s like a Laurie Anderson play with pyrotechnics, with spoken word elements and a synthesizer soundtrack.
The images are all emotionally charged symbolism reminiscent of the night of his eighth birthday and the imminent death of his father. At this point, I think the relationship between Redford and Winger is supposed to remind us of Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, but Spence would certainly never do what Redford does: sleep with a suspected criminal. Hannah develops the practice of being late to her apartment, scared and disheveled, and when she tries to seduce him, he turns out to be a dealer. Unfortunately, Reitman seems to be hedging his bets by combining the story of “Legal Eagles” with the action and pyrotechnics of “Ghostbusters.” After the fires, explosions, car chases, shootings, ambushes, and corpses, the film`s human story somehow seems lonely and abandoned. Perhaps he had a satirical purpose to surround people with so much activity. I don`t know. But the added ingredients make a potentially better movie a confusing, cluttered and disjointed one. “Legal Eagles” is advertised as a comedy, but it`s actually a tour through many genres, including thriller, trial, crime, romance, and special effects film.
No wonder there doesn`t seem to be enough space for people. Redford and Winger have a good chemistry with each other, based on good humor and mutual respect. And Hannah is very effective in the role of the distant girl who spends most of the film looking sexy and/or guilty like hell. The tension between Redford and Winger reminds us of Hepburn and Tracy, who seemed to struggle in their best images just to reconcile. If the whole movie had been reduced a little bit, just to the story of these characters, maybe we would have had something here. She says many paintings survived the fire for insurance fraud. Artists are problems, especially when they are Daryl Hannah. And if you are running for the position of district attorney in your city, you certainly should not deal with them, art dealers or collectors. Look, stay away from the whole art world, okay? The man responsible for his death is Victor Taft (Terrance Stamp). He also owns an Uptown art gallery on West 57th Street in New York City, just in case some readers still aren`t convinced that all film and television art dealers of the 1980s must be called Victor (or Victoria). Needless to say, it is bad.
Unfortunately, the next morning, one of the art dealers is found dead in the case, and Hannah, the main suspect, is found in the bed of the assistant DA.