Black Widow (1987)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Bob Rafelson

Writer:

Ronald Bass (written by)

Release Date:

6 February 1987 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

She Mates and She kills. No Man Can Resist Her. Only One Woman Can Stop Her.

Plot:

A federal investigator tracks down a gold digging woman who moves from husband to husband, kills them and collects the inheritance.

Plot Keywords:

Black Widow | Widow | Inheritance | Murder | Millionaire

Cast

Debra Winger	...	Alexandra 'Alex' Barnes
Theresa Russell	...	Catharine Petersen
Sami Frey	...	Paul Nuytten
Dennis Hopper	...	Ben Dumers
Nicol Williamson	...	William McCrory
Terry O'Quinn	...	Bruce, Alex's Boss
James Hong	...	H. Shin - Honolulu private investigator
Diane Ladd	...	Etta
D.W. Moffett	...	Michael
Lois Smith	...	Sara
Leo Rossi	...	Detective Ricci
Danny Kamekona	...	FBI security
Rutanya Alda	...	Irene
Mary Woronov	...	Shelley
Wayne Heffley	...	Etta's husband

Also Known As:

Bullseye (Australia)

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 | Sweden:11 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Finland:K-12 | Norway:12 | Spain:7 | UK:15 | USA:R | West Germany:12 | Iceland:12

Filming Locations:

Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, Hawai'i, Hawaii, USA

Company:

Amercent Films

Trivia:

Cinematographer, Conrad Hall's return to filmmaking after a ten-year absence.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Investigator in the last fifteen minutes of the movie refers to Jessica Bates as Jessica Barnes.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Sara: When he didn't come to the office, 10:30, 11:00, I called the house. Catherine... he went in his sleep, peacefully. The doctor said if you'd been sleeping right next to him, you wouldn't have even known. You couldn't have done anything.

Movie Connections:

Features In the Land of the Head Hunters (1914)

Trophy Wife Takes Her Trophies

Debra Winger and Theresa Russell give a couple of standout performances of the hunter and the hunted in Black Widow. I'm surprised neither was considered for an Academy Award. Then again it would have a crime to have nominated one without the other.

I once heard in a Law And Order SVU episode that female serial killers were a phenomenon not studied so there was no data on which the detectives there could work from. The same seems to be true right up to the federal level which is why FBI investigator Debra Winger can't convince anyone that a string of deaths by natural causes of some well to do men are all related and homicides as well.

Law enforcement doesn't like coincidence, but they like evidence be it the local police or the FBI. That's Winger's main problem in convincing her colleagues there's something going on here. The rest of their resistance is attributable to sexism. But that doesn't stop her, she takes leave and uses her own time and money to prove she's right.

Theresa Russell is great, she's one coldblooded piece of work. A couple of her older victims are Dennis Hopper and Nicol Williamson, both of which occur while Winger is still trying to convince her superiors. Russell is an exponential version of Barbara Stanwyck as Phyllis Diedrichson from Double Indemnity, exponential because she keeps doing it and getting away with it.

And not like she doesn't have enough money at some point to live really comfortably the rest of her life. There are hints of a deep psychosis in Russell's performance, all the better that not too much is revealed so the audience can draw its own conclusions.

The only way for Winger to catch her is in the act and when she does catch up with Russell and strikes up a friendship of sorts, the film becomes a real cat and mouse game, except were not quite sure of who is in what role.

I have to single out James Hong as a sleazy private investigator who Winger hires, but who Russell buys. He may have given his career role performance in Black Widow.

This film will keep you guessing and on your seat until the end, don't miss it if broadcast.