''Union City'' is a 1980 American

neo-noir Neo-noir is a revival of film noir, a genre that had originally flourished during the post-World War II era in the United Statesroughly from 1940 to 1960. The French term, ''film noir'', translates literally to English as "black film", indicating ...

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...

mystery film A mystery film is a genre of film that revolves around the solution of a problem or a crime. It focuses on the efforts of the detective, private investigator or amateur sleuth to solve the mysterious circumstances of an issue by means of clues, i ...

directed by Mark Reichert and starring

Deborah Harry Deborah Ann Harry (born Angela Trimble; July 1, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter and actress, best known as the lead vocalist of the band Blondie. Four of her songs with the band reached on the US charts between 1979 and 1981. Born in ...

Dennis Lipscomb Dennis Lipscomb (March 1, 1942 – July 30, 2014) was an American actor. Lipscomb's first feature film was '' Union City'' (1980). From the early 1980s to the 1990s, Lipscomb appeared in key roles in various motion pictures including '' Love Ch ...

, and

Everett McGill Everett McGill (born Charles Everett McGill III, October 21, 1945) is an American actor, who rose to prominence for his portrayal of a caveman in '' Quest for Fire'' (1981). He went on to have prominent roles in the films ''Dune'' (1984), '' Si ...

. Based on the short story "Union City: The Corpse Next Door" by

Cornell Woolrich Cornell George Hopley Woolrich ( ; December 4, 1903 – September 25, 1968) was an American novelist and short story writer. He sometimes used the pseudonyms William Irish and George Hopley. His biographer, Francis Nevins Jr., rated Woolrich th ...

, the film had its world premiere at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

on May 17, 1980, before opening in New York City on September 26, 1980, and in Los Angeles on August 5, 1981.

Plot

In 1953, Harlan is a repressed, uptight accountant living in an apartment block with his beautiful, neglected wife Lillian. He becomes obsessed with discovering who is drinking from the milk bottles left outside his apartment every morning, so he ties some cord to a bottle which will alert him when it is taken, and through this he finds the culprit to be a homeless war veteran. The vagrant apologises but the obsessive Harlan attacks him, knocking him down and seemingly cracking his skull. In a panic he hides the body behind the folding bed in another vacant apartment opposite his own. Harlan's behaviour becomes ever more irrational, driving Lillian away from him and into the arms of building supervisor Larry Longacre (McGill); he believes another deranged resident known as the Contessa is planning to run away with him, and puts potential residents off the room where he hid the vagrant's body with his bizarre behaviour. However, eventually a young couple of newly-weds, Alphonse and Jeanette Flourescu move in. Harlan attempts to dissuade Alphonse from opening the bed but is unsuccessful. Alphonse looks at the bloody but empty bed as a terrified Harlan throws himself through the apartment window to his death on the street below. A crowd gathers around his body, watched briefly by the disinterested vagrant, alive with his head bandaged.

Cast

as Lillian *

as Harlan *

as Larry Longacre * Irina Maleeva as The Contessa *

Pat Benatar Patricia Mae Giraldo ('' née'' Andrzejewski, formerly Benatar; born January 10, 1953), known professionally as Pat Benatar, is an American rock singer and songwriter. In the United States, she has had two multi-platinum albums, five platinum al ...

as Jeanette Florescu *

Tony Azito Tony Azito (July 18, 1948 – May 26, 1995) was an American eccentric dancer and character actor. He was best known for comedic and grotesque parts, which were accentuated by his hyperextended body. Education Azito was part of the Juilliard Schoo ...

as Alphonse Florescu *

Sam McMurray Sam, SAM or variants may refer to: Places * Sam, Benin * Sam, Boulkiemdé, Burkina Faso * Sam, Bourzanga, Burkina Faso * Sam, Kongoussi, Burkina Faso * Sam, Iran * Sam, Teton County, Idaho, United States, a populated place People and fictional ...

as Young Vagrant * Cynthia Crisp as Wanda *

Taylor Mead Taylor Mead (December 31, 1924 – May 8, 2013) was an American writer, actor and performer. Mead appeared in several of Andy Warhol's underground films filmed at Warhol's Factory, including ''Tarzan and Jane Regained... Sort of'' (1963) and ...

as Walter * Paul Andor as Ludendorff * Arthur McFarland as Mr. Lewis * C. C. H. Pounder as Mrs. Lewis

Production

The film starred Everett McGill, Dennis Lipscomb, and

of Blondie fame. The band was relatively unknown in the US at the time Harry was cast, but this changed when " Heart of Glass" reached number one in the United States midway through filming. As director Marcus Reichert later recalled, she was forbidden to sing on the film's soundtrack for contractual reasons, but her experiences led to the recording of the Blondie song "

Union City Blue "Union City Blue" is a song by the American new wave band Blondie. The song was featured on their 1979 studio album '' Eat to the Beat''. Written by Debbie Harry and Nigel Harrison, the song was inspired lyrically by Harry's experiences while a ...

". Reichert also cast singer

, soon to make a mainstream breakthrough on the pop charts, in a featured role. Harry's partner, fellow Blondie member Chris Stein, performed the film's original score. The short story written by Cornell Woolrich is set in the 1930s but Reichert relocated it to 1953, for he felt the period offered greater psychological possibilities for his interpretation of the material. With the encouragement of the film's originating producer Monty Montgomery, he wrote the screenplay in eight days. ''Union City'' was filmed on location on 27th Street off Summit Avenue in Union City, and on 48th Street and Hudson Avenue, in March 1979. Although it was hailed as "an unqualified masterpiece" by critic Lawrence O'Toole when it appeared in The Directors' Fortnight at Cannes in 1980, and United Artists offered to distribute Reichert's finished film, the film was recut by co-producers Kinesis Ltd., who decided to be the American distributor, in order to get a PG rating. The excised material is believed by Reichert to have been destroyed when the Movielab building, in which the film was stored, was sold to Arriflex. ''Union City'' has been released on DVD by

Tartan Video Palisades Tartan is a British/American film distribution company, founded by US-based Palisades Media Group to take over the film library of film distributor Tartan Films after it folded in the summer of 2008. History Tartan Films, established i ...

and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. The film is now under contract to MGM/UA Pictures.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0081687, Union City 1980 films 1980 crime drama films 1980s mystery drama films 1980 romantic drama films American crime drama films American mystery drama films American neo-noir films American romantic drama films Columbia Pictures films Films based on short fiction Films based on works by Cornell Woolrich Films set in 1953 Films set in Hudson County, New Jersey Films shot in New Jersey Union City, New Jersey 1980s English-language films 1980s American films