Anatomy of a Seduction (TV Movie 1979) Poster

(1979 TV Movie)

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6/10
Sordid and Prurient TV movie
puellemacha25 July 2005
Warning: Spoilers
Basically the story of a divorced woman who has an affair with her best friend's teenage son.

The woman (played by Susan Flannery -ex of Dallas) hangs out and keeps company with another divorcée (played by Oscar and Tony award winner Rita Moreno) One night, while alone with Moreno's teenage son (played by Parker Stevenson, best known for his role as one of the Hardy Boys) he confesses his love for her.

At first she tries to discourage his advances but eventually the loneliness in her life gets the better of her and she succumbs to him.

This begins an affair which she know will spiral to a disastrous conclusion should her friend find out.

Her friend, of course, does find out (she sees them leaving a hotel together) and this brings about the emotional climax that the rest of the movie has been leading to.

The mother confronts her son and he tries to calm her down, but she's having none of it. She storms out of the house determined to have it out with her former best friend.

The boy calls his mature lover and tells him that his mother is coming over to confront her about their affair.

He tries to convince her that his mother is angry and it would be best for her to get out of harm's way.

But by this point Flannery has fallen completely in love with Stevenson and is tired of sneaking around and wants it out in the open. She tells him to stay out of it at this point. Now it's between her and his mother!

By this point the older woman is just as angry as his mother.

If Moreno wanted to have it out, then Flannery would now gladly get into it with her!

She wasn't about to give up her young lover. At least not without a fight!

When Moreno arrives at her front door Flannery is ready for her and the two mature women proceed to have a bitter, emotionally charged battle. Both ladies scream at each other at the top of their lungs while chasing one another around the room.

The acting in this TV moving is very well done. Flannery and Moreno are old pros and it shows in their performances and Stevenson is believable as the son. If only the same could be said for the script. It reminds me of a Harliquen romance, full of cliché's and appealing to the naughty draw of forbidden fruit.

In other words, the movie is exactly what you'd expect from a TV drama titled 'Anatomy of a Seduction' and delivers what the viewer in the mood for this sort of thing wants.

By the way; although the title obviously refers to Flannery seducing Parker, it's actually the other way around.

Puellemacha
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7/10
Susan Flannery is gorgeous
TheFearmakers5 May 2019
Susan Flannery is natural and lovely in a midlife crisis while Jameson Parker, as college student half her age, was only eight years younger in real life, and it shows. Their May/November romance is more March/June, and is no big deal, really: Just two great looking people hooking up...

Meanwhile, the suspense of Flannery's best friend Rita Moreno (casually dating an age appropriate Alan Miller, whose awkward yet confident "pickup" scene is fantastically acted)... finding out she's with her son... or Flannery's son discovering she's with a guy not much older than him... isn't as effective on paper as the actors try their best to keep reminding the audience: their chemistry is just too relaxed.. especially when it's just the two alone, going to plays, ballet, falling in love then making love or out rollerskating or riding rollercoasters in the groovy 1970's sunshine...

But it's nice seeing Susan Flannery in all her middle-aged cougar hotness. She's prettier than most college girls try hard to be. Leaving the titular seduction in the hands of the so-called boy, and who the hell can blame him?
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10/10
Excellent acting (contains spoiler)
Loveneverfails26 August 2006
Warning: Spoilers
One of my favorite movies ever! This movie was made in 1979 and stars Susan Flannery, age 39 and beautiful. She is a lonely architect and although many men make advances, she's not interested in any of them. Her best friend, Nina, has a son, Ed, who comes home from college. This is Jameson Parker who is supposedly 20 (but in real life was 32). Ed interns at the architect firm and works with Maggie (Flannery). He invites her to a play and realizes he has a crush on her, which leads him to continue taking her out: ballet, skating, the beach, an amusement park. Maggie finds she genuinely is falling in love with Ed and is having fun at last. Although the romance was brief and had to end, it was interesting watching. Susan Flannery should have won an award for this.
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