Pacific Heights

Patty and Drake want their downstairs tenant to pay the rent. He won’t. They want him to leave. He won’t. And the tenant, a sociopathic scam artist, has made sure he has the law on his side.

“Check All References” may be a landlord credo, and in the case of this jolting cat-and-mouse thriller, the references are impeccable. Melanie Griffith and Matthew Modine play the over-mortgaged couple whose hope of keeping their renovated Victorian dream home depends on leasing the downstairs. Michael Keaton is Carter Hayes, a frighteningly dangerous nightmare who’s out to claim the house for himself.  John Schlesinger (Midnight Cowboy) directs, lifting Pacific Heights to unsettling heights of palpable suspense.

Director: John Schlesinger
Writer: Daniel Pyne
Producers: Scott Rudin, William Sackheim
Cast: Melanie Griffith, Michael Keaton, Matthew Modine