BASIC INSTINCT

(March 1992, U.S.)

I'm going to start this post off with an apology. I apologize because discussing BASIC INSTINCT is going to prompt me to say more than several things thay may be considered chauvinistic. Hey, it is what it is. Sometimes the truth hurts like a sledgehammer!

To begin with, a mild observation. If you were to total the work that actor Michael Douglas has done in FATAL ATTRACTION (1987), THE WAR OF THE ROSES (1989), BASIC INSTINCT (1992) and DISCLOSURE (1994), plus his marriage to Catherine Zeta Jones, the man has seen more ass than a fucking car rental! You seriously gotta love the guy!

Here's another observation. This is the second time Michael Douglas plays a cop on screen. The first time was in Ridley Scott's BLACK RAIN (1989). In both films, his partner was a comic relief-type blabbering idiot. Andy Garcia in RAIN and George Dzundza in INSTINCT. No wonder Douglas' cop character has to take on all the heavy burden in both films.

BASIC INSTINCT was flooded with controversy long before it was released. The film was protested by gay rights activists who felt that the film followed a pattern of negative depiction of lesbians and bisexuals as twisted, evil murderers. You know how much that protesting did to hurt the film? Not one little bit. All that noise sparked audience's curiousities even more. People lined up (myself included) and the film was a big success. So, the lesson learned is that if you really don't want people to see a movie for whatever reason you're concocted in your head, then don't say a damn word! Controversy fuels box office sales!

Were it not for impressive performances by Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone, BASIC INSTINCT would pass for almost nothing more than late-night HBO softcore porn. While the intense sexuality of Stone's character, Catherine Tramell, cannot be denied by any red-blooded heterosexual male with an active libido (myself included!!!), there is deception and diabolical motives behind just about eveything she says and does. It's in her eyes and her voice and it pierces both the brain in your head and the one between your legs (the one most men end up thinking with!)! It all keeps you guessing and wondering what's coming 'round the bend, which is what any effective psychological thriller should do. It also proves undenyably that men are generally weak and easily controllable when it comes to the promise of great sex! Just look at how Douglas' character, Nick Curran, is almost willing to allow himself to be murdered by the hands of the woman who has given him what he refers to as "the fuck of the century". Just look at how all of the policemen during her interrogation go absolutely limp with stupidity during the iconic open legs beaver shot that made Stone famous overnight...

And speaking as a (temporary) chauvinistic male for this post, the character of Catherine Tramell has long represented every sexual fantasy I could ever imagine in a beautiful woman. I'm a man, for Christ sakes! What'd you expect???

With regard to "keeping you guessing", let's try and clear something up right now. It is my humble opinion that the final shot of the ice pick under the bed at the very end of the film did NOT reveal that Catherine Tramell was, indeed, the killer. Here, in fact, is my conclusion of what that shot means...if you take a look at the film at the 54 minute mark, you'll notice a closeup shot of Nick Curran's keys on a table with a Bart Simpson keychain on it. His ex-lover, Beth Garner, attempts to return them to him. In their heated argument, he picks up the keys and hands them back to her. Mental note here: Beth STILL has the keys to his place! I believe that before she was killed at the end of the film, she had gone (unseen) to his place, planted the ice pick under his bed, and had planned to do him in later on, had she gotten the chance. I believe that when Catherine Tramell lowered her arm over the side of the bed, she DID NOT KNOW the ice pick was there. That's my conclusion. You can take it or leave it.

Now for a personal memory regarding this film. When BASIC INSTINCT was released in 1992, I was in my last year of college. I saw it with my girlfriend at the time whom we shall call Daniela (because that's actually her name). We not only both loved it, but within a couple of weeks, I had purchased an illegal bootleg VHS copy of it on the streets of New York City (yes, someone had actually pointed a video camera at the movie screen!). Without going into any indiscreet detail, BASIC INSTINCT became OUR movie! How much did it become OUR movie? Well, let's just say we were both dumb enough to pay and see SLIVER (1993) and SHOWGIRLS (1995) together in the years that followed. So it is to Daniela that I dedicate this post. We had good times. We had bad times. We had times. Like it or not, those are what memories are made of.

Favorite line or dialogue:

Nick Curran: "Let me ask you somethin', Rocky...man-to-man...I think she's the fuck of the century! What do you think?"