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Black Widow

Black Widow

List Price: $14.98
Your Price: $11.98
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Really fascinating character study
Review: "Black Widow" is one of my favorite films, much underrated, in my opinion. Teresa Russell plays a beautiful, chameleon-like and psychopathic woman who keeps recreating herself. Deborah Winger plays a seriously smart but unselfconsciously frumpy federal agent obsessed with murders she believes are being committed by Russell's character.

Both actresses do fine jobs, but Winger has the superior performance. The two women are at once fascinated with and frightened of one another. They have a semi-erotic mutual attraction, which I view as reflective of the strange relationship that good and evil have within each of us.

When "The Talented Mr. Riply" was released, the NY Times reviewed it in light of the American [USA, that is] fascination with reinventing oneself. The same theme applies to "Black Widow" - for each of the female leads.

The plot takes some complicated turns, but the viewer is rewarded by at least good (if not excellent) performances by all actors, and beautiful Hawaiian settings. The resolution moves a bit quickly, and it actually took me several times before I digested it all...but it's easy to get the basic story bottom line.

It's a great film to watch to get in touch with your own inner balancing act between good and evil!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Superb script!
Review: A young woman (Theresa Russell) seduces , marries and murders all the men who appear in her life and selected for her to join in this undesirable club . Obviously the case becomes too suspicious and a female investigator (Debra Winger) is assigned to watch her . This plot will turn in a challenge . You will experiment the gradual transformation starting from intrigue to obsession .
A very well made script with high caliber performances . Unforgettable locations and dazzling direction.
Imagine this tour de force: the seductive Theresa Russell (Bad Timing) and the captivating acting of Winger.
A must for you.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Dramatic Thriller
Review: Debra Winger plays a detective who is on the trail of a psychopathic woman. She quickly meets, "falls in love" and then marries her man, but soon kills him before moving onto the next man repeating the process all over again. When the detective finally locates her in Hawaii, she meets her and the two become friends. As she investigates the woman's web of lies and murder, the woman becomes suspicious of her. When she finally discovers that her friend is a detective, it becomes a deadly rollercoaster ride as she repeatedly tries to kill her. Some of the best scenes were... poisoning the wine scene, the scuba-diving scene, the scalding shower scene, and the end scene.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: sleazy, favorite+
Review: Great modern day "film noir" --mystery, suspense, serial killer, murder, "good vs. evil"--all the elements of a good THRILLER. So much so that a fan on fixed-income purchased this video. Debra Winger is brilliant, but Theresa Russell STEALS THE SHOW as the ultimate femme fatale with brains. Arguably HER BEST EVER! If you are a fan of the old days "film noir" you will LOVE this movie, as I do. Well worth the investment.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Tremendous
Review: Great tension, great actresses, great scenery in Seattle and Hawaii, and the tremendous Theresa Russell topless. Pass me a Kleenex, I'm weeping from happiness.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Don't Miss the Kiss of the Spider
Review: I caught this movie on HBO in 1988-15 years later, I can still sit through it from beginning to end with out being the least bored. It is one of my favorite great movies that few people seem to know about.
Debra Winger is perfect as feisty Government agent, Alex, who notices a pattern and sets out to find the Black Widow-Theresa Russell, who reminds me a lot of Kathleen Turner in "Body Heat".
I would like to see more of her movies, as her portrayal of the woman Alex hunts down, is complex and compelling.
There are enough twists and turns to always keep your attention, and as other reviewers note, the scenery is spectacular.
The peripheral actors are well cast, and you find yourself caring about every one in the movie...and wondering what makes the Black Widow tick.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: STYLISH SUSPENSE
Review: I will never know why Teresa Russell did not become one of the most visible actresses in Hollywood after this movie -- she is wickedly spectacular in this stylish bit of suspense. And Debra Winger plays the good guy with just enough ambivalence to give the movie a real tingling quality. It features a suspense/murder plot that essentially involves a serial killer, and is shot in some spectacular locations. As the women get closer, the heat turns up -- and the wrap-up is satisfying, neat and clever.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Solid, attractive suspenser
Review: Okay, the story is preposterous and technologically dated, and some of the dialogue is melodramatic in a retro kind of way. That said, BLACK WIDOW still makes good viewing because it remains true to itself and the premises it has set up, and Debra Winger and Theresa Russell do a smashing job on their characters. It also has an interesting style, managing a noir atmosphere even while filming a considerable portion of the story in the bright sunshine of Hawaii and dressing the leads in the blues and red-oranges of '80s fashions.

Debra Winger plays a bright young unattached woman in a drab, stultifying life as a statistics accountant for the federal government. She does not openly indulge in self pity, but when she identifies a wisp of a possible crime in the statistics she compiles, she sells all her possessions and quits her job to pursue the case on her own. The case surrounds Theresa Russell's character who Winger believes marries older men and somehow precipitates their deaths to reap their inheritances, what is called a black widow. This is all established with swift efficiency, as is the guilt of Russell's character. The suspense lies in if and how Alex will corner her black widow, who is equally intelligent. The two make a sensational pairing, circling around each other, getting closer and closer.

Leonard Maltin's movie guide says the film doesn't deliver the big pay-off. That depends upon what kind of pay-off you are looking for. I happen to think it did deliver.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Solid, attractive suspenser
Review: Okay, the story is preposterous and technologically dated, and some of the dialogue is melodramatic in a retro kind of way. That said, BLACK WIDOW still makes good viewing because it remains true to itself and the premises it has set up, and Debra Winger and Theresa Russell do a smashing job on their characters. It also has an interesting style, managing a noir atmosphere even while filming a considerable portion of the story in the bright sunshine of Hawaii and dressing the leads in the blues and red-oranges of '80s fashions.

Debra Winger plays a bright young unattached woman in a drab, stultifying life as a statistics accountant for the federal government. She does not openly indulge in self pity, but when she identifies a wisp of a possible crime in the statistics she compiles, she sells all her possessions and quits her job to pursue the case on her own. The case surrounds Theresa Russell's character who Winger believes marries older men and somehow precipitates their deaths to reap their inheritances, what is called a black widow. This is all established with swift efficiency, as is the guilt of Russell's character. The suspense lies in if and how Alex will corner her black widow, who is equally intelligent. The two make a sensational pairing, circling around each other, getting closer and closer.

Leonard Maltin's movie guide says the film doesn't deliver the big pay-off. That depends upon what kind of pay-off you are looking for. I happen to think it did deliver.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A greedy widow spins one web too many
Review: One of the most evil villianesses of all time, Russell seduces wealthy men and then kills them after assurring herself of their fortunes. Winger is an FBI agent, who is trailing Russell and tries to earn her confidence and then entrap her. Great suspense.


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