THE TWILIGHT MAN
US, 1996, 93 minutes, Colour.
Tim Matheson, Dean Stockwell.
Directed by Craig R. Baxley.
The Twilight Man is a contemporary thriller, focusing on the power of computers to control and manipulate lives as well as to deceive authorities. Tim Matheson plays a university lecturer in English Literature who becomes the victim of an eccentric southern gentleman who is obsessed with him. He manipulates his documents, his hospital records, comes into his house, sets up surveillance equipment, murders his fiancee. The film becomes a story of a man persecuted, not knowing why this was all happening to him, yet meeting the person responsible.
In mid-plot, it changes tack, the reasons for the persecution becoming clearer. The film then becomes a vengeance chase, the mysterious man a young criminal who has manipulated the records from prison, and, in a twist, has set himself up as the sheriff of the town in which he murdered his mother and father while young. The professor follows the leads and there is a final confrontation in the family home.
Tim Matheson looks bewildered at times, at other times well in control. Dean Stockwell, sporting the broadest of all possible southern accents, enjoys himself as an unremitting villain. The direction is by Craig R. Baxley, better known for such action films as The Stone Killer.
1. An interesting thriller? Psychological drama? Chase film?
2. The American settings, the university, the town, the countryside, Washington, DC, New Orleans?
3. The title, its reference to Jordan and his anonymity, changed name, able to be controlled by Hollis? Hollis as a twilight man, anonymity, ability to change identities and information by computers?
4. The plausibility of the plot: the computer skills necessary to change people's files, to haunt them, persecute them, drive them to suicide? The work of police detection, traditional work, computers? The transition from a high-tech story to a shoot 'em out ending?
5. The character of Jordan Cooper, at the university, relationship with his sister and nephew, his relationship with Katherine? His lectures, the students, his novel? His identity, medical records going into hospital, being taken out of the hospital? Hollis and his smoking in the restaurant, meeting Jordan in the bar? His intrusion into the house, the telephone calls, the surveillance by television? His pursuit of Jordan and Jordan's angry reaction with smashing the equipment? The phone call to Katherine, her death? Going to his nephew, Hollis communicating with the nephew, getting into the internet, finding Mrs Barnes? The police and their interrogation, wanting to arrest him, his phone call to his lawyer? His going to Washington, his meeting Mrs Barnes, her revealing the truth about him, the photo albums? Her death? His leaving his wallet, misleading Hollis with his computer information, going on the train to New Orleans, the discussions with Ellen, sharing the room, finding out the truth? His mingling with the crowd, further documentation, the Connelly, situation, going to the farmhouse - ringing the police, the discovery of all the computer equipment? Hollis shooting him, the detectives arriving for the final confrontation? The final phone call from Hollis in prison? The story starting all over again?
6. Hollis, mysterious, the smoking, his arrogance, in the bar? The increased phone calls, the persecution? His southern accent and sense of menace? The surveillance? His coming to Katherine, telling her that Jordan would be arrested for her murder, setting her up in the car, contacting the nephew? The wrong information in Washington? Ringing the police? His disappearing? The sudden reappearance as the sheriff, his identity as the child killer, the story of his making himself anonymous in prison, setting himself up as a reputable person? The confrontation with Jordan, shooting him, wanting the assistant to shoot? The final confrontation, the arrest, his looking back, in prison, getting the wires to make phone calls? A credible villain?
7. Katherine, relationship with Jordan, going to Yale, in love, upset with Hollis, murdered?
8. The detectives, the sympathetic detective, her believing Jordan, her being forced to take action? The sceptical detective, going on the trips with her, their discussions, the more information, in the supermarket and the mall, realising that they were being misled? New Orleans, the phone call to the sheriff, the final confrontation?
9. Jordan's sister, nephew, the computer games? Taking them to safety? The final visit to their father's grave and their sense of identity?
10. The connection with Mr Barnes, the credits sequences and the computer, the suicide note, the murder - and the revelation that it was a murder, vengeance for his legal work? Jordan going into the office of the psychiatrist, taking the card, fighting the guard? With MrsBarnes?, her explanation of the mystery of his life, the legal cases, the revenge? The pathos of her murder?
11. How well did the film fit together, high-tech plus traditional detection?
