An irate John Heard growls at Mary Beth Hurt, “I’m gonna rape you”, in the allegedly romantic alleged comedy Chilly Scenes of Winter from 1979. This is part of an argument between the characters, but the line is abrupt and weird that it only calls attention to itself. What was even more appalling to me is this picture was written and directed by Joan Micklin Silver, adapted from a novel by Ann Beattie. I was surprised women were the creative force behind this movie and its source material. At the risk of sounding like an incel, it seems to reflect a bad opinion of men in general. If nothing else, the way this occurs in this particular argument feels like the product of somebody who doesn’t know how ordinary people converse.
Heard plays an ordinary guy on the surface, being an office drone living in what used to be his grandmother’s house on the outskirts of Salt Lake City. But when it comes to his obsession with ex-girlfriend Hurt, he’s a stalker who does things like holding a stakeout of the house where she and her currently husband live. That this behavior is not presented as creepy speaks volumes about the tone of this movie. I also want to redirect your attention back to that horrific line in the opening sentence of this essay.
And these two weren’t even that great of a couple while they were together. In multiple flashbacks, we see their relationship from formation to collapse. Neither character really interested me, nor did I detect any real chemistry between them.
Also in the mix is Peter Riegert as a friend staying as his houseguest until he finds a new job. Heard’s mother is played by Gloria Grahame, who is so starved for attention that she keeps threatening to commit suicide, though she would be more successful is she chose a means other than excessive consumption of laxatives. Kenneth McMillan is Heard’s stepfather, an amiable buffoon who seems desperate to make friends with everybody. Francis Bay has an interesting cameo. You may not recognize the name, but her face will be instantly recognizable from anybody who has seen Blue Velvet or Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me.
The film failed for me in many regards, but predominately because I simply did not like any of the major characters. I was far more interested in such characters as Riegert’s laconic houseguest, and was glad to see he connects with Nora Heflin. She is in a thankless role as a fellow office drone of Heard’s who is desperately in love with him, only to be treated horribly by him. But then, that’s how our protagonist treats everybody.
Whenever I write about a film, I try to isolate one or two things I liked in it, no matter how minor. The one solid laugh this one got from me is when Heard questions Hurt’s motives for jumping on a trampoline in high school, under her belief it would cure her bow legs. He seems doubtful that activity would have that benefit. She tells him this while bouncing on a trampoline and cheerfully exclaims, “I was misinformed!” She also says something that resonated with me when apologizing for her minimalist furnishings of her apartment: “How awful it would be to live somewhere with only a mattress and a folding chair.” Funny, but my first apartment had, to the best I can recall, one true chair and I never did get the mattress and box springs off the floor.
But the most interesting element of Chilly Scenes of Winter for modern viewers might be how it is a very accurate encapsulation of the late 70’s for a certain demographic. Just look at Riegert’s hair—it’s like he went to a stylist and instructed them to give him the Dustin Hoffman. Then soundtrack is also singularly terrible, like a fever dream of memories of various smooth jazz and yacht rock tracks all intertwined. This is a world of A-frame houses, fondue and wicker lampshades covering giant orb lights. I can attest to this being how America was largely was at the time as I was there. I just never wanted to return to that era. And, if the leads of this movie are the kind of people one would find in that era, those are additional reasons to not go back.
Dir: Joan Micklin Silver
Starring John Heard, Mary Beth Hurt, Peter Riegert
Watched on Criterion Collection blu-ray