A crime (heist? political crime? or just murder?) drama I think from the 1980s, but possibly late 70s or early 90s.
There are two lovers. In a poignant scene, the woman is in an apartment, at a second or third floor window. The man approaches on the street or sidewalk. She somehow subtly signals to him; now he knows that the authorities (police?) are on to them (maybe they’re waiting in the apartment with her). We know that, if he meets up with her, he will be jailed for life. So, he sadly turns away. Somehow, we know that they will never see each other again.
I thought it might be “The Falcon and the Snowman,” but nope. Any ideas?
There’s a very similar scene in Heat where Charlene (Ashley Judd) waves off Chris (Val Kilmer) - poignant because their sub-plot is that she is almost at breaking point and ready to leave him, but she risks her own future to try to get him clear.
In the Johnny Depp movie, “Public Enemies”, there is a scene like that, only they do see each other again. Besides, it was released in 2009, so it probably can’t be right.
It is very well done. I can’t find the earlier scene where Mykelti Williamson lays out the consequences to Charlene and more importantly her son if she doesn’t comply, but it does a great job of setting the stakes. It’s not so much that Charlene will go to jail, it’s that her kid will go to foster care and from there almost inevitably to youth offender prison, where he will either be chewed up or perhaps worse emerge as a hardened criminal.
So when Williamson says to stop the car and check ID, there is a lot riding on that moment.
