Baby Snatcher

Not bad at all. Good acting and good story. Back then they made very good based on true story movies. I give it a 7 out of 10.

Karen Williams (Nancy McKeon) has to return to work at the end of her maternity leave. Her mother, Ruth (Penny Fuller), is looking after the baby for her. Ruth is also interviewing people to find a babysitter for all of Karen's children, including Rachael Ann White, a daughter by a married man, David Anderson (David Duchovny), who used to be Karen's boss.

Another couple, Bianca Hudson (Veronica Hamel) and her husband Cal Hudson (Michael Madsen), are experiencing marital problems. He informs her that he has filed for divorce. Bianca had an abortion a few months earlier for medical reasons. She believes getting pregnant again will save her marriage. As Cal is about to leave her, Bianca tells him that she is pregnant again. Bianca fakes the pregnancy, and when it is time for the imaginary baby to be born, she goes out to look for a baby to steal.

Disguised, Bianca shows up for an interview for the position of babysitter for Karen's children. When Karen's mother, Ruth, steps into another room, Bianca walks out with the baby. Bianca takes the child home and tells her husband that she went into labor, went to a local hospital, had the baby, and returned home, all in one day.

Karen realizes that Bianca is a suspect and decides that the best way to find her daughter is to appeal to the media and put out flyers. Cal's boss and wife make a surprise visit to the Hudson home, where they plainly see that the baby is much older than four days, and they alert the authorities. Police arrive, arrest Bianca and Cal, and return the baby to its rightful home.

This true story was shown on the tv series, Lt. Joe Kendra, Homicide Hunter. He was the detective played by by David Duchovny! It was neat to see it from a detective's point of view!

In this fact-based story, Air Force Capt. Cal Hudson does not want to be married any more. His wife Bianca announces that she is pregnant, but all Cal cares about is that his C.O. will think he's a bad person for walking out on a pregnant wife.

Cal comes home to find Bianca on the floor and takes her to the military hospital. The doctor there tells Bianca she has diabetes and should terminate the pregnancy. If she does not, the baby could have serious problems (and while he didn't say this, remember what happened to Julia Roberts' character in "Steel Magnolias"?). Bianca claims she and Cal are too religious to consider such a thing, and she asks to tell Cal herself. Cal has changed his mind about leaving her, so of course Bianca can't say she is ending her pregnancy. Actually, there may be another way, and the title of the movie sort of gives that away.

Karen was a receptionist where David works until they had an affair and she got pregnant. Karen, who had been married, has moved with her two kids and gotten a job in a pizza joint with an unreasonably demanding boss. Her mother, who disapproves of her relationship, reluctantly helps take care of Karen's kids. David's wife does not know about Karen, but he claims to love Karen and shows signs of ending his marriage.

It's not too hard to figure out what will happen from here, but of course the most interesting thing is watching Bianca's scheming. It's hard to believe an Air Force captain could be so clueless as to what is going on. The search for the missing baby is also fascinating to watch.

Veronica Hamel gives a very good performance here. Bianca is mostly unpleasant but frequently just plain creepy. Michael Madsen's best moment comes when Cal wants to come back to Bianca. Nancy McKeon has many good scenes, mostly in the sequined half. As for David Duchovny, I know he is a respected actor, but I don't think this could be proved from anything he does here.

Jason Reed Green is particularly good for a child, playing Karen's young son.

Also giving good performances are the actors playing two of the FBI agents--John Evans as DePaul, who suspects Karen and David of being behind the abduction and possible murder of a child he thinks they didn't want, and the actor playing the black man who showed compassion. I don't see his name in the credits, but I think the character's name was Thompson or something that sounded like it.

This was pretty much a standard Lifetime style movie, but it had some really good moments.

This film illustrates why the "torn from today's headlines, woman in trouble" genre is such staple for made for TV flicks.

There is nothing particularly exceptional about this film, yet it is very compelling story. Not that the cast, that included some very good actors, are bad. It's just they are not the one's the carry this story. This is a plot driven tale that tugs at the most basic human emotions and there is nothing too subtle about it. The makers of this film were smart enough to tell this story very cleanly and not get in the way.

It's been a decade since I saw this, but my ex-wife and I could not help but comment on how unbelievable the details were and how far both Veronica Hamel and Nancy McKeon had fallen. (Nancy seems to have recovered, at least.) In hindsight, it's a wonder this didn't damage Michael Madsen's career.

Who would believe that a divorced waitress with a child, pregnant by her married and not wealthy lover, would live in a single-family house and drive a late-model Volvo station wagon? That just shows how out of touch Hollywood people were with how ordinary people lived.