Synopsis
Phil Collins performs the anguished ballad in front of a curtain of falling water while scenes from the film Against All Odds unfold around him. The footage follows Terry Brogan as he searches for Jessie, the woman he loves, and becomes entangled in a dangerous triangle involving crime and betrayal. Red, blue, and green lighting separates Collins' performance from the film's characters before the images converge in a final composition built around a glowing triangular frame.
Factoids & Trivia
- The video uses a hybrid format, combining Collins' studio performance with extensive footage from the film rather than presenting a separate narrative.
- The falling-water backdrop was lit in red, blue, and green. The colors were designed to represent the three central characters in the movie and to create transitions between the performance and film scenes.
- The final image completes the concept: Collins stands inside a water-filled triangle outlined with neon tubes in the three character colors.
- Collins later recalled that filming was physically uncomfortable. He stood in several inches of cold water while camera-tracking problems extended the shoot through the night.
- The clip was made on a reported total budget of $45,000, with $20,000 allocated to Taylor Hackford for the complete Collins video.
- Released in February 1984, the video became a major MTV success and reportedly reached No. 1 on the channel for several weeks.
- MTV placed it at No. 4 in its year-end countdown of the top videos of 1984.
- Columbia music supervisor Gary LeMel later credited the MTV exposure with adding at least $5 million to the film's box-office takings.