Black Widow

The female of the species is more deadly than the male.

Black Widow is directed by Bob Rafelson and written by Ronald Bass. It stars Debra Winger and Theresa Russell. Music is by Michael Small and cinematography by Conrad L. Hall.

Two women. Catherine marries men for their money, then murders them. The other, Alexandra Barnes is on her tail, getting in close to hopefully expose her crimes...

Rafelson's neo-noir homages the film noir femme fatales of the 40s and 50s with a high degree of success. There's much potency in the screenplay that puts it firmly in the noir universe. Flip flopping the misogyny angles of yesteryear, pic pitches the ultimate femme fatale destroyer of men into a cat and mouse scenario with a sexually repressed...

"Black Widow" belongs in the category which seems to be attempting to recapture and recreate the classic film noir of the 1940's (this impression is subtly reinforced here by Michael Small's suitably evocative musical score). We first had "The Postman Always Rings Twice" (1981) and then this was followed by the explicit - and subsequently divisive - sexuality of "Body Heat" (1981), but it is "Black Widow" which successfully comes the closest to achieving the incomparable quality to be found in that glorious by-gone cinematic era. It is a wholly compelling and extremely well constructed film which features some beautiful locations (especially those in exqusite Hawaii) that are absolutely breathtaking (replete as they are with even an impress...