Black Widow

1987 "She mates and she kills."
6.4| 1h42m| R| en| More Info
Released: 06 February 1987 Released
Producted By: 20th Century Fox
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

Federal agent Alexandra Barnes believes that Catherine Petersen is a serial killer who marries rich men and then murders them for their money. But since Catherine is seemingly a master of disguise and has multiple identities, Alexandra can't prove anything with conventional detective work. With no other option, she goes undercover, pursuing the same man as Catherine, and hoping that Catherine will slip up and reveal her true identity.

Genre

Thriller

Watch Online

Black Widow (1987) is currently not available on any services.

Director

Bob Rafelson

Production Companies

20th Century Fox

Black Widow Videos and Images
View All
  • Top Credited Cast
  • |
  • Crew

Black Widow Audience Reviews

Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable
Bessie Smyth Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.
Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.
Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.
ernesti I had seen Body Heat from 1981 with the similar femme fatale theme and that film just comes to my mind after seeing Black Widow on TV tonight.Actually Black widow tries to copy some elements from the earlier film with very little success. I can give this film 1 point for high production values, 1 point for the score and 1 for good sets. That's just about it and it's such a shame that if this film had had a really good intelligent script, the outcome could have been much better.The film's actually really dumb and there's plenty of things that make very little sense. The pacing is actually so dull that nothing seems to happen in it for the first hour. It's just tough to watch when everything is so obvious from the very beginning to the very end. It's like watching a daytime soap opera that never ends.The main character's quite tame and uninteresting just like everything else in this film. Plot twists in the end of the film are just a little too late to save the film. It appears that there was very little substance but it still had to be made to last 102 minutes.Save yourself from an obvious disappointment and watch The Body Heat instead. It's got very similar story and it's the original.
LeonLouisRicci Good Looking Film that has Disappointment Written All Over it. It is Sleek, yet Surprisingly Unsuspenseful. Theresa Russell Steals the Show Showing some Depth to the Title Character but Ultimately the Movie is Brought Down by Some Sloppy Editing and Rushed Exposition.It has Sheen but is Short on Thrills as it Often Cuts from or Eliminates Scenes that Seem Essential and Adds Others that are Supremely Superfluous or Silly (like the shower part with Winger). Speaking of Debra Winger, She is Boring, Clichéd, and Bland as a Modern Professional Woman that has Joined the Workforce, so Therefore Must be Written as "one of the boys". Much has been Read Into that.With No Dating Skills and Frumpy Clothes She Buys a Gun for Some Reason and then has it set off the Alarm at the FBI (this is supposed to be a smart Agent) and is Lectured on Firearms by Her "smart" Boss that Tells this Law Enforcement Officer to "Take it back to Sears." The Motivation Behind that Scene is Anyone's Guess.There is a bit of Chemistry Once the Investigation Collides and the Two Women Meet Near the Bedroom Battlefield, but that Part of the Film, while the Best Part, is Short and Leads to a Muddled Conclusion that is about as Unsatisfying as the Film Itself.Overall, this is a Feminine Fantasy, some Perverted Wish Fulfillment for Eighties "Greedy" Women, who were Left Out of the Market and do Their "Gordon Gekko" not with Stock Manipulation, but with a More Natural and Organic Talent.
johnnyboyz Black Widow spiders are, I suppose, as famous as they are out of their curious habits and perverse naturalistic tendencies insomuch upon reproducing with a male of their species, they proceed to consume the male. Does the male know what awaits them? Is it a little like a bee knowing that should it sting something, it will die? Are they each and all as oblivious to the female's threat as they always have been? Perhaps there's just a perverse set of intelligentsia trapped within the male that has them damn-well know what awaits them post sex, it's they just that they enjoy the sensation of going through with it before encountering doom so much that is doesn't bother them. Regardless, it will all sound rather improper to some and will put others off sitting through a feature entitled "Black Widow" upon finding out it's about a woman whose numerous husbands, of ridiculous wealth, show up dead just in time for said woman to inherit what it is they possess.But then there would be a mite of ill applied presumption about these people. Certainly, an unheralded 80's film from a director, whose previous work was the remake of The Postman Always Rings Twice, entitled "Black Widow" sounds like the sort of sleazy seduce-fest that happens to have an unnatural preoccupation for sex and death, usually in that order. The proof in the eating of this particular pudding is far from which its cover and reputation alone allude. For here is a film about a woman hunting another woman, that is to say a law enforcer seeking a criminal. Additionally, here is a film whose preoccupation with cause, effect and criminal procedure relegates men to that of bit parts and murder victims while promoting these female roles to the forefront so that may battle one another and essentially out smart the other. Here is a film sharper than one would think and Black Widow cuts a decent investigative piece.I suppose the thrill is always in the 'how' we're going to nail her, not 'who' we're going to nail when one tackles these sorts of films. We open on a private jet that the woman on board would never have afforded in half a dozen lifetimes, never mind her own here and now. She is the widow to a recently deceased and she's come to make it a bit of a habit in recent times to casually be informed of her husband's passing before blurting out some crocodile tears and marching on in life. In co-ordinance with the paragraph's opening statement, it's fairly obvious that the woman had something to do with the deaths of these people – it's just that the evidence column is too bare. We're aware that all this money and riches have suddenly entered this woman's life after a recent marriage, but clueless if we can unravel it as much more than mere coincidence.Cutting to the other important female named Alex (Winger), we observe a woman who works for her keep and stays within the law. Alex, a data analyst with the Department of Justice whose name is in turn ambiguous in regards to its gender, breezes into work one day and batters away any doubt over her theories that what this woman is doing is the obvious – that is to say, hopping from rich husband to rich husband and doing away with them silently once its confirmed their cash is hers upon death. As she looks further into the stories, it's revealed that she herself hapless with other men and relationships in general – something that seems embarrassing to her, something that needs to be tiptoed around. The central idea, then, comes to form a backbone to a film whereby a woman becomes besotted with a woman who happens to bounce from man to man with a sickly ease. While there is little question over Alex's sexual orientation, the investigations appear to open her mind to new things in this regard before essentially rendering her one of what the killer is in the first place: someone bounding around the world, infiltrating certain circles and then garnering that perverse glee once bodies have hit the floor and those left standing are all the more richer for it.In beating away the sexual advances of her male co-workers and changing her name to the more (in comparison to Alex) provocative "Jessica" once the film's reached the state of Hawaii, the film essentially depicts a charged exodus of someone becoming more and more engulfed in the life of a seductive killer than it does take the easy way out and revel in the depravity of the more standardised erotic thriller. It would be true to say that a lot of the infectious energy born out of the earlier investigative stuff is missed once we reach Hawaii, where scenes shot beside swimming pools and such provide most of the titillation, but Black Widow is a solid and often engaging film which has a decent stretch of engaging content in it.
filmalamosa Debra Winger plays the nosy who dunnit sleuth who tracks down Theresa Russell (the black widow) a young woman whose older rich husbands mysteriously die leaving her richer and richer.I watched this movie when it first came out and I couldn't believe I was watching the same thing I don't remember it being so bad! This movie did not age well.The beginning is really the worst part once you get to Seattle it stops being so clichéd juvenile & cheesy corny and slow. The Dallas part was particularly horrible with the fake Southern accents and three inch bright red finger nails. It has the feel of a B or made for TV thing yet clearly was shot on location etc...It would have been so much better if Russell had gotten away with it....but this is Hollywood corn at its height--none of that.Richly well filmed must have cost a lot. Needs a lot more subtlety.The movie was fairly popular at the time and made over 25 million dollars.There are a lot worst things out there.