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{{short description|1984 film by James Bridges}}
{{for|the soundtrack album by Joe Jackson|Mike's Murder (soundtrack)}}

{{Infobox film
| name           = Mike's Murder
| caption        =
| image	         = Mike's Murder FilmPoster.jpeg
| director       = [[James Bridges]]
| producer       = James Bridges
| screenplay     = James Bridges
| starring = {{Plainlist|
* [[Debra Winger]]
* Mark Keyloun
* [[Darrell Larson]]
* [[Paul Winfield]]
}}
| music          = [[John Barry (composer)|John Barry]]<br />[[Joe Jackson (musician)|Joe Jackson]]
| cinematography = [[Reynaldo Villalobos]]
| editing        = [[Dede Allen]]
| studio         = [[The Ladd Company]]
| distributor    = [[Warner Bros.]]
| released       = March 9, 1984
| runtime        = 109 minutes
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| budget         = $6.3 million<ref>http://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/57147</ref>
| gross          = $1,059,966
}}

'''''Mike's Murder''''' is a 1984 [[Cinema of the United States|American]] [[neo-noir]]<ref>[[Alain Silver|Silver, Alain]]; Ward, Elizabeth; eds. (1992). ''Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style'' (3rd ed.). Woodstock, New York: [[The Overlook Press]]. {{ISBN|0-87951-479-5}}</ref> [[drama (film and television)|drama]] [[mystery film|mystery]] [[thriller (genre)|thriller film]] written and directed by [[James Bridges]] and starring [[Debra Winger]], Mark Keyloun and [[Paul Winfield]].

==Synopsis==
In Los Angeles, bank teller Betty Parrish ([[Debra Winger]]) has a one-night stand with a young tennis instructor named Mike Chuhutsky (Mark Keyloun), but then has only random contact with him over the course of the next two years.

He is a drug dealer. One day Mike calls to tell her he is being chased for encroaching on another criminal's territory. Later, a friend of his calls to say Mike is dead, brutally murdered.

Betty cannot let go of him without understanding him better and tries to find out more. It leads to her discovering Mike's hidden side, including a disturbed acquaintance of his named Pete ([[Darrell Larson]]) and a record producer named Philip ([[Paul Winfield]]) who apparently was involved with Mike in a gay relationship. Betty's life is placed in peril by the story's end.

==Cast==
* [[Debra Winger]] as Betty Parrish
* Mark Keyloun as Mike Chuhutsky
* [[Darrell Larson]] as Pete
* Brooke Alderson as Patty
* [[Paul Winfield]] as Philip Green
* Robert Crosson as Sam Morris
* [[Dan Shor|Daniel Shor]] as Richard
* William Ostrander as Randy

==Production== 
[[Warner Brothers]] reportedly was unhappy about the project because of its premise with the drug-fixated underpinnings of the L.A. entertainment world and refused to release it until Bridges made some cuts and changes.<ref> [[Pauline Kael]] ''Hooked'' p.176 {{ISBN|0-7145-2903-6}}</ref>

The film originally was edited so that the events played chronologically backwards and featured a score by singer [[Joe Jackson (musician)|Joe Jackson]]. Bridges' original edit was poorly received by test audiences, and Warner Bros. forced him to re-edit it so the story unfolded in a more conventional way. Jackson's score was replaced by a new John Barry score. However, a couple of Jackson's songs remain in the film.

Bridges wrote the film for Winger, having worked with her on ''[[Urban Cowboy]]''. Her performance in ''Mike's Murder'' led the critic [[Pauline Kael]] to describe Winger as "a major reason to go on seeing movies in the 1980s".

== DVD release ==
Warner Bros. Digital Distribution released ''Mike's Murder'' on 4 August 2009, as part of the Warner Archive Collection series.

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{imdb title|id=0087722|title=Mike's Murder}}
* {{amg movie|32647}}
* {{tcmdb title|id=18335}}
* {{AFI film|id=57147|title=Mike's Murder}}
* {{mojo title|mikesmurder|Mike's Murder}}
* {{rotten-tomatoes|id=mikes_murder|title=Mike's Murder}}

{{James Bridges}}

[[Category:1984 films]]
[[Category:Live-action films]]
[[Category:Warner Bros. films]]
[[Category:Films]]