mrnunleygo It's a rare event when I give up on a movie before it is halfway through. Usually I will suffer through a fairly bad movie to see if any redeeming entertainment surfaces. I'd heard "Pacific Heights" was a good movie, but the premise was so absurd I turned it off after about 30 minutes. The notion that a landlord would hand over a signed copy of a lease to a tenant before having received the security deposit and first month's rent was ridiculous (which was not in fact depicted in the movie but required for all subsequent events) , but in principle I could suspend disbelief and accept that some inexperienced landlords might be such complete idiots. However, the idea that the San Francisco Police would side with the illegal "tenant" rather than with the "landlord," when the former had never paid any rent or security deposit--and changed the door locks--could only have been written by someone who has no concept of landlord-tenant relations in America. Not only would the SFPD have immediately evicted the interloper, they would have arrested and jailed him for trespassing on the landlord's property. The scene of the police telling the landlord he should get a lawyer was especially ludicrous; the only person that would have needed a lawyer was the pretend "tenant." I don't care how skillfully the direction was after that or how suspenseful the movie would becaoe; because it was clear from that moment on the movie would be a right-wing fantasy about the potential danger of "tenants' rights." The reality is that the justice system totally supports landlords against tenants who, for whatever reason, have not paid their rent. Don't waste your time on propaganda that implies otherwise.

TonyMontana96 (Originally reviewed: 04/02/2017) I feel like I have seen enough of these clichéd, unoriginal thrillers to last a lifetime, It's similar to other third rate Fatal Attraction knock-offs like Guilty as Sin and The Hand that Rocks the Cradle, and despite a solid, menacing performance as a psycho by Michael Keaton there's not much else worth pointing out. The premise is fine but the pay-off lacks thrills; there's rarely a surprise as everything is by the book and it's rather idiotic with its plot outcomes, but don't let that stop it, the two lead performances are very weak. Melanie Griffith (Patty) is half bland and then half campy, her other half played by Matthew Modine (Drake) is even worse with a laughably bad over the top performance, and he's not even the film's psycho. But at least the dialogue isn't cringeworthily despite not being the slightest bit good either without Keaton.Keaton (Carter Haze) is like I mentioned earlier; the one worthwhile performance in the film, going from menacing, to playing the innocent, but officer I didn't do anything wrong type of guy, which results in the cop's actually believing him, but then again who can blame them, Modine's character was a raving looney when the cops were called, so anyone who's seen a film quite like this one knows that outcome. Daniel Pyne's script offers very little in terms of unpredictability and surprises, therefore it falls flat and will not be helded as some sort of first rate thriller, for which I might add, rightly so. There's nothing new about the ending either it's sloppy and obvious; John Schlesinger's direction might be passable but without good writing, suspense and a somewhat original story he will direct to no avail. Pacific Heights is an occasionally unintentionally funny suspense free film with not a hint of originality and when it's not being boring, it's being either predictable or ridiculous, I think it's forgettable and a rather poor film.

