Chapter twenty-six: Still of the Night

Doctor Sam Rice (Roy Scheider) is a physiatrist going through a divorce. When one of his patients, Gorge Bynum (Josef Sommer,) is found murdered, the police visit him for intel, but he can't give the officer much information on account of the fact that patient-doctor information is confidential. Sam is also visited by George's mistress, Brooke Reynolds (Meryl,) in the same evening. Over the course of the movie, Sam goes through his date books in an atempt to solve George's murder on his own, while being mindful of his own safety. What he finds is that George talked often about Brooke, so she may know more than she is letting on. Law enforcement comes to a similar conclusion, as Brooke is made the prime suspect thereafter. But, the more Brooke Sam are acquainted, he realizes that she is much too introverted and shy to commit the heinous crime that is murder. He also realizes that he is attracted to her, so with the passage of time, Sam takes note of Brooke's mannerisms, begins to care for her, and is working to clear her name from the charges against her.

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One evening, Brooke is working as a telephone operator for an auction that's taking place at the art museum she works at. Discovering that this is when the police intend to arrest her, Sam goes to the auction, buys a painting he doesn't even like, and on his ticket stub for the payment he writes to Brooke,

"Don't look up. Police here. Get out now. Meet me at 75th + Mad."

When Sam appears at that destination and Brooke is nowhere to be found, he calls upon Brooke's co-worker and George's ex-mistress, Gail Phillips, (played by Sara Botsford.) She informs him that,

"Her parents have a house in Long Island, she goes up there sometimes... It's in Glen Cove..."

He drives up there to ask Brooke about some newspaper clippings he found in her desk with regard to the death of another man years prior that would certainly implement her as George's killer. When Sam steps foot in the house, he realizes that the footprint matches the description of a house George described in his sessions. George was having a recurring nightmare where he was being chased through the house until finally he was killed. Sam mounts this evidence against Brooke, and now that Sam's loyalty to her is starting to falter, Brooke reveals her side of the story at last.

She tells him that the man in those newspaper clippings was her father and that the house belonged to her mother, but she has no idea how those clippings ended up in her desk. Before her mother's demise, she wrote Brooke a note that was given to her after she died. The note caused a great deal of controversy between her and her father, and the pair got into an argument while up on the balcony of the house. Brooke tells Sam that her father's death was not on purpose, but she felt that he was trying to kill her. So she had to act quickly and twisted herself around from his grip, hit him as hard as she could, where he fell backwards and died instantly. Brooke then goes on to say that when she tried to end the relationship between her and George, he threatened to bring the whole scandal up again and she couldn't bear it.

Sam then reenacts George's dream through the house and makes specific mention of a green box. Brooke interrupts him,

"It's not a green box. It sounds like green box, but it isn't. Gail Phillips... she doesn't trust banks for some reason." She takes her paycheck and she cashes it and carries the money with her. Someone, I forget who, George started calling her 'Greenbacks' and it stuck."

That's when it clicks with Sam,

"Gail Phillips killed George Bynum! In Gail's mind, you were the one who ruined everything... When he rejected her for you, she killed him. And now she's trying to make it look as if you did it. I'm pretty sure she's the one who put those clippings in your desk, hoping the police would find them. And if that doesn't work, she's gonna have to kill you."

Brooke asks,

"Wait a minute, who told you that I was out here?"

Perfect timing for the doorbell to chime. Sam and Brooke attempt to get out safely, but before they are able to leave, Brooke has to go back in the house because she forgot her keys! I may have yelled to my computer screen more than once, "Leave your keys Meryl, leave you keys!" While Sam waits in the car, Gail's already there and injures him slightly, but not enough to cause terminal damage. When Brooke turns to exit the house again, Gail's waiting for her in the hallway. Brooke runs through the house, and Gail follows stagnantly, thus recreating George's murderous dream. She thinks she's reached safety on the balcony, but Gail grips her and drags her closer to the edge, ordering her to jump. Sam comes to Brooke's rescue because his presence sidetracks Gail, and Brooke pulls the same move that she did on her father, causing Gail's demise.

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Like what you would hope for in a dramatic murder-mystery movie, the good people emerge victorious, and the bad person got what was coming to them- Yay! I thought the film was an interesting, good watch that provided a distraction from reality. What's kind of funny is that Andy Cohen once asked Meryl on his talk show, Watch What Happens Live, to name one bad film she was in. Her answer was Still of the Night. But, I didn't think it was bad at all. That probably means I'm biased, doesn't it?

As always, thank you for the entertainment, Meryl.