*possible spoilers so proceed with care* There are plenty of plot summaries here, so let's concentrate on a few specifics.
-- Colors. Pay attention to who is wearing red and who is wearing blue or green. The green painted window behind Winger's boss's desk, the green painted windows of the PI in Hawaii. I'm sure there's more going on with this, but I'll have to see it again to pick it up.
-- Just for fun, watch this movie pretending Winger's character is male. The whole movie hangs together just fine with very few exceptions. Her name is even androgynous.
-- For the people who were unhappy with the ending, I'd like to suggest this: They went ahead with the faked death in order to give Winger a chance to get a confession to the other murders, to satisfy her curiosity. This movie was made back in the days when something like this wasn't beyond the realm of possibility, let's say less improbable than it is today. It may have been something that suffered in the editing. All it would take is a very quick scene with that Hawaiian cop talking to Winger:
Cop: "You were right, Alex, we found the poison in the brandy. We could arrest her now, but we're not going to. We're going to play out this little charade idea of yours, mainly to give her time to break the will, which will further incriminate her as part of her past pattern. I know you're afraid she'll pretend this murder was a once-off thing, that she was wild with jealousy about Paul sleeping with you, and so we need time to fly Aunt Sarah out from the east coast to confirm her identity for that other murder. I know it's important to you that we convict her for those other men too, especially the one you met in Seattle whose death you feel responsible for."
Winger: "OK."
That would have solved the whole problem.
-- There are a whole slew of really entertaining supporting roles in this movie, which to me is a mark of a well-made film. Check out that hostile cop in Seattle who is having a very bad hair day. The Hawaiian private investigator I remember so well from Blade Runner. That babe in the tanning bed is Diane Lane.
This is one of those movies that's often shown on TV badly edited to make it fit between the commercials in the proper time slot -- which cuts out a lot of the "smaller" scenes. So that's where you saw this movie, you missed a lot. Rent the uncut version. A much richer, better developed story.
-- Colors. Pay attention to who is wearing red and who is wearing blue or green. The green painted window behind Winger's boss's desk, the green painted windows of the PI in Hawaii. I'm sure there's more going on with this, but I'll have to see it again to pick it up.
-- Just for fun, watch this movie pretending Winger's character is male. The whole movie hangs together just fine with very few exceptions. Her name is even androgynous.
-- For the people who were unhappy with the ending, I'd like to suggest this: They went ahead with the faked death in order to give Winger a chance to get a confession to the other murders, to satisfy her curiosity. This movie was made back in the days when something like this wasn't beyond the realm of possibility, let's say less improbable than it is today. It may have been something that suffered in the editing. All it would take is a very quick scene with that Hawaiian cop talking to Winger:
Cop: "You were right, Alex, we found the poison in the brandy. We could arrest her now, but we're not going to. We're going to play out this little charade idea of yours, mainly to give her time to break the will, which will further incriminate her as part of her past pattern. I know you're afraid she'll pretend this murder was a once-off thing, that she was wild with jealousy about Paul sleeping with you, and so we need time to fly Aunt Sarah out from the east coast to confirm her identity for that other murder. I know it's important to you that we convict her for those other men too, especially the one you met in Seattle whose death you feel responsible for."
Winger: "OK."
That would have solved the whole problem.
-- There are a whole slew of really entertaining supporting roles in this movie, which to me is a mark of a well-made film. Check out that hostile cop in Seattle who is having a very bad hair day. The Hawaiian private investigator I remember so well from Blade Runner. That babe in the tanning bed is Diane Lane.
This is one of those movies that's often shown on TV badly edited to make it fit between the commercials in the proper time slot -- which cuts out a lot of the "smaller" scenes. So that's where you saw this movie, you missed a lot. Rent the uncut version. A much richer, better developed story.