Black Widow
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Movie Reviews of Black Widow
Movie Review: Should be a classic
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie is from the 80s and is a classic. Theresa Russell and Debra Winger are superb in this film. It is a thriller not to be missed!Movie Review: Black Widow DVD
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an almost classic movie. However, its not for everyone. This one was used as a gift.Movie Review: Intriguing Cat & Mouse Thriller
Summary: 4 Stars
This sly, underrated 1987 crime thriller from Bob Rafaelson is carried by the excellent work of its two protagonists, played by Theresa Russell and Debra Winger. While its premise hardly breaks new ground in either the broader genre or its subset (films in which the identity of the killer is known from the beginning), the sexual innuendo that emerges between the hunter and the hunted feels fresh because of the charisma of the two stars.
The film opens as Catherine Peterson (Theresa Russell), is heading back to New York City from a trip because of the sudden death of her husband of only two months, Sam, a wealthy publishing magnate quite a bit older than she. Catherine is beautifully and stylishly dressed, a real "Fifth Avenue Blonde". Although she hugs a photo of her dead husband to herself as she weeps on their bed when she returns home, the first thing she has done is empty the remains of his brandy bottle into the bathroom sink and wash it out. The viewer sees just enough to be initially uncertain as to who and what Catherine is, as she seems genuinely overcome with grief.
However, the viewer is not left in doubt for long, because Catherine is next seen as a blowzy redhead in a tight dress with long red nails, speaking with a southern accent, charming Ben, her latest, older husband (Dennis Hopper, in a brief but hilarious cameo) - a wealthy toy manufacturer. Within two months, Ben has mysteriously died of unknown causes (although by now the audience knows that his bride injected a hard to detect poison into his unopened brandy bottle). However, this time "Catherine" runs into trouble in claiming her rights under her husband's will: his sister (Diane Ladd) threatens to contest it, claiming she has investigated the young widow's claims of her family's origin, and found them to be false. Catherine buys the sister off with a large cash gift from the estate.
It is at this point that Alex Barnes (Debra Winger) comes into the picture. An analyst for the Justice Department, Alex is very good at what she does, searching for patterns that may point to criminal activity, but she does it in a little cubicle, sitting at a computer, in an office with windows that are blacked out with green paint. Alex is bored and desperately wants a field assignment that will get her out of the office. Although Alex is pretty, she doesn't date and it is hinted that her lack of a private life and her persona as "one of the boys" has raised questions about her. At the least, we see that she lacks confidence in her femininity and has submerged all her longings into her job.
One day Alex tells her boss that she has tagged a series of deaths of wealthy older men that have been diagnosed as "Ondine's Curse" (apparently healthy middle-aged men dying in their sleep for no reason). But Alex has connected what she thinks is the same woman with two such recent deaths (the film's first two dead spouses), and thinks it's murder, not Ondine's Curse. Alex begs her boss to let her take the field assignment and see if she can find the woman and prove the cases were murder. He grudgingly consents, and Alex heads first to Manhattan, where, after a visit to her quarry's first ex-sister-in-law, she obtains a photo of "Catherine" (the real name of Russell's character is never revealed). Alex's next visit is to the greedy sister-in-law whose suspicions about Catherine were silenced by that large gift, although the gift does't stop her from repeating her suspicions to the lady from the Justice Department.
Next Alex tracks "Catherine" to Seattle, where the tacky redhead has morphed into "Margaret", a sedate, intellectual, quietly dressed, brown-haired woman interested in the Native cultures of the Pacific Northwest. Of course, what she is really interested in is William McRory (Nicol Williamson) the retiring, shy, middle-aged millionaire who curates a museum devoted to the Coast Salish peoples, and who leads its Board. Catherine/Margaret, through a million-dollar gift to the museum, gets herself a place on the Board, and in no time at all she has seduced and married McRory, a charming man who also happens to be allergic to penicillin.
At this point, Catherine/Margaret suddenly becomes aware that someone is on her trail. Alex has managed to get to talk to McRory by posing as a free-lance journalist who wants to do an article on his wife. When McRory tells Catherine/Margaret this, she makes a quick call to her erstwhile sister-in-law in Manhattan, who says that yes, a young woman from the Justice Department has been asking questions. Frightened and infuriated, Catherine/Margaret decides it's time to get out of Dodge, and asks her doctor for some penicillin for the tonsillitis she is so susceptible to in Seattle's damp climate. Soon afterward, the gentle McRory is dead and no one finds the traces of penicillin crushed into his toothpaste - the diagnosis is heart failure brought on by anaphylactic shock, from unknown causes. Alex's enraged accusations to the local police fall on deaf ears - they refuse to reopen the case.
McRory's death is the final convincing evidence for Alex that Catherine/Margaret is indeed her serial murderer - what is more, Alex liked the scholarly curator and she feels guilty for not warning him of his danger, unlikely though it is that he would have listened to her. Now, her need to capture the Black Widow is driven as much by a sense of guilt and responsibility as it is by the thrill of the chase and ambition.
Alex then tracks Catherine/Margaret, now calling herself "Rennie Walker", to Hawaii, where she already has her fangs in her next victim, an international hotel tycoon, Paul Nuytten (Sami Frey). It is here that Alex and "Rennie" finally meet, in a scuba diving class, as the intricate, final phase of the dance between Alex and the Black Widow begins, and the charged, ambivalent relationship between the two women begins to emerge.
