As the self-important soundtrack pounds away in ba-doom-boom fashion, director Dwight Little cuts from that most phallic of landmarks, the Washington Monument, to a blond woman and unidentifiable man having violent sex in the Oval Office. “Murder at 1600” doesn’t get much more subtle than that.
Cut to the portraits of stern Presidents Washington and Jefferson looking down at this sordid affair, then an overhead shot that reveals this whoopee session to be taking place on the presidential seal on the rug.
The presidency couldn’t get much more soiled on screen. Gene Hackman’s president fools around with his mentor’s wife with fatal results in “Absolute Power,” Jack Nicholson is numbskull-in-chief in “Mars Attacks!” and President Harrison Ford must go mano a mano with hijackers in the upcoming “Air Force One.”
At least in “Murder at 1600,” it’s a mystery whether ineffectual President Jack Neil (Ronny Cox) is the man who called underling Carla Towne to the carpet and left her dead in a bathroom stall. What’s clear is that some sort of conspiracy is going on — perhaps involving the president, his female-abusing son or his shady aides — and cop Harlan Regis (Wesley Snipes) will leave no cliche unturned to solve it, no matter that the murder took place at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Now that you know the premise, take a few moments to jot down all the hackneyed elements you’d expect in this Washington thriller.
Ready? OK, did you list . . .
– The skilled, shapely female official who must prove her credibility to the leading-man cop? Diane Lane fits the bill as a Secret Service agent and former Olympic gold medalist in sharpshooting.
– The scene in which the president’s advisers tell him the controversy has caused his approval rating to drop 19 points?
– Jurisdiction battles between the cop (“This is a homicide. This is my turf!”) and the head of the White House’s investigation (“This is my house!”)?
– The premature proclamation, “This case is closed”?
– Requisite cynical comments about governmental behavior (“So they’re eavesdropping, for chrissakes, they’re the government. Big surprise!”)?
– A shot of protesters outside the White House gates as TV reporters offer vapid commentary such as, “A cloud seems to be hanging over the White House”?
– A sarcastic sidekick played by Dennis Miller?
– The protagonist’s quirky personal hobby? In his apartment, Harlan maintains elaborate, miniature models of the Battle of Manassas and early Washington, D.C.
– A chase involving a burglar who has broken into the main star’s abode?
– The phrase, “I hope you know what you’re doing”?
– A foreign policy crisis playing itself out simultaneously with the internal White House turmoil? Here, the problem is a hostage situation in North Korea, also the world troublemakers in “Double Team.”
– The sneaking of secret files from a guarded room?
– The moment where the good guys see on a TV screen that they’ve been named as murder suspects?
– Another chase through tunnels and vents that lead somewhere that ordinarily would be inpenetrable, in this case the White House?
– The phrase, “Detective, how can I ever repay you?”
– John McLaughlin and his fellow TV pundits debating the president’s credibility? When “The McLaughlin Group” appears on screen, it’s a tossup who has plunged deeper into self-parody, the commentators or the movie.
”MURDER AT 1600”
(star)
Directed by Dwight Little; written by Wayne Beach and David Hodgin; photographed by Steven Bernstein; edited by Billy Weber; production designed by Nelson Coates; music by Christopher Young; produced by Arnold Kopelson and Arnon Milchan. A Warner Bros. release; opens Friday. Running time: 1:46. MPAA rating: R. Language, sensuality, a nude corpse for an autopsy, violence.
THE CAST
Harlan Regis …………………….. Wesley Snipes
Nina Chance ……………………… Diane Lane
Alvin Jordan …………………….. Alan Alda
Nick Spikings ……………………. Daniel Benzali
Detective Stengel ………………… Dennis Miller
President Jack Neil ………………. Ronny Cox
