Crime ao Amanhecer

The interesting thing about this film is that it is a true story and filmed to make it as realistic and true to the actual circumstances as possible, which makes its convincing power spellbinding - you get involved, you engage in the problems and strenuous situations, and you share the incomprehensibility of Cheryl Ladd's closest of kin that she actually made a deal with that guy and didn't say no to him from the beginning. She hoped he would get better, while he instead got worse, and we all know that all wise warnings after the settlement are just too late. It's an American family drama, and all the actors add well enough to make it worth following closely to the bitter end. My favourite is Matt Clark as John de Silva, the father who saw how it would all end before the beginning, who actually brings forth probably the only good laughs of the film. It's enough to see it once, because it will stick in your memory as a good example of modern qualified American realism.

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 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.

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 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.