Empty Cradle

This movie is based on an actual fetal abduction case. 1974 Norma Jean (Jackson) Armistead drugged Mary Childs and cut her baby out and claimed it as her own. Then again She murdered Kathryn Viramontes and cut her baby out. She took it to the hospital claming it was hers also. Norma Jean had a hysterectomy several years earlier. Her new common law husband, Charles Armistead, had no idea. She wanted to give him a baby because she felt that a baby would keep them together. The same reason several fetal abductions have happened over the years. 1974-2022 there have been 44 reported cases of fetal abduction or attempted fetal abduction in the US, Mexico, Brazil, Columbia, and South Africa. There could be more.

Kate Jackson plays a nurse from hell who, determined to hold onto her detestable boyfriend Frank, and after months faking pregnancy with a pillow, steals another woman's baby.

Since Frank (who's married, by the way, and lives with his wife) wanted a boy, and the stolen baby is a girl, she sets her sights on another mother.

This leads to a gruesome murder. That part of the story foreshadows a real-life incident that took place just recently, when a woman was murdered and her fetus torn from her body.

The main focus of the story, though, is on the bereft mother of the girl baby, played by Lori Loughlin, who knows darn well her baby wasn't stillborn and also knows that the assertion of the hospital (thanks to a little computer touch-up by Jackson) that she was on drugs isn't true either. Loughlin risks her marriage and takes a lot of criticism in an attempt to find out what happened to her baby.

This isn't an unusual story - in TV movies, women have been stealing other women's babies for years. This is still an interesting film where one truly empathizes with Loughlin, wants to see her vindicated, and can't get over how completely nuts Jackson is.

Kate Jackson has always been a good actress, and she won't disappoint you in this. Loughlin is poignant as the determined mother. Look for Eriq LaSalle before ER as a police detective.

This is a very disturbing movie but it's very good. I've seen this movie several times and I have a copy of it. It stars Kate Jackson as Rita, a woman who is in love with her married boyfriend and wants to have his baby. However, she can no longer have children.

The movie moves at a steady pace and Kate Jackson gives a very believable and quite disturbing performance as the unstable Rita. And Lori Loughin gives a heartwrenching performance as the determined Jane. The movie keeps you guessing as to how far Rita will go to get what she wants. And the things she does will literally surprise and shock you.

Kate Jackson took quite a risk playing a character totally the opposite from her usual characters, but she manages to handle it flawlessly. Eric LaSalle (ER) is good as the cop determined to prove Rita isn't as caring and wonderful as everyone believes. As I've pointed out, the movie is quite disturbing for a TV movie and children should not be allowed to see this movie.

I thought the people acting in this movie were great. I just can't understand how someone would want a child so badly that they would do what this woman did! And the fact that she drug her son into it making him a part of the crimes.

Not your typical TV movie of the week: A young woman (Lori Loughlin) gives birth in a hospital, then is told that her baby is dead. She is convinced that her baby is alive. Turns out that she's right: Her nurse Rita (A chilling Kate Jackson) stole her little baby girl, just so she can hold on to her married lover. You have 2 stories going on throughout the film: A woman determined to find her child and faces obstacles from her husband and the hospital administration, and a woman that would go through ANY lengths to hold on to her man.

What's startling about the film is the scene in which a pregnant woman is killed by Rita and her baby stolen. Unfortunately, there have been many cases like this one. Like Rita, people will do ANYTHING to possess a child. Jackson's performance was (and still is) incredibly creepy.

Eriq La Salle plays a detective that gets involved with the goings on in the story. You really don't see too much of him until the later part of the movie.

It's a very intriguing film and worth a look.