simonswain2000 This 1990 film about new landlords doing battle with the tenant from hell could have been a good psychological thriller; sadly, an interesting idea was hampered by poor execution. The film certainly did well at the box office and Schlesinger makes good use of the locations in San Francisco and Palm Springs; that said, the characters are so underdeveloped that it's difficult to care about what happens to them. As far as the look of the film is concerned the budget's been used well; would that one could say the same for the content.Drake (Modine) and Patty (Griffith) are young, un-married and upwardly mobile. They move into a Victorian house in San Francisco which they plan to renovate. The payments are beyond their means but the property's been divided into three apartments so by combining their savings with rent from the other two apartments, Drake and Patty decide that they can manage.Before long one of the apartments is occupied by the Watanabes (a kindly Japanese/American couple) but Drake and Patty haven't been entirely truthful about their financial position and in order to make the monthly payments on the house they need another tenant as quickly as possible.Enter Carter Hayes (Keaton).Hayes is expensively dressed, drives a very expensive car and is very polite; the answer to Drake and Patty's prayers. Admittedly for someone so apparently wealthy he's strangely reluctant to undergo a credit check but so what? Needs must when you are up to your eyes in debt; besides, he may be polite to the point of creepiness but he's got references, he's come along at just the right time and in return for waiving the credit check he's willing to pay six month's rent up front by wire transfer; what could be better?Now, there's an old saying about what happens when someone or something seems too good to be true.Yes, that's the one.Sure enough, Hayes is a nightmare; he moves in without permission, bringing a slack-jawed weirdo with him (together they carry out unauthorized do-it-yourself work on the apartment until the small hours of the morning), the promised rent shows no sign of appearing and the noise (plus an army of cockroaches) forces the Watanabes to move out.Hayes, however, has absolutely no intention of doing likewise; from the moment he moves in on Drake and Patty, he's waging psychological warfare. He won't even answer the door to the apartment and goes so far as to change the locks. He also knows how to play the legal system to his advantage and when Drake cuts off the power, he calls the police and it's Drake who finds himself on the wrong side of the law.This pattern is repeated throughout the film and is, as it turns out, Hayes' usual modus operandi: move into rented accommodation, refuse to pay the rent, make a nuisance of himself, push the landlord over the edge and then play the victim, continuing this pattern until a happy household has been destroyed.There is, to begin with at least, an air of mystery about Hayes; what does he do apart from unauthorized building work? Is he, perhaps, a satanist? A serial killer? Both?No.Hayes, we discover, is a loser, serial wrongdoer and general ne'er-do-well who is unhappy because he's been disowned by his family so in his mind, nobody else should be happy either.That's it.Michael Keaton plays creepy-and-slightly-menacing like nobody else but for him to be scary the menace needs to come to the fore and that simply never happens. Even when he's seen sitting in the dark twirling razor blades, we don't get the feeling that he's going to do anything with them: at least, not to anybody other than himself. He comes across as more pathetic than anything else.Without going into too much detail from here on, Hayes is not above a spot of identity theft; having already assumed the identity of the property's former landlord (Hayes' real name is James Danforth), he pretends to be Drake in order to use his credit cards; however he is soon found out by Patty and all Drake has to do to stop him is freeze the joint account. With that done, Danforth's 'scam' unravels and it's downhill for him from then on.I won't give away the ending but it is a happy one, should you be curious enough to watch this interesting misfire of a film.4 out of ten.

seymourblack-1 It's very unusual for a conflict between a house-owning couple and a strange tenant to provide the plot for a psychological thriller but in "Pacific Heights", that's exactly what happens. This set-up is initially intriguing but soon takes on a darker complexion as it gradually becomes apparent just how sinister and dangerous the newest occupant of the house really is. The tension then builds steadily as the conflict becomes increasingly intense and the stakes get higher.Drake Goodman (Matthew Modine) and his girlfriend Patty Palmer (Melanie Griffith) are an ambitious middle-class couple who decide to buy a Victorian house in the Pacific Heights neighbourhood of San Francisco. They both know that the property is really beyond their means, but after massaging some of the figures on their mortgage application, they soon become the proud owners of the impressive house which also needs some renovation work which they decide to undertake themselves. The financial commitment they've taken on is only sustainable if they let the two downstairs apartments and so arranging for this to be done becomes a priority.A very pleasant Japanese couple soon move into one of the apartments and among the applicants for the second one is a well-dressed, smooth-talking, charmer called Carter Hayes (Michael Keaton). Drake is so impressed by Hayes (who carries a large amount of cash with him and drives a Porsche) that he doesn't insist on him completing a credit application. Hayes promises that he'll pay six months rent in advance and that he'll arrange for this to be done by wire transfer. Before any money is actually paid, Hayes moves into the apartment and after a great deal of stalling, refuses to pay any rent.Things get progressively worse when Hayes moves a friend in and starts hammering and drilling loudly at all times of the day and night. The couple get anxious about what's being done inside the apartment and the Japanese couple move out because the disturbance they suffer through the nights is intolerable, as is the plague of cockroaches which suddenly infests their apartment. Drake stops Hayes' drilling by cutting off the electricity but this action gets him into trouble with the police and later, his efforts to get Hayes evicted also fail because the law always seems to be on the tenant's side.A series of further provocations continue to pile pressure on the couple whose relationship suffers as Drake starts to drink too much and Patty suffers a miscarriage. They feel totally powerless until some action that Patty takes gives her an opportunity to get rid of Hayes but what happens later isn't necessarily what she would've hoped for or expected.Michael Keaton is a tremendous villain and utterly convincing as the psychopathic scam artist who's an expert at acquiring properties by unorthodox means and at very favourable prices. Melanie Griffith also does really well as Patty who is far more rational and intelligent than her partner and who also provides some of the most enjoyable moments of the movie when she decides to turn the tables on Hayes. Matthew Modine also gives an energetic performance as the hot-headed, impulsive and not-very-bright Drake whose actions regularly do more harm than good."Pacific Heights" is entertaining, less predictable than many thrillers and definitely not "run of the mill". It's these qualities together with the performances of Keaton and Griffith that ultimately make this such an enjoyable movie to watch.