# Twilight (1998 film)
**Twilight** is a 1998 American neo-noir detective drama directed by Robert Benton, written by Benton with novelist Richard Russo, and starring [Paul Newman](https://www.edgepedia.org/paul-newman) as Harry Ross, a retired private investigator drawn into a blackmail scheme that reopens a decades-old disappearance involving his movie-star friends.[1](https://www.paramount.com/movies/twilight) It was released by [Paramount Pictures](https://www.edgepedia.org/paramount-pictures) on March 6, 1998, and grossed $15,055,091 in the United States and Canada.[2](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0119594/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director and writers | Robert Benton (director, co-writer) with Richard Russo (co-writer)[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/61327-TWILIGHT?cp=1&cxt=Filmography3&pos=6&sid=ba22e800-75ce-4ea1-a81d-c6cbc4910aa3&sr=0.15960315) |
| Lead cast | Paul Newman (Harry Ross), Susan Sarandon (Catherine Ames), Gene Hackman (Jack Ames), James Garner (Raymond Hope), Reese Witherspoon (Mel Ames)[1](https://www.paramount.com/movies/twilight) |
| Release | March 6, 1998 (wide, domestic), Paramount Pictures; video release September 15, 1998[4](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Twilight-%281998%29) |
| Box office | $15,055,091 domestic and worldwide; opening weekend $5,866,411 in 1,351 theaters[2](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0119594/) |
| Budget | $37,000,000 per Box Office Mojo and IMDb; $20,000,000 per The Numbers[5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119594/) • [4](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Twilight-%281998%29) |
| Running time and rating | 94 minutes (AFI and Paramount list 96 minutes); rated R for violence, language, and some sexuality[5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119594/) • [3](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/61327-TWILIGHT?cp=1&cxt=Filmography3&pos=6&sid=ba22e800-75ce-4ea1-a81d-c6cbc4910aa3&sr=0.15960315) |
| Critical reception | 61% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from 61 reviews; 32% audience score[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1082855-twilight) |
| Alternate title | Magic Hour[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/61327-TWILIGHT?cp=1&cxt=Filmography3&pos=6&sid=ba22e800-75ce-4ea1-a81d-c6cbc4910aa3&sr=0.15960315) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
The film opens with a prologue in [Puerto Vallarta](https://www.edgepedia.org/puerto-vallarta) in which private eye Harry Ross (Paul Newman) is accidentally shot by 17-year-old Mel Ames ([Reese Witherspoon](https://www.edgepedia.org/reese-witherspoon)) while trying to get her to return home.[1](https://www.paramount.com/movies/twilight) Two years later, broke and divorced, Harry lives in a garage apartment on the Los Angeles estate of Mel's parents, his old friends Jack and Catherine Ames ([Gene Hackman](https://www.edgepedia.org/gene-hackman) and Susan Sarandon), movie stars near the end of their careers.[1](https://www.paramount.com/movies/twilight) • [6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1082855-twilight) Jack is dying of cancer, and Harry is quietly attracted to Catherine.[1](https://www.paramount.com/movies/twilight)
When Harry delivers a package for Jack, he encounters the elderly Lester Ivar ([M. Emmet Walsh](https://www.edgepedia.org/m-emmet-walsh)), who shoots at him and then dies.[1](https://www.paramount.com/movies/twilight) Harry discovers that Ivar was an investigator looking into the disappearance of Catherine's first husband, a case written off as unsolved 20 years earlier, and his own sleuthing leads him through a trail of past crimes and cover-ups.[1](https://www.paramount.com/movies/twilight) The trail also brings him to Raymond Hope ([James Garner](https://www.edgepedia.org/james-garner)), a former colleague on the force who has grown wealthy as a studio security chief.[7](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/twilight-1998) The supporting cast includes [Stockard Channing](https://www.edgepedia.org/stockard-channing) as Verna, a police officer and Harry's former romantic partner; Giancarlo Esposito as the limo driver Reuben; Liev Schreiber as Jeff Willis; Margo Martindale as Gloria Lamar; and John Spencer as Captain Phil Egan.[1](https://www.paramount.com/movies/twilight)
## Production and crew
**The team.** Twilight reassembled the principal team of *Nobody's Fool* (1994): Paul Newman in the lead, director Robert Benton, and writer Richard Russo.[1](https://www.paramount.com/movies/twilight) Benton and Russo share the screenplay; the producers were Arlene Donovan, Scott Rudin, and Michael Hausman.[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/61327-TWILIGHT?cp=1&cxt=Filmography3&pos=6&sid=ba22e800-75ce-4ea1-a81d-c6cbc4910aa3&sr=0.15960315) • [1](https://www.paramount.com/movies/twilight) The film was produced by Cinehaus with music by [Elmer Bernstein](https://www.edgepedia.org/elmer-bernstein), cinematography by Piotr Sobocinski, editing by Carol Littleton, and production design by David Gropman.[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/61327-TWILIGHT?cp=1&cxt=Filmography3&pos=6&sid=ba22e800-75ce-4ea1-a81d-c6cbc4910aa3&sr=0.15960315) The AFI Catalog records an alternate title, Magic Hour, and a copyright claim by Paramount Pictures Corporation dated April 13, 1998.[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/61327-TWILIGHT?cp=1&cxt=Filmography3&pos=6&sid=ba22e800-75ce-4ea1-a81d-c6cbc4910aa3&sr=0.15960315)
**Locations.