Production
The film co-starred Debbie Harry of Blondie fame. At the time she was cast the group were relatively unknown in their home country but this changed when "Heart of Glass" hit US #1 midway through filming. As director Marcus Reichert would later recall this considerably complicated filming. She was forbidden to sing in the film or on its' soundtrack for contractual reasons but her experiences reputedly led to the recording of the Blondie song "Union City Blue". The film also featured a small role for Pat Benatar, a friend of Harry's also soon to make a mainstream breakthrough in the pop charts. Harry's partner and fellow Blondie member Chris Stein performed the film's original score.
The short story written by Woolrich had been set in the 1930s but Reichert relocated it to 1953 as he felt the period fit the material better. He wrote the screenplay in eight days. The move was filmed on location in New York from March 1979. The film was cut by distributors Movielab to get a PG rating; the excised material is believed by Reichert to have been destroyed when the building it was housed in was sold to Ariflex. The film has been released on DVD by Tartan Video.
Read more about this topic: Union City (film)
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