Only in the seventies could a glossy, overblown film like this be so good.  And it is..in spite of its excesses.  Faye Dunaway, fresh from her Oscar turn in NETWORK, plays Laura Mars, a fashion photographer specializing in grotesque murder images.  She also can "see" the murderer of several of her models while he or she is committing the foul deeds.  Conveniently, the script doesn't address just how Laura got this "psychic ability."  But it doesn't matter as it makes a  compelling device when she joins the murderer via satellite.  Rene Auberjenois chews up the scenery as her manager/agent, whose foppishness and over the top emoting are delightful to watch.  Tommy Lee Jones, in one of his first big-screen features, plays the dashing detective John Neville, who falls in love with Dunaway and tries to believe her psychic witnessing.  Director Irving Kershner keeps the glamour and glitz going with some deft mood swings.  He gets good performances from his whole cast, although at times Faye seems to be auditioning for her later role in "Mommie Dearest," but she pulls back enough to keep her performance interesting.  Jones is smooth, although his youth hinders some major transformations in the film.  And definitely the costume designer had her work cut out for her with all of the fashions Dunaway wears.  But it's the glitzy seventies and the mystery holds your attention, so that Laura Mars emerges as a gripping and entertaining whodunit.  Also, it has the stunning "Prisoner" sung by producer Jon Peters' main squeeze then, Barbra Streisand.