The film begins with what seems like a thriller setup: a woman’s strangulation leads into a scene where the mayor of New York City—played by Rod Steiger and Harvet Keitel respectively—discusses the murder with the police commissioner. It's the eleventh such killing in as many months, each victim suffocated with blue tape. The presence of Steiger and Keitel immediately underscores the seriousness of the situation. However, those who know their movies will quickly figure out what kind of film this really is, thanks to something like the Kevin Kline Mustache Principle: Kline always sports facial hair for comedic parts but shaves clean for dramatic ones. Nick Starkey (Kline) is a former detective with a sharp mind, now working at the fire department due to an incident—often referenced but never fully explained—in his past. His brother Frank, the police commissioner, brings him back into the fold at the mayor’s urging. This doesn't sit well with Police Captain Alcoa (Danny Aiello). Aiello delivers a memorable performance in what is often a thankless role, and his best moment, possibly the best scene in the entire movie, isn't shared with Steiger, Keitel, Kline, or even Alan Rickman; it’s when he reacts to a subordinate trying to explain why Nick rejected the office that was prepared for him. Rickman portrays Ed, who is both a painter and a computer expert. Nick and Ed discover that the addresses of the victims' homes, plotted on a map of Manhattan, outline the constellation Virgo. They also notice that each murder took place in an apartment with windows facing outward, and when those window locations are aligned by floor level, they match eleven notes from the song “Calendar Girl.” The fact that all the victims were women who lived alone at the time of the attack—and that the killer strikes on dates that are prime numbers—is just one of many unlikely occurrences. Ultimately, *The January Man* isn’t concerned with creating a believable villain. The decision to cast an anonymous stunt double as the killer, in a film featuring Susan Sarandon and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio among others, reveals everything about how important this character was to the filmmakers.

Source on TMDB