In 1992, Basic Instinct was released onto VHS to the sound of a thousand young men pausing and rewinding their copies. The film redefined the erotic thriller, pushing at the boundaries of acceptable taste and revelling in its controversy. It made writer Joe Eszterhas a household name and while Basic Instinct remains a career highlight, earlier scripts hinted at what was to come. None more so than with 1985’s Jagged Edge.
When San Francisco socialite Paige Forrester is brutally slain in her beach house bedroom by a masked intruder suspicion falls on her husband Jack (Jeff Bridges). He hires a reluctant Teddy Barnes (Glenn Close) to defend him against an aggressive district attorney and things become predictably complicated.
But as predictable as that story is, Jagged Edge manages to retain your attention, largely due to the strength of the performances. There is an essence of pantomime about much of what takes place, but the cast commits to their roles with welcome conviction. Bridges inhabits Jack with enthusiastic vigour, playing with the audience’s affections as much as with his lawyer’s, who is, of course, unable to resist those charms. Robert Loggia – nominated for an Academy Award for his part – growls and grumbles throughout as an old school private detective, and you can almost hear the boos when Peter Coyote’s prosecutor appears on screen.
Jagged Edge is erotic, pulpy fun and worth revisiting, only there is little in the way of extras to make this Blu-ray an essential purchase. But if it is your first viewing, and you don’t see the barely hidden twist coming, you need to have a quiet word with yourself.
