THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL

THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL (1985). Director: Peter Masterson. 

A lovely, low-key movie and character study about an elderly woman, Carrie Watts (Geraldine Page, who won and deserved an Oscar), who desperately wants to go back to her childhood home for at least one last look. Carrie lives with her son, Ludie (John Heard) and daughter-in-law Jessie Mae (Carlin Glynn) in a small home and sometimes there is a definite strain. Based on Horton Foote's play (he also wrote the screenplay), the mood piece is moving because it invokes feelings of lost youth, distant times of (alleged) happiness, past regrets and wasted chances, and all the things that most human beings feel as they grow older. Still, the film primarily works because of Page's superb performance. She makes a woman that many of us would find quite tiresome in real life (what with her hymns and dumb religious assertions) perhaps more interesting than she deserves to be. Still she comes off as a very real person. Heard and Glynn are also quite good. Rebecca De Mornay and Richard Bradford are also notable as a fellow bus passenger and the local sheriff, respectively. One could quibble about certain things, but this is all about mood. 

Verdict. Quietly touching. ***.

THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE

Matt McCoy and Annabella Sciorra

THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE (1992). Director: Curtis Hanson.

After Claire (Annabella Sciorra) is molested by her doctor (John de Lancie) and other women come forward, the man commits suicide. Claire and her husband, Michael (Matt McCoy), are unaware that the doctor's widow, Peyton (Rebecca De Mornay of Guilty as Sin), is out for revenge. Using an assumed identity she applies for a job as nanny and gets it, then uses her position to cause havoc in the household and try to break up Claire's marriage. When Claire's friend, Marlene (Julianne Moore of Far From Heaven), figures out who Peyton really is, a series of violent incidents occur. Claire may learn that her nanny is far more dangerous than even she could imagine. 

Rebecca De Mornay

Although somewhat forgotten today, The Hand that Rocks the Cradle was a very successful and influential movie in its day. After this there were a whole slew of theatrical, made-for-cable and direct-to-video features about homicidal, manipulative and Machiavellian women out to break up marriages, steal husbands, and the like, with sinister nannies in abundance. While entertaining, Hand is hardly a classic thriller, although it does boast some good scenes, such as a meltdown at a surprise party, and the climax with Peyton on the rampage is fairly exciting. The screenplay has only minimal characterization, however, and the direction makes it seem more like a telefilm than a theatrical movie. The acting is good, with the ladies taking top honors. Matt McCoy makes an adept, blandly handsome leading man. He, De Mornay, and Sciorra -- not to mention Moore and Ernie Hudson as a mentally-challenged handyman whose life Peyton nearly destroys -- all had busy and long careers after this movie. 

Verdict: Not as visceral as Fatal Attraction, but not without its moments. **3/4. 

GUILTY AS SIN

Don Johnson and Rebecca De Mornay

GUILTY AS SIN (1993). Director: Sidney Lumet.

"He chose me to defend him before he murdered his wife."

Rising attorney Jennifer Haines (Rebecca De Mornay) takes on a client who is handsome if immoral, a gigolo named David Greenhill (Don Johnson) who has been accused of pushing his wealthy wife out of a window. Jennifer takes Greenhill's case against her better judgment, regrets it, tries to back out, but is told by a judge (Dana Ivey) that dropping pro bono cases is a no no. Meanwhile her friend and investigator Moe Plimpton (Jack Warner) discovers some disturbing things about her client, who seems to have been obsessed with Jennifer for quite some time. Then Jennifer's boyfriend, Phil (Stephen Lang), is brutally attacked, and worse things are in store for other of Jennifer's associates. Guilty as Sin is an entertaining, if far-fetched, thriller with good performances -- Johnson and De Mornay, make a good team, if that's what it can be called -- although Larry Cohen's screenplay has Jennifer doing things that she seems too smart to do. Norma Dell'Agnese makes her mark as Jennifer's secretary, Emily, as do Christina Grace and Barbara Eve Harris as two of David's "admirers." Stephen Lang [Save Me] is fine as Phil, and gets the bedroom scenes that, oddly, they never give Johnson, who was considered a sex symbol (along with De Mornay) at the time. Don Johnson [The Hot Spot] is quite good and exhibits star appeal, but never quite made it as a major movie star; he's now back on television in Oil. De Mornay's [The Trip to Bountiful] career is also more low-profile these days, with much television work as well. As for director Sidney Lumet [Child's Play], this is a minor work in his canon. A death-by-fire scene is one of the liveliest in the movie.

Verdict: Improbable at times, but well-acted and engaging. ***.