Twilight (1998 film)

Aging private detective Harry Ross, an ex-cop, is working on a case to return 17-year-old runaway Mel Ames to her parents' home. He tracks down Mel and her sleazy boyfriend, Jeff Willis, at a Mexican resort. During a struggle, Mel accidentally shoots Harry with his pistol, striking him in the upper thigh.

The plot picks up two years later when Ross lives in Southern California in the guest quarters of Mel's wealthy parents, Jack and Catherine Ames. They are former movie stars, now in the twilight of their careers. Jack is dying of cancer, which is out of remission, and he and Ross pass the time playing cards.

One day, Jack asks a favor of Harry: to deliver a package to an address in Los Angeles. It turns out to be the first development in a series of twists and turns in a 20-year-old case involving the disappearance of Catherine's ex-husband.

When Harry arrives at the address, he encounters a man named Ivar, who has just been fatally shot and shoots at Harry. Harry is detained by police, including former colleague Lt. Verna Hollander. At the police station, he runs into another (now retired) old pal and colleague, Raymond Hope.

Verna and Raymond are both sympathetic, as they had heard rumors that Harry suffered damage to his genitals when shot in Mexico. Harry explains that he was only shot in the thigh.

Harry likes Catherine, who flirts with him from time to time. He acts as an agent for Jack and Catherine, who are being blackmailed by Jeff, now out of prison, and his parole officer, Gloria Lamar.

Harry and Catherine have sex for the first (and only) time. Jack angrily realizes this when he has a heart attack that same night, and Catherine responds to his call for help wearing Harry's shirt.

Harry, meanwhile, is forced to acknowledge that his friends have deceived and manipulated him.

Raymond tries to persuade Harry to get away from it all, but Harry has figured out that Raymond was a conspirator in the murder of Catherine's first husband 20 years before. Raymond shoots at Harry, but Harry kills him first. Following this shooting, Harry reconciles with Catherine and Jack. He leaves town with Verna.

• Paul Newman as Harry Ross
• Susan Sarandon as Catherine Ames
• Gene Hackman as Jack Ames
• Reese Witherspoon as Mel Ames
• Stockard Channing as Lieutenant Verna Hollander
• Giancarlo Esposito as Reuben Escobar
• Liev Schreiber as Jeff Willis
• Margo Martindale as Gloria "Mucho" Lamar
• John Spencer as Captain Phil Egan
• M. Emmet Walsh as Lester Ivar
• James Garner as Raymond Hope
• Clint Howard as EMS Worker

The working title for Twilight was "The Magic Hour." Principal photography began on November 11, 1996. Parts of the movie were filmed at the Los Angeles Police Department's Hollywood Division Station house in Hollywood, California. Many of the police officers seen in the background are actual police officers. The beach sequences was filmed at Mandalay State Beach in Oxnard, California. For Raymond Hope's house, they chose the George Jacobsen House, designed by John Lautner, in the Hollywood Hills.^[4] The Ames' house was shot at the Dolores del Río House in Santa Monica, California. The Ames' old family cabin was filmed at the Arch Oboler House,^[5] designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, in Malibu, California. The production wrapped in March 1997. Paul Newman gave Susan Sarandon part of his salary after discovering she was being paid less than he and Gene Hackman were making.^[6]

Twilight was released in theatres on March 6, 1998, in 1,351 theatres in the U.S., and made $5,866,411 in its opening weekend. While the film featured many notable A-list actors, Twilight's budget of $20 million and gross revenue of $15,055,091 indicates that it was a box-office bomb after being in theatres for eight weeks.^[1]

The DVD was released on October 7, 1998, in Widescreen. Features included English closed-captioning, Spanish subtitles, and the theatrical trailer, which included scenes not in the final edit of the film.^[7]