Review: Jagged Edge
Blu-ray: Jagged Edge (1985)
Back in the late 80s – early 90s Joe Eszterhas was king of the ‘sex-thriller’, anything he wrote turned to gold, mainly because you were guaranteed some schmaltzy American tits and slashing.
Jagged Edge is one of his earlier works, so is more or less Eszterhas ‘lite’, a sort of 80s Noir without the class.
A masked intruder breaks into the house of beautiful rich socialite Paige Forrester, he ties her to her bed, tears her clothes off and stabs her with a jagged edged knife.
Teddy Barnes (Glenn Close) is a former district attorney and is hired to defend the victim’s husband Jack (Jeff Bridges), with help from her Private Investigator friend Sam Ransom (Robert Loggia).
It’s a basic whodunit? Was it really a masked man or Jack the handsome husband? Of course there is filler – the man who was jailed for a crime he didn’t commit and the envitable affair between Teddy and Jack which is as hot as a wet rag. Close and Bridges don’t sizzle on the screen, and of course you can guess the limp ending.
It’s almost as though this particular story was a practise run before Eszterhas really got his teeth into the slashing, shagging, tits and arse.
Not a great film, but entertaining if only for Close’s amazing acting.
INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES
- High Definition remaster
- Original stereo audio
- Optional 5.1 surround audio
- The Guardian Interview with Jeff Bridges(1990, 58 mins): archival audio recording of the legendary actor in conversation with critic Geoff Andrew at the National Film Theatre, London
- Killer Business (2021, 23 mins): acclaimed screenwriter Joe Eszterhas revisits one of his favourite scripts
- Cutting Edge (2021, 17 mins): editor Sean Barton recalls his time working on the film
- Music of Loneliness (2021, 10 mins): analysis of John Barry’s score by author and musicologist David Huckvale
- Original theatrical trailer
- Radio spot
- Image gallery: promotional and publicity material
- New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
- Limited edition exclusive 36-page booklet with a new essay by Maitland McDonagh, extracts from archival interviews with director Richard Marquand, a look at the making of the film, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and film credits
- UK premiere on Blu-ray
- Limited edition of 3,000 copies
Jagged Edge is released 30th August 2021.
Review by Tina from a disc kindly supplied by Powerhouse Films.