A year before he was Batman, Michael Keaton played Daryl, a real estate agent struggling with a cocaine and drinking problem. In the film, Daryl will go to any length to supply his habit which includes sleeping with a woman he just met because she has a fresh supply of drugs. Meeting at a party, they go to his house and continue getting high until she dies of an overdose. He also borrowed $92,000.00 from a clients escrow account to furnish his drug habit. He invested this money in the stock market in hopes of making some quick cash and lost it instead. The missing money was discovered the same morning Daryl woke up to a dead corpse in his bed. Daryl decides the best way to lay low from the cops is to go into a drug clinic. Keaton the actor uses every tool at his disposal in this film. He does the con man act to his counselor (played by a young Morgan Freeman), puts the charm on one of his fellow patients, and delivers an utterly heartbreaking scene when he phones his mother and begs her to give him whatever she and his dad have laid out for him in their will. You only watch Keatons side of the call, which goes from adoring son to manic tweaker in a matter of seconds. Touching and often bittersweet, Keaton soars in a performance and a story that astounds, shocks and amazes.
Jesse Gumbarge is editor and chief blogger at JarvisCity.com - He loves old-school horror films and starting pointless debates. You can reach out at: JesseGumbarge@JarvisCity.com
