Marito nemico

Be warned - there are some very violent scences in this film - a first viewing shocks, surprises and keeps the spectator under a certain amount of stress. Once the novelty has worn off, further viewings find the film less interesting, and I thought that the husband would get more threatening as the film goes on. Unfortunately, Mr Zang, the pseudo oriental gentleman has too sweet a face to be a contract killer and one wonders why hubby is not prowling around at the grandparents's cabin at the end. All in all, rather a lot of script errors and incoherences - not a real "feel good let's watch-it-again" film !

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.

I think this role gave us an insight to Jameson's acting ability. He was a calculating, deadly bad man, who wanted his wife disposed of. He was callous and uncaring....... I loved it! He has the ability to play most roles, but I did prefer him in Simon & Simon, and miss seeing him on TV in that role. This wife's role was also very well acted by Cheryl Ladd. She was terrified of her husband, and look so on screen. But Jameson drew me to this movie. I watch all his films and would like to see more this year, if he makes any, but we shall see. I enjoy watching all his TV and Film appearances and miss seeing him on our small and big screen. COME BACK, PLEASE!

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.

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.