Die Verführung

At the request of a wealthy associate named "Arthur Orloff" (Mel Ferrer), a popular politician serving as the states' attorney by the name of "Mike Riordan" (Gregory Harrison) tentatively accepts the position as CEO for a corporation which has been badly managed. Interestingly enough, Arthur's decision is made in spite of the fact that Mike had a romantic relationship with his wife "Vicki Orloff" (Cybill Shepherd) and it is quite clear that some chemistry remains between the two of them. So much so that, when Arthur is murdered in his home by a burglar a few days later, it isn't long before the two of them rekindle their love affair. The problem, however, is that rumors quickly surface that Arthur had recently written Vicki out of his will--which gives her a motive into the burglary and subsequent murder. And the fact that she is sleeping with the lead investigator of this case makes things even more complicated. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was an okay film for the most part which had an interesting plot and some good actors in most of the key roles. On the other hand, the lack of suspense--and the fact that this was a made-for-television production--limited the overall effect, in my opinion, and for that reason I have rated this movie accordingly. Average.

I chuckled when I saw the shot of the CN Tower. While obviously filmed in Toronto (to anyone who knows Toronto that's obvious even without the CN Tower shot) the whole movie is set in an American city. Riordan (Gregory Harrison) is a "state's attorney." Now, if there is such a thing as an iconic image of Toronto, it's surely the CN Tower, which means the shot establishes that - whatever US city is supposed to be being portrayed - this is Canada. It doesn't bother me that Toronto's standing in for a U.S. city, but why make it so painfully obvious?

Now, if that were the only problem with this movie I suppose it wouldn't matter too much - but it's not the only problem. It's an obviously made- for-TV soap opera type movie with a soap opera type cast (with the exception of, perhaps, Cybill Shepherd.) When two of your other big names, though, are Gregory Harrison and Adrienne Barbeau - well, that says something! Riordan is that state's attorney, who's just accepted the position as head of some major corporation that's in some type of trouble. The guy he replaces ends up murdered, and Riordan almost immediately resparks an old flame with the old guy's young wife (Shepherd.) The issue is who did the killing and why. There's a lot of potential suspects, and there's enough uncertainty about who did it to keep you watching, but it still isn't very good to be honest. There's a lot of smoke-filled rooms and shady, suspicious characters but it's not exactly gripping drama or suspense. If you're into made-for-TV soap operas, go for it. 3/10