Mortal Thoughts

Mortal Thoughts
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Alan Rudolph
Written by	William Reilly Claude Kerven
Produced by	Taylor Hackford Stuart Benjamin
Starring	Demi Moore Glenne Headly Bruce Willis John Pankow Harvey Keitel
Cinematography	Elliot Davis
Edited by	Tom Walls
Music by	Mark Isham
Production companies	New Vision Pictures Polar Entertainment Corporation Rufglen Films
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	April 19, 1991 (1991-04-19)
Running time	103 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$8 million
Box office	$19,018,321

Mortal Thoughts is a 1991 American dramatic mystery thriller, about a woman who is interrogated by the police regarding the death of her friend's husband. It was directed by Alan Rudolph and stars Demi Moore, Glenne Headly, Bruce Willis, and Harvey Keitel. Willis plays James Urbanski, the violent, drug-addicted husband of Joyce (Headly), who is murdered one evening at a Feast of Saint Rocco festival.

Plot

Cynthia Kellogg is interrogated by Detective John Woods and Detective Linda Nealon at a police station regarding the murder of her husband, Artie. Cynthia provides a deposition, relayed in detailed flashbacks. Cynthia recounts her employment as a hairdresser at her friend Joyce's New Jersey hair salon. Joyce's husband, Jimmy, is a violently abusive drug addict, and Joyce expresses a desire to kill him several times. One night, Cynthia accompanies Joyce and Jimmy to a Saint Rocco festival. After Jimmy becomes drunk and picks a fight with Joyce, he heads back to their van. Cynthia follows him and takes the keys, leaving him to sleep in the back of the vehicle.

Per Cynthia's account of events, the two women returned to the van later on to find Jimmy dead inside, his throat slashed; Cynthia claims Joyce admitted to cutting his neck after she went to check on him, during which he attacked her. According to Cynthia, at Joyce's insistence, the women disposed of Jimmy's body by dumping it in a ravine. After the murder, Cynthia returns home covered in blood and admits to her husband, Artie, what happened. Several days later, after Jimmy's body is found, Joyce's paranoia about being caught causes her to act increasingly erratically. At one point, she instructs Cynthia to kill one of the hairdressers at the salon out of fear she will tarnish the women's alibis. Joyce subsequently discovers that Artie knows about the murder, and she threatens to Cynthia that she will kill him to silence him. Cynthia does not believe Joyce can actually carry out her threats; however, after Artie is found shot dead at his home on Christmas Eve, Cynthia accuses Joyce.

Throughout Cynthia's interrogation, Detective Woods is skeptical of her descriptions of events and challenges her on them, but ultimately allows her to leave. Cynthia exits the police station, but pauses and recounts the details of what actually happened at the festival: Upon bringing Jimmy to the van, he attempted to rape Cynthia, and began beating her. In self-defense, she slashed his throat with a boxcutter. Cynthia and Joyce left the festival and began driving toward a hospital; however, when Joyce realized he tried to rape Cynthia, she turned the van around and began driving another direction, biding time while Jimmy bled to death in the back of the van. After he died, the women disposed of his body and made a pact not to tell anyone.

As Cynthia stands outside the police station recalling the truth of what occurred, Joyce is brought inside for her own interrogation. Cynthia decides to re-enter the station, now prepared to tell the truth of her guilt in Jimmy's death. She sits before Detective Woods' camera to record her taped confession.

Cast

• Demi Moore as Cynthia Kellogg
• Glenne Headly as Joyce Urbanski
• Bruce Willis as James "Jimmy" Urbanski
• Harvey Keitel as Detective John Woods
• John Pankow as Arthur "Artie" Kellogg
• Billie Neal as Detective Linda Nealon
• Frank Vincent and Doris McCarthy as Dominic and Jeanette, Joyce's parents
• Karen Shallo as Gloria, James' mother

Reception

The film holds a 57% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 14 reviews and grossed $19,018,321 against its $8 million budget.

Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C" on an A+ to F scale.

External links

• Mortal Thoughts at IMDb
• Mortal Thoughts at Box Office Mojo
• Mortal Thoughts at Rotten Tomatoes