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Rating:  - Are you a pro? No, I'm an amateur
Basic Instinct is a basic geometric triangle, and while, as in basic math, the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the square of the two adjacent sides, all of the sides are important, and basically, with Michael Douglas, Sharon Stone, and Jeanne Triplehorn, you can't lose.
Jeanne Triplehorn is from Oklahoma. She has been described as having an incredibly open face and a devastating glare. Her father, Tom Triplehorn, played guitar for Gary & the Pacemakers on such hits as "This Diamond Ring Doesn't Shine For You Anymore." Working with Michael Douglas as the 2nd Lead in Basic Instinct led to Ms. Triplehorn's chance to portray Tom Cruise's wife in the box-office smash The Firm (1993). Her clever work in this film afforded her the opportunity to work opposite other "top guns" in the industry, including Kevin Costner in the futuristic epic flop Waterworld (1995), Gwyneth Paltrow in the experiment-gone-wrong Sliding Doors (1998) and Hugh Grant in the preposterous Mickey Blue Eyes (1999). Though Triplehorn couldn't rescue these Kamikaze missions from certain disaster, her performance in Basic Instinct as the bespectacled psychiatrist Dr. Beth Garner garnered my attention.
Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone are so well known that I scarcely need to go into their biographies. Michael was the son of well known, well liked actor Kirk Douglas. He didn't want any of his sons to ply the acting profession, so he never gave Michael so much as a 'foot in the door.' He first got the public's attention playing a cop opposite veteran actor Karl Malden in 'The Streets of San Francisco.' [shot on location in San Francisco, it is fun to watch re-runs for the superb location shots alone]. TV led to films, but it was Basic Instinct that catapulted Douglas to household name status. Other notable roles were Fatal Attraction and Wall Street.
Stone was also catapulted into the limelight from the success of Basic Instinct, but fell from grace with Sliver and a slew of slim pickings until finally getting respect and redemption in Casino with Robert De Niro, an Oscar nomination, thank you. Sharon has had some ups, with Basic Instinct, Casino, The Muse, The Quick and the Dead, The Mighty, and Bobby; but others, such as Sliver, Diabolique, Intersection, The Specialist, Catwoman, Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold, and the sequel-that-never-should-have-been, Basic Instinct 2, basically sunk like a... well, Stone.
I have a basic theory about Joe Eszterhas. His career was in a tailspin after Sliver, Showgirls, and Jade, so he went down in flames with An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn. Anyone familiar with the name Alan Smithee knows that it is the name a director attaches to a film that he wants nothing more to do with. This film not only capped a string of bad reviews for his writing, it added one for his acting, playing himself for goodness sake, he was such a bad actor he couldn't even effectively portray himself. Besides that, it was a kind of vendetta against Hollywood, and all he had suffered there. I think that Flashdance was brilliant, for a movie about a welder/stripper who wants to go to ballet school, and I would like to see Jagged Edge. Basic Instinct might be the pinnacle of his achievement. You know you are being manipulated with trashy, exploitive garbage, but like Wayne Knight (Newman from Seinfeld) and the other cops in the famous scene in the interrogation room, you don't care. After his apotheosis with Basic Instinct, he slid down the slippery slope with Sliver, Showgirls, Jade, and finally, to kill his career once and for all, An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn.
I find it interesting that Sharon Stone plays a sociopathic writer in Basic Instinct, and contend that Eszterhas was drawing from personal experience in that regard. At one point Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone) reveals the finer points of her craft, where she asserts that writing teaches you how to lie. She utilizes that skill in beating a polygraph. I find this very telling, Mr. Eszterhas.
Though I remember Spetters, I doubt that many other people do. It was a charming foreign film about motorcycle racing, as I recall. Total Recall was totally an Arnold Swarzeneger vehicle supposedly based on the writing of Philip K. Dick, but it came up surprisingly dickless. Robocop, though I personally didn't see it, it was so popular that I remember it nevertheless. Basic Instinct seems to be the high water mark for Verhoeven as well, but his next outing with Eszterhas resulted in Showgirls--not a brilliant career move for either one.
