Dead Before Dawn

I did watch the whole movie, but it was far from gripping. Mostly, I was incredulous how stupid either the main character Linda was or how stupid the story was presented. It really did strain credulity.

This film essentially begins with an attractive woman by the name of "Linda Edelman" (Cheryl Ladd) living in fear of her husband "Robert Edelman" (Jameson Parker) due to his hot temper and abusive nature. Eventually, after years of putting up with physical abuse, she decides to leave him and moves back in with her parents in Duncan, Oklahoma. Unfortunately, he refuses to allow this, and in a rage, drives there from Dallas to demand that she return. When she still refuses-and subsequently files for divorce-he decides to hire a private eye known simply as "Young" (Keone Young) to spy on her every move and report back to him in the hope that he will uncover something that might help him in the upcoming court proceeding. However, when nothing of any value turns up, he then asks Young to simply murder her in exchange for a large sum of money. Young tentatively agrees but, not wanting to do this directly, decides to act as the middleman and hires a man by the name of "Zack" (Kim Coates) who has a reputation for that sort of thing. Now rather than reveal any more, I will just say that I typically get quite suspicious whenever I learn that a movie is "based on a true story." I say this because Hollywood has a noticeable tradition of taking a true event and embellishing it completely out of proportion to generate more publicity. And yes, there are some events depicted in this film that were either embellished or left completely out of the overall story. For example, no mention was made of the fact that some of the marital problems between Robert and Linda were due to religious differences. Not that it really mattered, I suppose, as the bulk of the story pretty much adhered to the facts of the matter. At least, as far as I can tell. Be that as it may, although I was initially skeptical, this turned out to be a pretty good made-for-television movie and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

This movie pretty much follows the sequence of events leading up to the arrest and conviction of Robert Edelman for hiring someone to murder his wife.

However there are some inaccuracies. The actor playing Edelman looked nothing like him, although the character of the man was in line with the way he was said to be - high strung, aggressive, easily angered and disrespectful toward others.

The background events leading up to the divorce are not mentioned in the movie. The couple had agreed to not have children when they married because they were of different religious beliefs. However, after a decade the wife converted to Edelman's religion, and then they had two children. But after three years, she returned to her parents Baptist faith, and this infuriated Edelman.

But much of the movie was accurate, especially the parts with the private investigator hired by Edelman. Young even looked a lot like the actor playing him.

was directed by Charles Correll, who also directed several other TV suspense movies, including "Into the Deep Woods" with Tony Perkins and Rosanna Arquette.

Primarily it is the true story of Linda Edelman, whose husband plotted to have her killed. Not a novel idea. But Cheryl Ladd is pleasant to watch, she is usually very believable in these roles, which is more than can be said for Jameson Parker, who portrays the abusive husband.

For some reason I am thinking Gerald McRaney would have been better in this movie, because he is a better actor, or perhaps because he was the foil to Jameson Parker in TV's "Simon and Simon" detective series. Jameson Parker is simply too uptight really, to even act the part of a stuffed-shirt wife beater!.

Matt Clark and Hope Lange, noted veteran actors, portray Ladd's parents. Matt Clark is particularly funny when he says at a restaurant: "I hate Italian food, it all tastes like pizza", as they are longtime Texas residents, born and bred.

All in all, give the movie a chance. Ladd does well, it is not too soapy, and movies about spousal abuse at least send a valid message to the audience.

I cannot believe that no one caught that this is the exact same plot, I mean exact. The ending , the way they caught the husband, The exact same plot. And oddly, the same actor played in both feature films.

His name is GW Bailey. He was in both films.

I just saw Downpayment for Murder, with Connie Seleca and Ben Gazzara and I said to myself "wait a minute", this is the same plot as Dead Before Dawn. And sure enough it was.

Oh they changed the employment status of the husband but it was SAME PLOT.

Unbelievable.