Black Widow (1987)

John Chard

7.0

Jan 6, 2016

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 flop…

"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 wh…