It is unclear whether Rennie knows immediately that her new friend "Jane" is Alex the investigator. But they become close friends very quickly. Rennie lends the unkempt Alex a cocktail dress and sends her to her own hairdresser, and Alex shows up that evening at a party at Paul's palatial estate looking transformed. It becomes clear as she gets to know Rennie, that even in the full knowledge of Rennie's crimes, Alex is wistfully envious of Rennie's sexual confidence, style, and skill with men, and that on some level Alex wishes she were more like Rennie. In one scene, when it becomes clearer that Rennie suspects that she is talking not to her new "friend" but to her hunter, Rennie tries to explain that she loved all her husbands deeply and that the problem is, no amount of money is enough money to make her feel really safe. Russell handles this ambiguity well: conveying admirably that her character has enough insight to recognize the potent forces driving her but not enough sanity to challenge them.
Rennie next encourages a brief fling between Alex and Paul - she has seen that Alex is attracted to Paul, and that Paul is intrigued by Alex's innocence and reticence, although he has been pressing Rennie to marry him. Paul obliges Rennie by making love to Alex, while Rennie hires a sleazy private detective (James Hong) with a heroin addiction to photograph Alex and Paul together. As soon as he gets the photographs, Rennie murders the detective by holding a gun to his head while forcing him to take an overdose. Then, Rennie finally agrees to marry Paul, who breaks off the affair with Alex. Remembering what happened to McRory, Alex tells Paul who she is and tries to warn him about Rennie, but Paul refuses to listen, and indignantly points out that with Rennie's agreement, their estates have been left to the Cancer Foundation.
By this time, Alex is aware that Rennie knows who she is, although Alex also knows that Rennie knows there is still no substantive proof of Rennie's actions that would stand up in court. After her marriage to Paul, Rennie feels reasonably secure, but Alex comes to Rennie and Paul's wedding and gives the bride a brooch in the shape of a Black Widow spider. Rennie murmurs that she's enjoyed their relationship, and that "Truth is, I'm sorry it's over." Alex replies, "The truth is, it's not over yet." Rennie knows then that she has to get rid of Alex and springs the trap she has prepared: Rennie plants the poison she will use on Paul in the cheap cottage Alex has rented, and goes off on one of her "trips" - sure enough, she is called back suddenly when Paul is found dead, another victim of Ondine's Curse. The police find the body of the detective and the photographs of Paul and Alex embracing, and Rennie insists that the only person who really had reason to murder Paul is the rejected Alex, and the police search Alex's cottage and find the poison.
After utilizing a little-known testamentary clause that allows her to cancel Paul's bequest of his entire estate to the Cancer Foundation, all signs point to the Black Widow having trapped Alex, rather than the other way around.
This is a stylish, well-played story, and this reviewer has watched it several times over the years with the same enjoyment. It is not so much the actual plot (which has some quite far-fetched moments) as the work of the actors that is so engaging, as they shape their portrayals of two women who are so different yet so oddly in sync with each other. It is particularly pleasurable watching Russell shift identities as she stalks her victims and adapts to their tastes, interests, and cultural backgrounds. The supporting players are excellent, with Dennis Hopper very droll as the toy manufacturer and Nicol Williamson sweetly attractive as the chair of the museum Board, William McRory.
Try it some rainy Saturday night - this is a highly entertaining neo-noir effort!
Movie Review: A Very Stylish Thriller
Summary: 4 Stars
What ever happened to Debra Winger's career? Was it all the gossip about how difficult she was to work with? Or was she simply a victim of the public's changing tastes? Coming to prominence in 1980's *Urban Cowboy*, followed by the smash hits *An Officer and a Gentleman* and *Terms of Endearment*. Even though she was nominated for Oscars several times, it was downhill from there, but Winger was in peak form for what has been regularly described as "a stylish thriller." Paired with Theresa Russell (a most intriguing actress with a score of bad films behind her - think *Whore*), Winger plays a federal agent on the tail of a chameleon-like young woman (Russell) who marries wealthy men and kills them. The plot is gripping and relatively fast-paced and Winger and Russell are excellent counterpoints to each other - Winger is earthy and likable and Russell is sexy and sinister. There is an interesting array of men playing Russell's victims, including Dennis Hopper in a cameo, with a deliciously calculating Diane Ladd playing his sister. The locales and interiors are suitably lush, though the inescapable hallmarks of the 80s regularly remind us that, though the film is almost 20 years old, it was done with enormous style - then and now.Movie Review: Sexy, stylish thriller
Summary: 4 Stars
BLACK WIDOW is a sexy and stylish thriller, mainly notable for the always-reliable Debra Winger playing a gutsy female investigator.
When several rich older men all die in sudden, bizarre circumstances, government investigator Alexandra Bates (Debra Winger) becomes convinced a common link will lead to one individual. Alex's theory later leads her across the path of Theresa (Catherine Russell), a woman with untold fortunes and several husbands. Determined that she is the 'Black Widow', Alex befriends her in Hawaii, and later becomes part of a sordid love triangle with the next intended victim of Catherine's plot. BLACK WIDOW is filled with enough chills and thrills to hook any audience.
Debra Winger, in one of the rare times she doesn't play the dying tragedienne, delivers an excellent performance as Alex, a woman trying to exist within the male-dominated world of government intelligence. She is the only one who truly holds this movie together. Catherine Russell brings a chilling, glacial quality to the role of Theresa/Rennie, the black widow of the title. The cast also features Diane Ladd, Sami Frey, Nicol Williamson, Dennis Hopper, James Hong, and Mary Woronov.