Twilight (1998)

An aging private detective (Paul Newman) is accidentally shot by the daughter (Reese Witherspoon) of his wealthy clients (Gene Hackman, Susan Sarandon). Since he was shot while trying to bring her back from Mexico where she ran off with a guy (Liev Schreiber), friendship and guilt cause them to give him a place to live rent free. But he will soon find out that there's more to it than that when blackmail and a 20 year old "suicide" enter the picture. Surprisingly, this was both a box office and critical failure when first released, a fate it didn't deserve. This is an excellent example of what is referred to as neo noir. The mood, the deliberate pacing, the lighting and the sense of fatalism are all there skillfully sculpted by the director Robert Benton. He showed a flair for the genre in his quasi comic noir THE LATE SHOW back in 1977 and he fulfills that promise here. But alas, there were no takers. But the great thing about a movie that flopped is that it's always there to be rediscovered and reevaluated. Maybe someday TWILIGHT will find its audience. The perfect atmospheric underscore is by Elmer Bernstein. With James Garner, Stockard Channing, Giancarlo Esposito and in a scene stealing turn, Margo Martindale.