Take these actors, this writer, and this director, mix them together in a pot boiler like Basic Instinct, and voila! I liked the way Catherine Tramell knew how to exploit Nick Curran's weaknesses: cigarettes, cocaine, booze, sex, violence--if she could awaken his craving for one, it would lead to the others. All the while, he thought he was solving the case, and that proved to be his biggest weakness of all. Thinking he could out think Tramell in this cat-and-mouse game, where he thinks he's the cat, but he is nothing but a mouse.
Though I admit that Basic Instinct was a great film, it remains a guilty pleasure, and though I was entertained, I resent being manipulated in such a trashy and exploitive way. So I will shed no tears for the fall of Eszterhas.
JOE ESZTERHAS
Basic Instinct 2 (2006) (characters)
Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn (1998) (written by)
Telling Lies in America (1997) (written by)
Jade (1995) (written by) (1995) (written by)
Showgirls (Fully Exposed Edition)
Sliver (Unrated Edition) (1993) (screenplay)
Basic Instinct (1992) (written by)
Music Box (1989) (written by)
Checking Out (1989) (written by)
Betrayed (1988) (written by)
Big Shots (1987) (written by)
Hearts of Fire (1987) (screenplay)
Jagged Edge (1985) (written by)
Flashdance (Special Collector's Edition w/ Bonus CD)screenplay) (1983)
F.I.S.T (1978) (screenplay) (story)
PAUL VERHOEVEN
Starship Troopers (1997)
Showgirls (1995)
Basic Instinct (1992)
Total Recall (1990)
RoboCop (1987)
Flesh+Blood (1985)
Vierde man, De (1983)
Spetters (Widescreen Edition) (1980)
SHARON STONE
When a Man Falls in the Forest (2007) .... Karen Fields
If I Had Known I Was a Genius (2007) .... Gloria Fremont
Bobby (2006) .... Miriam Ebbers
Basic Instinct 2 (2006) .... Catherine Tramell
Alpha Dog (2006) .... Olivia Mazursky
Broken Flowers (2005) .... Laura
Catwoman (2004) .... Laurel Hedare
The Muse (1999) .... Sarah Little
Gloria (1999) .... Gloria
Antz (1998) (voice) .... Princess Bala
The Mighty (1998) .... Gwen Dillon
Sphere (1998) .... Dr. Elizabeth 'Beth' Halperin
Last Dance (1996) .... Cindy Liggett
Diabolique (1996) .... Nicole Horner
Casino (1995) .... Ginger McKenna
The Quick and the Dead (1995) .... Ellen "The Lady"
The Specialist (1994) .... May Munro
Intersection (1994) .... Sally Eastman
Last Action Hero (1993) .... Catherine Tramell
Sliver (1993) .... Carly Norris
Basic Instinct (1992) .... Catherine Tramell
Diary of a Hitman (1991) .... Kiki
Where Sleeping Dogs Lie (1991) .... Serena Black
Year of the Gun (1991) .... Alison King
Scissors (1991) .... Angie Anderson
He Said, She Said (1991) .... Linda Metzger
Total Recall (1990) .... Lori
MICHAEL DOUGLAS
Traffic (2000) .... Robert Wakefield
Wonder Boys (2000) .... Prof. Grady Tripp
A Perfect Murder (1998) .... Steven Taylor
The Game (1997) .... Nicholas Van Orton
The Ghost and the Darkness (1996) .... Charles Remington
The American President (1995) .... President Andrew Shepherd
Disclosure (1994) .... Tom Sanders
Falling Down (1993) .... William 'D-Fens' Foster
Basic Instinct (1992) .... Det. Nick Curran
Shining Through (1992) .... Ed Leland
The War of the Roses (1989) .... Oliver Rose
Black Rain (1989/I) .... Nick
Wall Street (1987) .... Gordon Gekko
Fatal Attraction (Special Collector's Edition) (1987) .... Dan Gallagher
A Chorus Line (1985) .... Zach
The Jewel of the Nile (1985) .... Jack Colton
JEANNE TRIPLEHORN
Dial 9 for Love (2001) .... Nina
Relative Values (2000) .... Miranda Frayle/Freda Birch
Paranoid (2000/I) .... Rachel
Timecode (2000) .... Lauren Hathaway
Steal This Movie (2000) .... Johanna Lawrenson
Mickey Blue Eyes (1999) .... Gina Vitale
Very Bad Things (1998) .... Lois Berkow
Sliding Doors (1998) .... Lydia
Snitch (1998) .... Annie
Office Killer (1997) .... Norah Reed
'Til There Was You (1997) .... Gwen Moss
Waterworld (1995) .... Helen
Nick: What's your new book about?
