Noces de paille

I know, I know: *Another* sweet-innocent girlfriend/wife/ex-girlfriend/ex-wife/whatever is terrorized by her crazy-psychotic boyfriend/husband/ex-boyfriend/ex-husband/whatever. Yes, the concept is one we've been told about thousands of times (at least, it seems that way) before.

But I promise, out of the whole bunch, THIS ONE really is worth watching if you're into that sort of thing. I saw it when it came on TV in 1985. Had nightmares about it for months. I confess, I had forgotten who was in the cast until looking it up here on IMDb, but it's no surprise that Michael Biehn has gone on to have such a successful TV career. And who woud have thought Cloris Leachman -- one of the great comediennes -- would have a performance like this in her? Simply chilling from start to finish.

As they used to say on "Dragnet", the names were changed to protect the innocent. But this is "based on a true story" that occurred in the 1970s. The book (same title as the movie), published in 1982 by the Tucson AZ prosecutor named William Randolph Stevens, is available on amazon.

This movie should not be confused with the campier, more fictionalized sequel from 1991, starring Harry Hamlin and Joanna Kerns, and titled "Deadly Intentions... Again?" DIA is not without its own appeal, but the original is the true classic worth seeking out.