Reds, Picket Fences

tedg

I had to see this again to find why I had such problems with it when I first saw it.

One thing I recall was the amazing decision to have all the women redheads (including the then rather ordinary Julianne), all down to the nurse. Its a risky thing and purely cinematic as the wheels grind on this ordinary story.

The story is along the lines of "Othello," characters that are quite to trust and equally quick to suspect. The problem is that it ends in no interesting way: we get nothing as a reward for being manipulated, all tensed up. Everything ends well: the bad guy is punished.

I suppose I would have tolerated it, even recommended elements of it to you, were it not for the hackneyed bit at the end: our villainess falls on a picket fence and spikes are driven through her. Is there a more hackneyed possibility? Yes. In this case the construction of that same picket fence (by a "special person" from a place with a revealing name) is what begins the movie.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

score /10

tedg 2 February 2005

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1012647/