Sweet Revenge

Not having seen what appears to have been a television movie, we decided to take a look, based on the interesting cast working here. In fact, these are actors that were on their way to becoming stars in their own right.

"Sweet Revenge" is a film that is typical of what was shown on television at the time. This drama, directed by David Greene, has some interesting points, but one could see from the start where it's going, so it doesn't hold any surprises when the climax arrives.

Kevin Dobson, wearing several obvious wigs, plays the heavy Joseph Cheever, a man who was going places, but makes a tragic mistake in his life. Kelly McGillis was good as the sister of the man that is made the scapegoat of the crime. Alec Balwdin, Alfre Woodard, Helen Hunt, Richard Bradford, are seen in minor roles.

While one can figure the drama, "Sweet Revenge" is easy on the eyes.

When the promiscuous young daughter of a Army General gets the hots for a Major under her father's command she gets more than a rowdy roll in the old sackeroo. In fact things go about as wrong as they can and the Major must come up with a devious plan to shift the tragic results of his actions off onto someone else....and it worked beautifully. For years he manages to climb in rank garnering the respect of all in the military community until his past catches up with him in the form of a newlywed woman. Fair drama; nothing to write home about.

The acting in "Sweet Revenge" is very good, especially from the fledglings who would later become stars, Alec Baldwin and Helen Hunt. Kelly McGillis does well in the lead role and Kevin Dobson makes a noteworthy knave. The story is mainly old style soap opera but there are a few surprises thrown in from time to time, especially the part where Katherine (Kelly McGillis) waits in the dark to shoot the man responsible for her brother's death.

Though the basic story is old hat there are important themes touched on but never fully developed. One of interest is the relationship between Maj. Alex Breen (Baldwin) and his commanding officer, the amoral Col. Joseph Cheever (Dobson). There is an element of hero worship involved which almost leads to Maj. Breen choosing Col. Cheever over his wife in trying to understand exactly what is happening between the two, is it an abortive affair or is it something else? This hearkens back to a similar relationship between Col. Cheever and his commanding officer Gen. George Markham when General Markham's daughter forced herself on a not too unwilling Cheever leading to the death of the general's daughter. General Markham believes Cheever's lies and puts the blame on Katherine's brother who has been set up to take the fall for Cheever. Not only does the script fail to develop some interesting facets begging to be explored, the direction slows the pace of the film down so much that at times the viewer wants to shout, "Get on with the show!" One gets the idea that the movie is being stretched to fill a two hour time slot minus commercials for television, when an hour would have been time aplenty for a neat little revenge flick.

I was quite taken in by this movie. Seeing a very young Helen Hunt, Kelly McGillis, and Alec Baldwin was worth the viewing alone. Kevin Dobson makes a good scoundrel as well. Yes, the story has been done before, but for some reason I couldn't take myself away from it. I recommended it highly.