D.O.A. (1988) – a dead man searching:

D. O. A.

D.O.A. (1988) – a dead man searching:

Review by Jack Kost.

You’re never more alive than when you’re on the edge of death.

– Dennis Quaid, as Dexter Cornell.

What would you do if you were told you had maybe twenty-four hours to live … no more than forty-eight?

How would you react if you were then told you’d been deliberately poisoned?

You’re still alive, the poison ingested into your system, working through you.

Your life slowly and painfully ebbs away, and you are fully aware of every moment of it.

In your last hours, you know you’ve been murdered.

What would you do?

How would you spend that remaining time?

Counting every second … minute … hour …

This is the intriguing premise of D.O.A. (1988), directed by Annabel Jankel and Rocky Morton, their debut movie, released in the United States on March 18, 1988.

A remake that becomes a reimagining of the 1949 original.

In a nostalgic homage to classic noir thrillers, this neo-noir update opens with a night scene, shot in grainy black and white.

Dexter Cornell (Dennis Quaid) walks through a torrential rainstorm.

His jacket is torn.

He looks beaten.

The title acronym: D.O.A. is short for Dead On Arrival.

That’s what Dexter is on the verge of being, as he stumbles into a police station, and knocks over a Christmas tree when he approaches the Desk Sergeant (William Johnson).

Dexter is visibly in pain, as he tells the cop he’s there to report a murder.

“Who was murdered?” the Desk Sergeant asks.

Dexter raises his head, looks him in the eye, and declares cryptically: “I was!”

In an interview room, Dexter relays his story to Detectives Ulmer (Brion James), and Brockton (Jack Kehoe), who record his statement onto video tape.

The rest of the story is then told in retrospect and in color.

A neat switch on some movies where flashback sequences are shown in black and white, or a hazy color filter.

The movie switches to color, as Dexter, now teaching his college class, writes the word COLOR on the chalkboard.

Dexter asks his class for references to the color green.

Star student and aspiring novelist, Nicholas Lang (Robert Knepper), offers the most intelligent answer with a quote from Othello, by William Shakespeare:

O, beware my lord of jealousy. It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on.

Jealousy is a driving theme of the movie.

Jealousy triggered by an extra-marital affair.

Jealousy of other people’s achievements.

Jealousy of status.

It’s the Christmas season, but there’s no good cheer going around.

Passions and tempers are as hot as the unseasonal sweltering heat.

Dexter Cornell is not happy with his life.

He’s a chain-smoking, alcohol-guzzling, depressive.

His marriage has failed and, despite his attempts at reconciliation, his estranged wife, Gail (Jane Kaczmarek), has long since given up.

Whenever they talk, she pesters him to sign the divorce papers.

His success as a novelist secured him the respected position of college English Professor.

Afraid of failure, he simply stopped writing and settled into teaching.

Dexter gave up on what was truly important to him.

His lack of passion then affected all aspects of his life.

Dennis Quaid is convincing in the role.

A cynical everyman.

Weighed down by life.

Looking ever more disheveled, shaky, and sweaty.

The first body on the pile is Nicholas Lang.

His on-campus death, at first thought to be suicide, is later discovered to be murder.

The script is intelligent.

The caustic dialogue is wry and humorous, particularly in the scene when the cops question Dexter in his ex-wife’s home.

Gail has been murdered, and it is revealed that Dexter has been deliberately poisoned.

Brockton:

Careful, Cornell. You’re upset.

Dexter:

You’re damn right I’m upset. I find out I’m a murder victim and a suspect all in one goddam day.

Dexter evades arrest for the murders of Gail and Lang.

The cops refuse to believe he’s not the culprit.

Dexter then sets out to solve the mystery himself.

The plot has effective twists, turns, and red herrings along the way, as Dexter has dealings with Sydney Fuller (Meg Ryan), an admiring student Dexter gets literally stuck on.

Mrs. Fitzwaring (Charlotte Rampling), a shadowy Black Widow, and Lang’s benefactor.

Bernard (Christopher Neame), Fitzwaring’s Chauffeur and violent right-hand man.

Cookie (Robin Johnson), Fitzwaring’s daughter.

Hal Petersham (Daniel Stern), Dexter’s friend and colleague.

Graham Corey (Jay Patterson), Dexter’s disgruntled colleague.

Annabel Jankel and Rocky Morton’s previous experience with directing music videos is evident in the nightclub scene, where Dexter and Sydney get drunk at the bar, downing endless Martinis, and the on-stage Rock band, Timbuk 3 (1983-1995), sing: Too Much Sex, Not Enough Affection.

Their other directing credits include Super Mario Bros (1993), and the Max Headroom TV show (1985).

This neo-noir mystery thriller successfully has all the elements and atmosphere of a classic noir:

Rain-soaked streets.

Light cutting through Venetian blinds.

Suspicion and mistakes along wrong trails and dead-end leads.

Hard-nosed cops, hardboiled dialogue, and sardonic wit.

Unscrupulous characters chasing their own selfish motives.

A killer lurking in the shadows, his motive as-yet unknown.

An ordinary man, who doesn’t consider himself extraordinary, thrown into extraordinary circumstances.

The production company, Touchstone Pictures, set the tone for an old-style thriller.

Their logo and name appear on screen in monochrome black and white, with a thunder crack and lightning flash, before the movie even starts.

Two suspenseful cliff-hanger set-pieces involve the off-camera killer indulging in some nail gun fun, while Dexter and Sydney get unstuck in an ascending elevator car, and a violent confrontation with two characters ending up dead in a tar pit.

The cinematography and editing are also effective, particularly in the scenes where Dexter looks out of a high-rise dormitory window, the poison in his system taking hold, inducing in him a reaction of acrophobia.

Dexter sees himself plummeting to the sidewalk.

A sense of what Lang might have glimpsed in his last moments, as he plunged from the college rooftop.

Dexter’s panicked and aimless run through the crowded streets, after he has escaped the cops, and wonders where to go and what the hell to do next.

The final wrap-up is well handled.

The reveal is a sudden, but logical twist, with an insightful statement on the real value and reward of what it is to be a writer.

In the climactic fight scene, as Dexter’s energy and life ebbs, so the color also drains back to black and white.

Dexter, transitioned from college English Professor to Private Detective in his own murder case, then comes full circle, as he finishes relaying his findings to the two detectives.

It’s no surprise that Dexter accepts his fate.

He has no other choice.

We know from the first scene that he’s a dead man walking, searching for the motive and culprit behind his own murder.

His story and quest are told with gallows humor and energetic pacing.

The color green is always there, hanging over them, dooming them all.

The green-eyed monster of jealousy, poisoning minds, like the luminous green poison slowly killing Dexter.

Dexter’s departure to the afterlife, is shown as a final walk down a dimly lit corridor, towards an open, light-filled door.

The light intensifies and his silhouette vanishes.

As the end credits roll, it's a cinematic fade to black for Dexter and the audience.