Pacific Heights

Year 6, Day 243 - 8/31/14 - Movie #1,834

BEFORE: A three-day weekend where the weather isn't so great?  I'm down with this, because "everyone" is out of town, which means it's a great time to stay home and take care of some things, besides catching up on sleep.  I can get some comic books bagged up and placed in longboxes, since I'm about a year behind on organizing the collection. (The next step would be to move four or five boxes of comics to my storage unit, but one thing at a time.)  I can work on clearing both DVRs, not just one or the other.  I can re-alphabetize the DVDs while I pick out the September selections.  And we can go to whatever restaurants we want, even the ones that are usually too crowded, provided that still leaves me time to do those other things.  

This film was meant to follow "Six Days, Seven Nights", because of the rhyming thing, but since I moved the other Harrison Ford films, that ship has sailed.  Instead I'm using it to set up tomorrow's Labor Day film, which in turn sets up the back-to-school chain.  Linking from "Force 10 From Navarone", of course Harrison Ford was also in "Working Girl" with Melanie Griffith (last seen in "Mulholland Falls")

THE PLOT:  A couple works hard to renovate their dream house and become landlords to pay for it. Unfortunately one of their tenants has plans of his own. 

AFTER: Well, if you liked "The Money Pit", but wished it could be a lot more like "Cape Fear", then this is the film for you.  All the fun and excitement of renovating a house, combined with the fear and excitement of dealing with a psychotic stalker.  The thrill comes from the not knowing how far or fast the relationship between the landlords and tenant is going to go as it spins out of control.  

I've never been a landlord, but I did serve on a condo board for 11 years, and I know there are some fine legal distinctions that get made.  For example, no one in the building could sublet without permission, but they were allowed to have roommates.  So you couldn't rent out a room, but you could share your space - I guess you'd have to be sleeping in the same room or the same bed for that to be 100% legal.  But you can't invade someone's personal space by checking out their sleeping arrangements, so at the end of the day you can't really enforce the rules as they're written.  

For a psychotic person, the villain here sure knows a lot about the distinctions in the laws about renters and delinquent tenants.  Perhaps you wouldn't expect someone who's unhinged to have such a fine grasp of the law, but that's where we find ourselves.  Ultimately, though, the film can't decide whether he's a mentally evil stalker, or a cold, calculated identity thief, or just someone who likes destroying rental apartments.  So he ends up being all of the above - I think a screenwriter should be forced to pick just one track sometimes.  

The concept of "squatter's rights" is over-empasized here - sure, a tenant has rights, but if he hasn't paid his rent or security deposit, well then he's not officially a tenant, now is he?  The screenplay is forced to rely on a judge who either can't be bothered with details or refuses to listen to reason, and therefore rules in favor of the non-paying tenant, which seems like lunacy, but keeps the plot going.  

From a business standpoint, what can we learn from this film?  If someone offers you a medium amount of cash now as part of a business deal, or a larger amount of money if you'll take a wire transfer, TAKE THE CASH.  This isn't "Let's Make a Deal", there isn't a vacation hiding behind some curtain somewhere.  Take what the guy is offering in cash he has on hand, and let him wire you the balance.  Or, they have these new-fangled things called "checks" that you might want to look into.  

NITPICK POINT: I didn't realize that there was such an ancillary market for sconces and appliances.  I would think you'd have to know someone in the contracting business in order for stripping an apartment to be profitable, mostly because tearing the fixtures out without damaging them would be nearly impossible. 

I've made exactly two real estate transactions in my life, one was buying a condo in Brooklyn in 1991, and the other involved selling it in 2004 and buying a house in Queens.  In between I paid my ex-wife for her investment in the condo (as part of the divorce terms) and it turned out to be the smartest money I ever spent.  I don't like to brag about it, but after 13 years the condo was worth about four times its initial 1991 price, and selling it just made sense.  Even though I'd only managed to pay off about 1/5 of the mortgage on the condo, after selling it I was able to pay cash for 2/3 of a house, plus have some money for moving expenses and new furniture.  I know that my great fortune came from the increase in the value of the condo, but it was hard to feel like I hadn't bought a house with someone else's money.  

Also starring Matthew Modine (last seen in "The Dark Knight Rises"), Michael Keaton (last seen in "Speechless"), Laurie Metcalf (last seen in "U Turn"), Mako (last seen in "Conan the Destroyer"), Dorian Harewood, Beverly D'Angelo (last seen in "Coal Miner's Daughter"), with cameos from Tippi Hedren (last seen in "Marnie"), Dan Hedaya (last seen in "A Life Less Ordinary"), Jerry Hardin, Tracey Walter.

RATING: 5 out of 10 background checks