sddavis63 Something about this movie grabbed my attention. It was familiar; I had heard of it somehow. I'd never seen it, but ... there was something. It's been available on Netflix for a while, and I put it on my list some time ago but had never watched it. Finally today I took the plunge. And I found it tedious watching from beginning to end. From the very first scenes I thought this movie had a cheap feel to it. Not low budget. Some low budget movie are smartly done; some realize they're low budget and make that part of their appeal. "Black Widow" felt cheap to me - a movie that wanted to be good and smart and taken seriously but didn't have the resources to pull that off. It was a huge disappointment.The story revolved around a woman (Theresa Russell) who makes a habit of marrying rich older men and killing them off for their inheritance - making sure that she does it in such a way that no one can pin anything on her or even suspect that the men were murdered. Except for one lonely FBI agent played by Debra Winger, who develops an obsession with the deaths of these men and, realizing that they had all married the same woman (who had used different names,) set out to get her. That's the movie. There's very little real suspense. We know Catharine killed them. It's a matter of seeing if Alexandra (Winger) can catch her.It's actually a kind of strange movie. Catharine and Alexandra develop a relationship; a friendship. There are hints that it could even be more than that - but, please, hardly a lesbian "subtext." It was far too obvious and forced for it to be a subtext - like the scuba diving classes where women give each other pretend mouth to mouth. Seriously? The story was bland and passionless - it was, indeed, tedious viewing. I managed to get through it. There was an attempt at a twist toward the end to keep the viewer off balance. Was this actually going to go down that way? But it wasn't a very convincing twist, and I never took the switch seriously; always assuming that things would work out as we suspected they would from the very beginning.A lot of people seem to have liked this; it's received a lot of good reviews. I just found it disappointing. (2/10)

brchthethird This is a rather ordinary mystery/potboiler in which a game of cat-and-mouse is played between two women. I said it's ordinary because there really isn't much to distinguish it from other similar movies except that the two leads are women. The acting is serviceable, and no one really gives a breakout performance. The film's greatest weakness is probably in the writing. The film starts out strong, but it's as if the writers ran out of ideas when it came to the final act. The pacing slows down a lot (and wasn't even perfect to begin with, given all of the time lapses) and the story begins to focus on a love triangle that really isn't compelling at all. Some lesbian/homoerotic tension is hinted at and, as if to give the perverts in the audience something to guffaw at, culminates in one of the quickest and most awkward kisses I've ever seen. They also don't treat the women in the film very kindly either, particularly the two leads. The only type of independent women they have are either manipulative bitches or hard-working women without much time for romantic endeavors, and both of them are presented as sex objects throughout the entire running time. Debra Winger's character is of the second type and is constantly subjected to crude comments and unwanted sexual advances, while Theresa Russell is the other type, who sees marriage as the pinnacle of her life even if she uses it to her own nefarious purpose. There are some glorified cameos by Dennis Hopper and Nicol Williamson which are entertaining. It's too bad that they weren't in the film more, but they do elevate the material somewhat in their limited screen time. Overall, I'd say this is about two thirds of a decent movie, despite the implausibility of it all.

Claudio Carvalho When the ambitious federal investigator Alexandra 'Alex' Barnes (Debra Winger) reads the cases of two wealthy men that have just died and left their fortunes to their younger and younger wives, she suspects that the woman might be the same. She believes that the woman might be killing the millionaires without a trace to inherit their fortunes.Alex travels and tracks down the mysterious female inheritor Catharine Petersen (Theresa Russell) but she finds nothing about her identity. Alex believes that the Catharine might have traveled to Hawai and she takes vacation to follow her instincts. Alex finds and befriends Catharine in the hotel and becomes close to her. When Alex meets Catherine's boyfriend Paul Nuytten (Sami Frey), she has a crush on him. Will her passion for Paul and her friendship with Catharine jeopardize her investigation? "Black Widow" is an unforgettable neo-noir of the 80's, with the sexy and gorgeous Theresa Russell and Debra Winger playing a cat-and-mouse game in the lead roles. This film is one of my favorite from the 80's and slightly recalls "Body Heat" from the early 80's. In those years, Theresa Russell was one of the sexiest actress of the cinema industry and the role of Catharine Petersen is tailored for her. Unfortunately the Brazilian DVD has no Extras. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "O Mistério da Viúva Negra" ("The Mystery of the Black Widow")

seymourblack-1 "Black Widow" is an entertaining thriller about a psychopathic killer called Catherine Paterson (Theresa Russell) whose modus operandi involves marrying and murdering wealthy men before inheriting their fortunes and disappearing without trace. This woman of many identities is eventually pursued by a government agent and an unusual and intriguing relationship soon develops between the hunter and the hunted.When a Justice Department agent who's involved in analysing computer data inadvertently discovers the existence of a series of deaths that bear certain similarities to each other, she becomes convinced that they're all the work of a serial killer. Unfortunately for Alexandra "Alex" Barnes (Debra Winger), her suspicions are based on intuition rather than hard evidence and she's unable to convince any of her colleagues or superiors that her findings warrant investigation.The cases that Alex has studied involve the deaths of middle aged men who were married to a significantly younger woman. They had all died in their sleep and their deaths had been attributed to a rare condition called Ondine's Curse. Alex's persistence eventually pays off and she's authorised to go undercover to identify her suspect and prevent any further victims from being added to the list.Alex's investigations lead her to Hawaii where she meets up with her suspect and the two women develop a friendship and become attracted to the same man. Catherine marries Paul Nuytten (Sami Frey) who's an international hotelier but when the police are investigating his apparent murder, they find evidence which points to Alex's guilt and she seems to be in a tight spot when she subsequently gets arrested and imprisoned.An unusual feature of this movie is the nature of the relationship which develops between Catherine and Alex. The two women are quite different as Catherine is glamorous and Alex dresses in a style which is more dowdy and unattractive. Alex seems to deliberately play down her femininity but at the same time appears to be fascinated by Catherine who unashamedly and very successfully, uses her sexuality to get whatever she wants.The sexual undercurrent which is hinted at initially is reinforced in a scene in which the two women practice mouth to mouth resuscitation on each other and also on another occasion when Catherine grabs Alex and kisses her aggressively. They bond by sharing things but there's also a lack of trust between them as neither loses sight of the fact that they are actually adversaries.Catherine Paterson is a fascinating femme fatale who's very meticulous in researching her potential victims. She's very skilled at learning all the things she might need to know to communicate easily with her targets and also has a marvellous ability to change everything about herself in order to snare her next victim. Depending on which husband she has at the time, Catherine is variously seen as being sophisticated, a woman with a strong Texan accent or a more reserved lady who's rather demure.Theresa Russell is particularly good at conveying Catherine's mysterious nature, her uncertain motivations and of course, the different characteristics she assumes when she's in the company of her various husbands. Debra Winger gives a fine performance as the dedicated workaholic who's obsessed with Catherine and determined to bring her to justice. The supporting cast are also good and James Hong is terrific in his minor role as a sleazy and sharp tongued private eye.