Ann Gee Byrd Movies
- 2006
Reported killed in an hot air balloon accident, reclusive millionaire Derek Bronson (Stephen Bogardus) seemingly returns from the dead to hire Monk (Tony Shalhoub) for a special assignment. The fact that Bronson is suffering from leprosy would normally be enough to send Monk scurrying in the opposite direction, but he is shamed into taking the job by his more tolerant caregiver Natalie (Taylor Howard). Here's the deal: Bronson had initially been willing to remain "dead", but now he wants Monk to deliver proof that he's still alive so that Mrs. Bronson (Sarah Brown) will not be cheated out of her husband's estate by some scheming relatives. Well, it's a good story, but it's not quite true--and without revealing any more of the plot, it can be noted that a pivotal scene articulates the old vaudeville catchphrase "Don't shoot--I'm only the piano player." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1996
Filmed for television, Once You Meet a Stranger is a remake of Alfred Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train, using the same Patricia Highsmith novel as its source but transforming the protagonists into females. A chance meeting brings together former child star Sheila Gaines (Jacqueline Bisset) and the deceptively charming social butterfly Margo Anthony (Theresa Russell). As the ladies converse, two major facts come to light: Sheila is saddled with an ex-husband who refuses to give him a divorce, while Margo despises her wealthy mother and wishes her dead. In what seems to be a playful hypothesis, Margo suggests that she and Sheila "trade murders"; she will kill Sheila's former husband, Sheila will do in Margo's mom, and the authorities won't be any the wiser. Figuring that Margo is a harmless eccentric at best and a nutcase at worse, Sheila laughs off the notion of such an "arrangement"--but she isn't laughing when her troublesome ex-hubby turns up dead! If you've seen Strangers on a Train, you know how this one turns out, so best to find another way to spend 95 minutes. Once You Meet a Stranger originally aired September 25, 1996 on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
