Dr Bill Capa (Bruce Willis) is a troubled New York psychiatrist who is thinking of giving it all away after a suicidal woman he is treating makes good on her threat and jumps to her death from his office window, splattering herself all over 42nd Street in front of Grand Central Station.
The sight of her blood on the Manhattan street below renders Dr Bill so shaken that he can no longer see the colour red.
His odd method of recharging involves a trip to Los Angeles to stay with his old college buddy and fellow therapist, Dr Bob Moore (Scott Bakula). In LA, at least, Capa can confidently expect to find plenty of people whose various derangements will make him feel quite normal again.
But his colleague is brutally stabbed to death, and the unusual suspects are the patients from his Monday night therapy group.
At the urging of Lt. Hector Martinez (a hilarious Rubén Blades), Capa reluctantly agrees to take over the group and find the culprit. The assignment raises complex ethical issues for the therapist that the film could have explored in more depth.
The therapy group features a veritable rogue’s gallery of character actors: Sondra (Lesley Ann Warren) is a sexy divorcee whose borderline personality disorder leans toward nymphomania; Clark (Brad Dourif) is a nervously twitching obsessive-compulsive lawyer who is compelled to count everything; Casey (Kevin J O’Connor) is a cynical and masochistic young artist supported by the rich parents he hates; Buck (Lance Henriksen) is a former cop tormented by the mysterious death of his family, and the group also includes an oddly quiet teenager called Richie, who is confused about his sexual identity.
Some of the really fun moments in Color of Night come from the therapy sessions when the members harass each other mercilessly.
Matters become complicated when the mysterious and beautiful Rose (Jane March) enters Bill’s life (she rear-ends his car). He also discovers that his pursuit of the murderer is to be frequently interrupted by attempts on his own life.
This erotic thriller is top-shelf trash with a convoluted but predictable plot, which is more of a mess than most of Bill’s patients.
The movie also features some of the steamiest sex scenes ever filmed – including shots of Bruce Willis’ penis (cut from the theatrical release but still visible in the unrated director’s cut) – and a wonderful blend of Giallo influences.
Color of Night was a box office failure but did well in the home video market, becoming one of the Top 20 most-rented films of 1995.
Dr Bill Capa
Bruce Willis Rose
Jane March Lt. Hector Martinez
Rubén Blades Sondra
Lesley Ann Warren Dr Bob Moore
Scott Bakula Clark
Brad Dourif Buck
Lance Henriksen Casey
Kevin J O’Connor Dale Dexter
Andrew Lowery Anderson
Eriq La Salle Ashland
Jeff Corey Michelle
Kathleen Wilhoite Edith Niedelmeyer
Shirley Knight Medical Examiner
John Bower
Director
Richard Rush
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Some of the really fun moments in Color of Night come from the therapy sessions when the members harass each other mercilessly.