** The Ames residence was filmed at the former home of art director [Cedric Gibbons](https://www.edgepedia.org/cedric-gibbons) and actress Delores Del Rio, and a never-completed [Frank Lloyd Wright](https://www.edgepedia.org/frank-lloyd-wright) house near Malibu served as the Ames ranchhouse.[1](https://www.paramount.com/movies/twilight)
## Reception
**Box office.** Twilight opened on March 6, 1998 in 1,351 theaters, earning $5,866,411, which was 39.0 percent of its eventual total gross.[4](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Twilight-%281998%29) Its domestic total of $15,055,091 was its entire worldwide gross, and it fell short of its budget, reported as $37,000,000 by [Box Office Mojo](https://www.edgepedia.org/box-office-mojo) and IMDb and $20,000,000 by The Numbers.[2](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0119594/) • [4](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Twilight-%281998%29) The film ran an average of 5.0 weeks per theater.[4](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Twilight-%281998%29) Studio head [Sherry Lansing](https://www.edgepedia.org/sherry-lansing) had reportedly expected the film to exceed the $39.4 million taken by *Nobody's Fool*.[8](https://bombreport.com/yearly-breakdowns/1998-2/twilight/)
**Criticism.** On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 61 percent Tomatometer from 61 reviews, with a critics' consensus citing a "frustratingly deliberate pace" offset by nuanced performances from Newman, Hackman, Sarandon, and Witherspoon; the audience score is 32 percent.[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1082855-twilight) Roger Ebert, the longtime [Chicago Sun-Times](https://www.edgepedia.org/chicago-sun-times) critic and 1975 [Pulitzer Prize](https://www.edgepedia.org/pulitzer-prize) winner, wrote that the seasoned filmmakers performed familiar film noir scenes without the curtain ever going up, praising Newman's relaxed assurance at age 73 while calling the plot worn and mechanical.[7](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/twilight-1998) The Los Angeles Times described the story as a present-day blackmail case unraveling a 20-year-old mystery about the death of a movie star, enhanced by its cast and narrative skill, and noted cinematographer Piotr Sobocinski's contrasts of darkness and light.[9](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-mar-08-ca-26602-story.html) A Los Angeles Times piece on the film's release grouped Newman (73), Hackman (67), Garner (69), and Sarandon (51) under the label "geezer noir" for the aging cast of a classic noir setup.[10](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-mar-06-ca-25882-story.html) Time Out found the film modest, intelligent, and engaging, crediting Sobocinski with restoring Los Angeles to its near-mythic noir glory.[11](https://www.timeout.com/movies/twilight-1)
## Place in Benton's career
Twilight was Benton's second private-eye film after *The Late Show* (1977), and critics connected Newman's Harry Ross to that film's over-the-hill gumshoe played by Art Carney.[9](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-mar-08-ca-26602-story.html) In later assessments of Benton's career, the Associated Press obituary of the filmmaker, who died at 92, placed Twilight among his latter-film disappointments, alongside *Billy Bathgate* and *The Human Stain*, in contrast to the success of *Nobody's Fool*.[12](https://apnews.com/article/f88101198a604fac82234dba7b27ed1c) The film is now frequently distinguished by title from the 2008 vampire film *Twilight*, an unrelated Paramount property that Summit Entertainment later adapted from Stephenie Meyer's novels.[13](https://eprints.ums.ac.id/11902/2/CHAPTER_I.pdf)
## References
1. [Twilight, Paramount Pictures](https://www.paramount.com/movies/twilight)
2. [Twilight (1998), Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0119594/)
3. [Twilight (1998), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/61327-TWILIGHT?cp=1&cxt=Filmography3&pos=6&sid=ba22e800-75ce-4ea1-a81d-c6cbc4910aa3&sr=0.15960315)
4. [Twilight (1998), The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Twilight-%281998%29)
5. [Twilight (1998), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119594/)
6. [Twilight, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1082855-twilight)
7. [Twilight movie review, Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times, March 6, 1998](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/twilight-1998)
8. [Twilight (1998): The Film with Paul Newman, Not Vampires, Bomb Report](https://bombreport.com/yearly-breakdowns/1998-2/twilight/)
9. ['Twilight' of a Bygone Screen Era, Los Angeles Times, March 8, 1998](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-mar-08-ca-26602-story.html)
10. [Nutcase Noir And Geezer Noir, Los Angeles Times, March 6, 1998](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-mar-06-ca-25882-story.html)
11. [Twilight 1998 review, Time Out](https://www.timeout.com/movies/twilight-1)
12. [Robert Benton, Oscar-winning filmmaker of 'Kramer vs. Kramer,' dead at 92, Associated Press](https://apnews.com/article/f88101198a604fac82234dba7b27ed1c)
13. [Thesis chapter noting Paramount's unrelated 1998 film of the same title](https://eprints.ums.ac.id/11902/2/CHAPTER_I.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Crime, thriller, and mystery films (individual works) › 1990s films › Thrillers › Released 1996 to 1999*
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