Dead by Dawn (1998) from Johnny Web (Uncle Scoopy)

If you are an intelligent and patient person, you are probably wondering why I am discussing one of Hollywood's most beloved A-list icons in an article that is supposed to be about a lame softcore sex movie made a year after Pakula's death.

I'm getting there. Stay patient for a minute.

In 1992, during the thriller phase of his career, Pakula directed a movie called Consenting Adults, which didn't do much at the box office ($21 million) and is now largely forgotten. Here are his directorial efforts sorted by IMDb rating:

1. (7.99) - All the President's Men (1976)
2. (7.48) - Sophie's Choice (1982)
3. (7.16) - Parallax View, The (1974)
4. (7.07) - Klute (1971)
5. (6.79) - Presumed Innocent (1990)
6. (6.67) - Orphans (1987)
7. (6.51) - Love and Pain and the Whole Damn Thing (1973)
8. (6.37) - Sterile Cuckoo, The (1969)
9. (6.20) - Pelican Brief, The (1993)
10. (6.12) - Starting Over (1979)
11. (5.71) - Comes a Horseman (1978)
12. (5.70) - Devil's Own, The (1997)
13. (5.53) - See You in the Morning (1989)
14. (5.34) - Consenting Adults (1992)
15. (5.19) - Rollover (1981)
16. (4.68) - Dream Lover (1986)

Consenting Adults didn't have that great a script but did, however, star two major Hollywood names, Kevin Spacey (pre-stardom) and Kevin Kline. I reckon that "The Two Kevins" are the grade-A version of "The Two Coreys". Spacey played a shifty wheeler-dealer who was always looking for the bigger, better deal. Kline played a 40ish fuddy-duddy who found himself trapped in a joyless suburban life. Pretty much the same role Kevin Kline always plays when he's not doing comedy. The two men became neighbors and then friends, after a fashion, and Spacey started to seduce Kline into a more sinful and daring world-view. The piece de resistance of the seduction was an offer to swap wives. Simple enough - one night they would each go to the other's wife in the dark, and make love to her. The women would catch on, but if they refused, well, so what? Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Kline gave in, the woman consented without any problem, but Kline woke up with a major one. Spacey's wife was killed during the swap-night, bludgeoned to death with a Louisville Slugger. When the bat was found with Kline's fingerprints all over it, he seemed to be headed for the electric chair. There are many more twists to the plot, but I can't reveal them without spoiling the entire movie. You have the idea, and can probably guess the rest.

In Consenting Adults, Kevin Kline made bail about halfway through, found out that his own wife had moved in with Spacey, and that's basically where the real movie began.  Dead by Dawn condensed the plot to the point where the pseudo-Kline did find out about his friend and his wife, but is still in the slammer, and it ends with our understanding that the ersatz Kline character will fry for a crime he did not commit.

I'll bet you are thinking, "So, a softcore sex movie actually had a plot as good as an Alan Pakula film. That's probably a good thing, right?"

Well, sorta. It wasn't a bad idea, I guess, but ...

• The original plot was butchered so badly with inexplicable editing and a an unsatisfying and too-abrupt ending that it was no longer at the  level of the original. It was sort of an interesting idea to end the film with the patsy realizing that he's been had, ala Body Heat, but in Body Heat, Bill Hurt, although likeable, is a genuine sleazeball who actually does some bad things along the way. This poor schnook, on the other hand, never did anything bad in his life except to sleep with his neighbor's wife one time. He is simply a victim, so his impending and certain murder conviction seems like an unsatisfying denouement.
• As you might expect, the actors in Dead by Dawn are not quite up to the standard of Kline and Spacey.
• Remember this is a softcore sex film. By that standard it does have a decent plot, but it isn't good in the other areas where a softcore sex film should be good, like sex and nudity, for example.
  • Shannon Tweed, 40ish and near the end of her career in erotica, did her first sex scene in her underwear until the final minute, when she removed her clothing while sitting down with her back to the camera, so that only the top of her buns were visible. In her second sex scene, she stayed in her underwear. In the last minute of the film, she finally flashed one of her mammoth breasts.
  • Jodie Fisher's first sex scene basically wasn't a sex scene at all. It was a topless woman hugging a man interminably, while they flopped around a suburban swimming pool. Fisher's final sex scene was the only good one in the film. She was seen fully naked from the rear (she looked great), and her breasts were exposed from several angles.

I can't recommend this film at all. The borrowed plot is not really relevant to this evaluation. The salient point is that it's filled with long, passionless sex scenes in which the participants are fully-dressed or in panties. There's no sign of a pubic area anywhere, and almost no nudity from Shannon Tweed.