Catherine: A detective. He falls for the wrong woman.
Nick: What happens to him?
Catherine: She kills him.
Rating: - A masterpiece that gets better with age
BASIC INSTINCT is a masterpiece of human behavior and frailty that could never be made now in these days of extreme political correctness. It pulls no punches in portraying the characters in harsh reality, without remorse or apologies for their flaws.
After viewing the movie through once, I went back to the "Extras" and turned on the commentary by the psychologist. Her observations were spellbinding, and I found myself watching the entire movie again. I highly recommend her commentary for anyone seeking a deeper understanding and appreciation for this cinematic classic.
The Blu-ray version was superb!
Rating:  - Apart from All the Rest -- Sharon Saves Movie......
Ho Hum. Another Michael Douglas film whereby the puzzle's the thing, and your quest to have them reveal the answer creates more confusion for your brain cells. Not to say this isn't entertaining.
Michael is a detective who has been excessive in his self destruction (booze and cigarettes) and the department is keeping an annoying prying eye on him. Investigating a murder, he comes across the not caring one bit out of the mainstream Sharon Stone. She lives life on the edge, and he becomes more deeply involved with her as he tries to figure out the murder.
Sharon is called in for questioning, and it is there she exerts her full power and control over the men questioning her. I am surprised the department didn't have drool cups available. Anyway, sex and sin and alternate lifestyles and blond wigs figure into this whole mess. In the end, the cat and mouse game still doesn't get resolved because you are kept wondering who caught who?
The movie tries to give you intrigue, but doesn't always hit the mark. The camera, though, does hit the mark when Sharon is on screen, and she saves the movie on her own, without the wooden Michael Douglas and his phoned in performance. For curiosity seekers only.
Rating: - The directors cut Generates Heat!
For the few extra minutes of footage, and the bonus features (to see Stone's real audition is worth it alone, it had to be her) this is worth it. The movie is still engaging after all these years, it's a mighty fine erotic thriller. The Directors Cut generates even more heat! Whew...
Rating: - One of my favorites growing up
Paul Verhoeven has created a masterwork from Joe Eszterhas' controversial script. Several sex scenes become a leitmotif, as the participants appear to pummel, rather than love, one another with their nether parts. But the most rugged and the most erotic scene occurs between Detective Nick Curran, Michael Douglas, and his colleague, Beth Garner, portrayed by Jeanne Tripplehorn. He throws her against a wall and then against the back of a chesterfield. That is only the foreplay. In this film sex is violence, and that is Verhoeven's theme.
But there is more. Sharon Stone as Catherine Tramell has a beautiful blonde form in that Beach Boy / California girl manner. She plays her 'flashing' scene in the police interrogation room with wit and a touch of class. Throughout the film she is arch, intelligent, electric. Her foil, Nick Curran, a troubled detective, realizes she might be a murderer, but finds her personality and her allure, irresistible. Douglas' performance is driven, masculine, affecting ... yet he would be well advised to keep his trousers on henceforth, for his sagging bottom is simply too comical.
There are several echoes of Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo (58). Both pictures have as a setting the picturesque San Francisco area. Jerry Goldsmith's music recalls Bernard Herrmann's symphonic score. The stairwell in Curran's apartment building resembles the vertiginous staircase of the Mission bell tower. And as with Hitchcock the dialogue is often simultaneously risque and humorous, although more vulgar in keeping with the tenor of modern times.
Eszterhas' script is carefully crafted, and it does not cheat. Life proves ambiguous at many levels, and so does art. The mystery is dark; the action, including a car chase, thrills; and the locale continually shifts, from a cop station to Catherine's lovely seaside house to a colorful bar where Catherine's jealous female lover and Curran engage in a sensual battle for her charms.
Day, night, sun, rain, streets, highways, scenery, ocean, sex, emotion, confrontations, death ... the film envelops everything, perhaps even love. Here, Verhoeven, Eszterhas, Douglas, Stone, have achieved some screen magic of the past
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