Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Not part of a collection.
The January Man
Catching a serial killer takes a seriously twisted cop.
Nick and Frank Starkey were both policemen. A scandal forced Nick to leave the force, now a serial killer has driven the police to take him back. A web that includes Frank's wife, bribery, and corruption all are in the background as Nick tries to uncover the secret of where the killer will strike next, and finally must lay a trap without the police.
- Original title
- The January Man
- Language
- EN
- Country
- US
- Budget
- $1
- Revenue
- $4
GenerationofSwine
Jan 14, 2023 · via TMDB
This is one of those rare films about a serial killer that isn't so much about the killer himself as it is how the law enforcement officer tracks him down and arrests him. And that perspective is always welcome, especially here because it took the gambit of really not focusing on the killer at all. It was a bit like Manhunter in its approach. And the fact that an actor with great comedic timing was cast as the lead and supported by Alan Rickman in a nearly unrecognizable role made it even better. It's a rare gem of a film that stands out from everything else on so many levels. It's also, however, a film that far too many people have forgotten about.
tmdb28039023
Sep 5, 2022 · via TMDB
The January Man initially feels like a thriller, opening with a woman being strangled to death, which segues to the mayor of New York City discussing the murder, the eleventh in as many months committed by a serial killer who uses a blue tape to suffocate his victims, with the police commissioner. That the mayor and the commissioner are played respectively by Rod Steiger and Harvet Keitel only stresses the gravity of the situation. However, the discerning moviegoer will be able to anticipate the true nature of the film as soon as they observe that it follows the Kevin Kline Mustache Principle, according to which Kline always wears facial hair when playing comedic roles, but shaves for serious roles. Nick Starkey (Kline), a brilliant former detective who has been exiled to the fire department because of an oft-mentioned but never-explained scandal. His brother Frank, the aforementioned police commissioner, reinstates him per the mayor's suggestion/order. This is bad news for police captain Alcoa (Danny Aiello). Aiello stands out in the usually thankless job of 'straight man', to the point that his best scene, and arguably the best in the film, is not among those he shares with Steiger and Keitel, or with Kline and Alan Rickman, but the one wherein he reacts with increasing bewilderment when a subordinate attempts to explain why Nick turned down the office that was assigned to him. Rickman plays Ed, a painter/computer whiz. Nick and Ed discover that the location of the buildings where the victims lived, when viewed on a map of Manhattan, form the constellation Virgo. They also realize that all of the rooms in which the murders occurred have windows on the front of the building, and that when the exterior location of the windows are aligned based on the floor they are on, they correlate with eleven notes in the chorus of the song “Calendar Girl”. That the occupant of the apartment is always a woman who is always home alone the night of the attack (the killer acts on dates that are prime numbers) is arguably the least of all the coincidences in the movie, but then The January Man has not the slightest interest in creating a plausible villain, and that in an all-star cast, also including Susan Sarandon and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, the anonymous killer is played by a stunt double, tells us everything we need to know about the importance this character had for the filmmakers.
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
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Kevin Kline
Nick Starkey
Susan Sarandon
Christine Starkey
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio
Bernadette Flynn
Harvey Keitel
Police Commissioner Frank Starkey
Danny Aiello
Captain Vincent Alcoa
Rod Steiger
Mayor Eamon Flynn
Alan Rickman
Ed
Faye Grant
Alison Hawkins
Kenneth Welsh
Roger Culver
Brian Tarantina
Cone
Bruce MacVittie
Rip
Bill Cobbs
Detective Reilly
Tandy Cronyn
Lana Pico
Bill Cwikowski
Press Representative
Katherine E. Miller
Olympia
Colin Mochrie
Pat
Bret McCormick
Detective Robbins
Jerry Rector
Newscaster - Reporter
Jerzy Zieliński
Director of Photography
Pat O'Connor
Director
Risa Bramon Garcia
Casting Director
Norman Jewison
Producer
Marvin Hamlisch
Original Music Composer
John Patrick Shanley
Writer
Vampire Elvis
The Silence of the Lambs
The Departed
Vertigo
The Secret in Their Eyes
Fargo
Dog Day Afternoon
I Saw the Devil
Hot Fuzz
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Zodiac
The Day of the Jackal
True Romance
Barton Fink
Miller's Crossing
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
The Long Goodbye
Gone Baby Gone
10 Rillington Place
Deadly Shots on Broadway
Die Hard: With a Vengeance
To Catch a Thief
Collateral
Monster
Shoot the Piano Player
Bullitt
Two Men in Town
Life Eternal
Operation Carwash: A Worldwide Corruption Scandal Made in Brazil
Almost Human
Strange Days
Blind Cop 2
Al Basha
39: A Film by Carroll McKane
Caché
Get Carter
Basic Instinct
Tsotsi
Insomnia
Yennai Arindhaal
Layer Cake
Con Air
Sticky Fingers
The Last Seduction
Fantomas vs. Scotland Yard
The Sugarland Express
Atrocious
Secret Window
A Quiet Life
Time to Die
Copycat
Shaft
The Photographer
The Gendarme in New York
Spree
A Gorgeous Kid Like Me
The Stone Killer
China Moon
Angel
Crime of Passion
Troubling Love
.44
Bottom-Feeder
Best Seller
Leatherheads
The Invincibles
Pickings
Super Troopers 2
The Contract
Final Analysis
Dancing with Danger
Larceny
Hustle
Death Wish 4: The Crackdown
Goodbye Lover
Cleopatra Jones
Poodle Springs
Underdog
The Females
The Lullaby Killer
Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence
They Turned Us into Killers
Final Girl
Dahmer
Glass Chin
Strapped for Danger
May God Bless America
Inspector Gadget
Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2
Yesterday
O Dia da Caça
Dot.Kill
Flowerman
Key of Brown
Fleeting
The Pulpit - Prelude
Unwinding
25 O'Clock in Shinjuku
Final Stop
Three And A Bullet
L.A. Confidential
Blue Velvet
Psycho Therapy: The Shallow Tale of a Writer Who Decided to Write About a Serial Killer
The Black Book
Ted Bundy: American Boogeyman
Copycat
John Doe: Vigilante
Nighthawks
6 Bullets
The Killer
The International
All the Devils Are Here
Blood Work
Shade
God Is a Bullet
Cleaner
In Cold Light
12 Rounds 3: Lockdown
The Two Jakes
Striking Distance
One Night at McCool's
12 Rounds
Mindcage
The Virtuoso
Righteous Kill
Ca$h
Breathless
Brake
No Mercy
Jan 13, 1989
