The Fan (1981 film)

Plot

Douglas Breen (Michael Biehn), a deranged young New York City record salesman, writes a rambling letter to stage and film star Sally Ross (Lauren Bacall). Having sent multiple obsessive and borderline-sexual letters to Ross, her assistant Belle Goldman (Maureen Stapleton) has been intercepting them, responding herself and asking him to stop. Douglas feels ignored, and becomes determined to meet with Sally and consummate "his love" for her.

Sally has recently taken a job in a musical stage production, and has been reconnecting with her ex-husband, Jake Berman(James Garner), who is in town filming a movie. After Belle receives another explicit sexual letter from Douglas, she brings it to Sally's attention; Sally scolds her for being rude to the fan, and brushes it off, saying she's had to deal with many fans who have had extensive "fantasies" about her. Meanwhile, Douglas begins stalking Sally, sitting outside of her apartment building, and following her to her stage rehearsals. He decides to hand-deliver a letter to her while she is rehearsing for the musical, but he watches the man at the studio give the letter to Belle, whom he realizes is the assistant who has been writing the nasty responses to him.

After the rehearsal ends, Douglas follows Belle into the subway, where he slashes her face open with a razor. She survives the attack, but is hospitalized. When police press her for information, Belle cannot remember the name on the obsessive letters's return addresses; when police inquire about it to Sally, she says that they do not keep the fan mail.

Increasingly enraged by his lack of contact with Sally, Douglas manages to break into her apartment, and murders her maid, Elsa, in the bathroom. Sally returns home with a private investigator, and finds Elsa's body in a pool of blood, and her apartment in shambles. A letter is left behind, reading:

"Dearest bitch, I've exhausted myself trying to think of the perfect way to kill you. See how accessible you are? How would you like to be fucked with a meat cleaver?"

Sally, distraught, flees New York City and retreats to a secluded house in the country. At a bar, Douglas meets a man who cruises him for sex. The two go to the rooftop of Douglas's building, where the man begins to perform oral sex on him, but Douglas stabs him to death and lights his body on fire. Meanwhile, Jake realizes that Sally has retreated to the beach house she and he had purchased together, and goes to visit her.

The opening night of the musical arrives, and Sally returns to the city to perform in the production. Douglas sits in the audience, watching her. After the show, Sally sits in her dressing room with the costume designer, Hilda. Hilda is killed backstage while Sally removes her makeup, and Douglas also kills the nightwatchman. Douglas confronts Sally in her dressing room, covered in blood. He chases her through the empty theater, and she strikes him in the face with a riding crop.

Douglas slaps her across the face, throwing her to the floor, and beats her with the crop. As he tries to kiss her, Sally tells him he is pathetic. His rage subsides, and he embraces Sally, begging her to love him. As he holds her, she plunges his knife into his neck. He collapses, landing in one of the theatre's chairs, the knife still in his neck. Sally leaves the theatre, and a voiceover of Douglas's first letter to her plays. In it, he says:

"Dear Miss Ross, I have finally worked up enough courage to write you. You do not know me, but who I am does not matter. If there is such a thing as a soul, which is the basis of all life...then you are my soul. And your life is my life. This is the first letter of what I hope will be an everlasting correspondence. Your greatest fan, Douglas Breen."

Production

The Fan was shot in New York City from April 1 to June 1980.

Release

The film received a great deal of media attention due to being released a few months after the murder of John Lennon, who was shot to death by Mark David Chapman, a former fan, outside his apartment building The Dakota, a building where Bacall had been living for many years. However, it was a critical and commercial failure.

In an interview with People magazine at the time of the film's release, Bacall expressed disappointment over the film's violent content, saying:

Box office

The film grossed $3,082,096 in the United States box office. Based on a $9 million budget, the film was a box office bomb.

Critical reception

The film received mixed to negative reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 38 % rating based on 13 reviews.

Accolades

The film was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Original Song for "Hearts, Not Diamonds." The song lost to "Baby Talk" from the film Paternity.

Home media

The Fan was released on DVD in Region 1 by Paramount Pictures on September 24, 2002 and has long been out of print. On November 11, 2014, the film was available to purchase as a "burn-on-demand" DVD-R through the online Warner Bros. Archive Collection.