November 25th: TWILIGHT (Robert Benton, 1998)

A private detective connects murder and corruption to his best friends, an acting couple who are also his landlords.

Robert Benton worked in the magazine industry before moving to Broadway and then film, with his big breakthrough co-writing the screenplay for Bonnie and Clyde. He won Academy Awards for writing and directing the topical divorce drama Kramer vs. Kramer, but also worked in comedy (What's Up, Doc?), crime (The Late Show), and franchise vehicles like Superman: The Motion Picture.

In 1994, Benton collaborated with longtime friend Paul Newman and writer Richard Russo on a late-period watermark for the actor with Nobody's Fool, and the trio decided to work again on more-genre based material, an original screenplay not far removed from Newman's detective films of the 1970s.

Starring alongside Newman are other Hollywood veterans Gene Hackman, Susan Sarandon, M. Emmet Walsh, Stockard Channing (Grease), and younger actors like Reese Witherspoon, Giancarlo Esposito, Margo Martindale, and Liev Schreiber.

The musical score was contributed by the great Elmer Bernstein, and behind the camera was Polish cinematographer Piotr Sobocinski (Three Colors: Red, The Decalog). The film was shot on location all over the Los Angeles area.

Out of step with the times with its Raymond Chandler-inspired worldview and characters, the film was released to mostly positive reviews, but failed to make much money at the box office.

Running time is approx. 90 minutes.