2/5 Unintentionally hilarious.
  by Robert P. Beveridge (Cleveland, OH)
The Fan (Edward Bianchi, 1981)

Over the last decade, Edward Bianchi has become one of television's go-to directors, helming episodes of such award-winning shows as Damages, Deadwood, and The Wire, among many others. You'd never have known it after his first film, The Fan, which received such a beating from the press, and bombed badly enough upon release, that he came close to never working in Hollywood again. (Before getting his start in TV directing in 1998, Bianchi directed only one more feature film, ten years after this. It, too, bombed.) But for some reason, while I never got to see it in its theatrical release, The Fan has been swimming around in the back of my head, reminding me now and then that it was something I really wanted to see when it came out. It finally surfaced in my head at the same time it popped up on cable, so I decided to give it a go. I have seen top-notch casts in bottom-notch movies before, so it wasn't a complete surprise, but it seemed as if so much more could have been done with this that I couldn't help but be disappointed.

Plot: Lauren Bacall plays Sally Ross, an aging stage and screen star. Michael Biehn, in an early role, is Douglas Breen, her number one fan. He also happens to be a razor-wielding psycho. When Ross' secretary, Belle (Maureen Stapleton), cuts him off after his letters get more erratic, he decides to get her out of the way so the two of them can be together. And boy, what happens when he finds out she's got a new love interest...

It occurred to me at one point while I was mulling this over that someone, while putting this together, must have intended it as a parody. There's no other reason I can imagine for some of the crazy casting choices that were made (not to mention the incredible musical-within-the-movie, which is jaw-droppingly sleazy; this only two years after All That Jazz wrote the textbook on musicals-in-movies). If it was in any way meant seriously, then the project has to be looked at as an abject, unintentionally hilarious failure; it's the seventies equivalent (Hollywood trying to do giallo) of recent Asian horror film remakes, and with much the same results. If you look at it as some sort of off-the-wall parody, however, a movie that should have been marketed as a black comedy, then a lot of the silliness can be explained away, and this becomes a much more enjoyable experience. That said, since there was not a single clue anywhere that the connections here actually meant for the movie to suck, I'm forced to go with the "serious" interpretation, and rate it accordingly. It's great for a few laughs, though. * ½


5/5 Tense and thrilling but lacking something
  by S. Leadbeatter (Newcastle AUS)
This is one of my all time favourite thrillers, however, this version does not contain David Bowie who was in the original version and is far superior to the one presented here. Still good, but if you can get the Bowie version, you'll do no better.

5/5 Movie
  by B. Edwards
Great movie, this was a gift and my sister loved it very much. It was not available in any of the video stores and it was wonderful to find it at Amazon.com and get it quickly delivered.

4/5 Fine Thriller, And Bacall Unfairly Criticized
  by Craig Connell (Lockport, NY USA)
I thought this film was much better than the critics made it out to be at the time. I found it to be an interesting character study of an obsessed fan, played by Michael Biehn. He was a new actor at the time and a total unknown, which helped in this role. He went to star in "The Terminator" and has had a decent career. The other co-star....well, you might have heard of her: Lauren Bacall.

I read a lot of criticism of Bacall for this role, and think it is totally unjustified. She was just fine, thank you, playing a believable character: a veteran actress being stalked by some deranged killer.

With Maureen Stapleton, James Garner, Hector Elizondo, some great cinematography with wonderful close-up shots and a good score, what's not to like? It was a good thriller and deserves more respect.


3/5 Not the original
  by L. Michael
I will add another complaint about the editing of this film. The "meat cleaver" line was a genuine shocker at the time, but is certainly mild compared to what is seen and heard in films today, or heard in music, for that matter. Shame on Paramount for editing this movie in both the VHS and DVD versions.