IMDb > The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery (2000) (TV)

The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery (2000) (TV) More at IMDbPro »

Overview

User Rating:
7.0/10   211 votes
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Director:
Bill Duke
Writers (WGA):
Rex Stout (novel)
Paul Monash (teleplay)
Contact:
View company contact information for The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
5 March 2000 (USA) more
Tagline:
Three Perfect Murders. One Perfect Detective.
Plot Keywords:
User Comments:
Getting it right more (11 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
Maury Chaykin ... Nero Wolfe

Timothy Hutton ... Archie Goodwin

Bill Smitrovich ... Inspector Cramer

Mimi Kuzyk ... Laura Fromm
Colin Fox ... Fritz

Saul Rubinek ... Saul Panzer

Larissa Laskin ... Jean Estey
Gary Reineke ... Denis Horan
Beau Starr ... Lips Egan
Elizabeth Saunders ... Mrs. Horan (as Elizabeth Brown)

Fulvio Cecere ... Fred Durkin
Nancy Beatty ... Mrs. Drossos
R.D. Reid ... Sergeant Purley Stebbins

Philip Craig ... James Maddox
Gerry Quigley ... Lon Cohen
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Additional Details

Parents Guide:
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Runtime:
94 min | Italy:90 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Color
Aspect Ratio:
1.33 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Stereo
Filming Locations:
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Company:
A&E Television Networks more

Fun Stuff

Movie Connections:
Followed by "A Nero Wolfe Mystery" (2001) more

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User Comments

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4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful.
Getting it right, 6 March 2000
9/10
Author: grayforester from Oakland, California

Whatever else might be said about the overall entertainment value of this production, Rex Stout would not be disappointed by the production decisions or the casting of this nicely drawn adaptation.

The movie is brimming with gorgeous period details, handsome Studebakers and drab office waiting rooms. The physical characteristics of Wolfe's entire world in a brownstone appear here to be spot on, as though the producers were preparing it for the famously particular sleuth himself. Maury Chaykin brings to his character the thought, care, and gravitas worthy of a King Lear, and manages to present a Nero Wolfe at once psychically wounded, showcat-finicky, masculine, compulsive about his orderly routine, insightful in the workings of others, and a little bit clueless about himself. Although the violence of his angry outbursts seems a little overmodulated, a better choice for the role is hard to imagine.

Archie Goodwin is a less boldly written role, but in this production he seems fully realized and very natural. Timothy Hutton gets the right tone when Archie is dealing with his exacting boss, and it doesn't seem at all odd that this smart aleck would be loyal to a man who routinely tells him where to sit. (The entire snoop team's devotion to Wolfe is palpable, felt not so much in what's said as in what need not be said. All this seems like a minor miracle in a TV movie.) Archie seems very much to enjoy manipulating the hapless participants in the mystery, as though escorting guests out the door before they are ready is wicked fun. (Only Bruce Willis -circa 1988- comes to mind as closer to the ideal Archie - you really don't want to see Tim Hutton's Archie take a punch.)

The plot's something of a tangle, and women characters don't get a chance to shine, but these shortcomings go straight back to Rex Stout. The joys of this story are in the unique and symbiotic relationship of Nero Wolfe and Archie, and in the mystery of a detective whose gifts of insight stop just short of the bathroom mirror.

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