Review of Eyes of Laura Mars (1978) by Gerard A — 10 Feb 2011

The Eyes of Laura Mars begins with a god-awful Barbara Streisand theme song that will make you reach instantly for either the mute button or the fast-forward (or in cases of extreme Streisanditis - the eject button). If you can get past that however...

Faye Dunaway & Tommy Lee Jones star in this 1978 murder mystery with psychic overtones. When successful but controversial fashion photographer Laura Mars (Dunaway) starts experiencing visions of her friends' murders - she faces a race against time to identify the killer before they can strike again. Mars' visions are shown through the eyes of the murderer - with every victim bringing death closer to her. To the vulnerable Mars' aid comes detective John Neville (Jones). Neville acts as both protector and investigator trying to unravel the mystery of this psychically-linked assailant before Mars becomes the victim.

With a screenplay by John Carpenter and featuring some decent actors - The Eyes Laura Mars has some good ingredients. 1970s NY has a certain disco-flair coupled with the still relevant satire on violence to sell products (Mars' photo-gimmick). The soundtrack keeps things tense (save for the aforementioned ear-bleedingly bad title and credit Streisandfest), the good supporting cast of Brad Dourif, Raul Julia and Rene Auberjonois go a long way to make up for some of the other shortcomings. Unfortunately, Faye Dunaway is occasionally OTT in her manic grief, and there's a cheesy/unrealistic romantic subplot to offset the creepy and suspicious vibe the movie tries to create. It's solidly directed by Irvin Kershner (The Empire Strikes Back, Robocop 2), and of the leads at least Tommy Lee-Jones puts on a good show as the determined detective Neville.

The movie does a decent job of keeping us guessing, even if the murders punctuating the movie are short and unspectacular affairs (hearkening back to the first-person voyeurism of Carpenter's Halloween). Despite being made in the 70s there are still some fresh things here. The fashion photo shoots (particularly the location ones) are very well done, while the plot is clearly influential on a lot of other murderer/psychic vision movies down the years (even if it may not seem so original by today's standards). It must also get an extra half-star for Auberjonois' Lloyd Bridges impression ;).

The Eyes Have it (but only just).