It's a thriller set in Baltimore, Maryland, in the 1980s. It's based on the 1971 novel, "The Witnesses," by Anne Holden. It follows a young executive who, amid an affair with his boss's wife, winds up under suspicion for three murders.
Terry Lambert (Steve Guttenberg) is an executive in a construction company owned by Collin Wentworth (Paul Shenar). Terry has had the hots for Collin's wife, Sylvia (Isabelle Huppert), and convinces her to leave a party early and come to his place. After their tryst, he goes to the bathroom. Sylvia hears screaming outside and, from the bedroom window, witnesses a man brutally assaulting a woman. The man runs away when he sees Sylvia. Unfortunately, another young woman is murdered nearby that same evening. To protect their relationship, Terry goes to the police claiming to have been the witness to the assault from the window. He meets the assault victim, Denise (Elizabeth McGovern), at a lineup. From Sylvia's description, Terry thinks he recognizes the villain in the lineup, Chris Henderson (Brad Greenquist), but is uncertain.
During the rest of the film, Terry begins to follow Henderson. Through the complex storyline, the police begin to suspect Terry of two murders because they know he has lied to them, though they're not clear about what. A final murder forces Terry and Denise to try to set a trap for the killer, and the film's climax reveals how that effort went.
"The Bedroom Window" is a pretty good thriller for the first hour and a half. But, unfortunately, the final half-hour includes plot sequences that seriously detract from the believability of the ending.
Many reviewers perceive a lack of chemistry between Guttenberg and Huppert. I had no issue with this, considering Huppert's character was naturally manipulative and self-serving. McGovern's role suffers from some of the silly script at the film's end, but she is effective through the trial scenes. Shenar's character was a little too clueless.
