It's a long way from Hill Street to this, but Veronica Hamel is still good to watch. In this case in an interesting situation wherein everybody would like to see her brother-in-law dead. And this seems to happen without anyone knowing how. Then a fat insurance policy turns up, the company sends in their investigators, but nobody finds out anything except the spectator in the last five seconds. Ho, hum; good TV-style scripting, as may be guessed from the director's experience in producing these kinds of films. Of course Hamel is OK, and Michele Green is quite good, but Marc Singer as her husband has played this rôle so many times he did not have to try very much. The result is an entertaining TV-style film, with only a little violence at the beginning, and lightly humourous touches to keep things rolling. Nothing difficult: just to keep you amused trying to guess who did what to whom and you won't get it right! Worth five out of ten, simply because it does not try to be pretentious and does not leave you with a headache afterwards.
13 Reviews
The General's Daughters
sol-kay12 March 2008
Warning: Spoilers
**SPOILERS** Mind-bending plot that has to do with this wife abusing creep Reese Williams, Marc Singer, who's got the goods not only on his long suffering old lady Katie, Michele Green, but her hot shot attorney sister Ginny Halloran, Veronica Hamel, as well.
Being the sick and uncontrollable gambler that he is Reese has just about bankrupted himself and Katie in his exploits in Vagas and now want's to pull off a faked death, on his part, for him to hit the ultimate jackpot. All this is in order for Reese to collect five million dollars in a life insurance policy that he dreamed up for himself. Putting on an act in front his brother-in-law Charlie Halloran (Johm Ratzenberger), who was unwitting used as a witness, by staging his own death all Reese had to do now is wait for it, his accidental death, to be declared official by the courts. It's then that he'll, with the help of his wife Katie, pick up his millions and live happily ever after; or so he thought.
Like all perfect crimes this one was anything but perfect with Reese actually getting shot when he was in the process of faking his death by jumping into the Pacific Ocean while out hunting with Charlie. It's then that insurance investigators Mac & John, George Dzundza & William Katt, got on the scene to first find out if Reese was actually dead! And then if possible find Reese's body, that was supposed to be swept out to sea, to prove it.
It later becomes obvious, with him resurfacing, that Reese was actually shot but miraculous survived both bullet and ocean! But the big question in the movie is not who shot him but who didn't! It seemed that everyone in the cast had it in for Reese including****SPOILER ALERT****Katie's sister Ginny! It turns out that Ginny ****MAJOR SPOILER**** had an affair with Reese while he was in the US Army! This affair lead to Reese being dishonorably discharged from the military after spending six months in the brig. You see Ginny as well as her sister, now Reese's wife, Katie were the daughters of the late Army base camp commander Briadier General Herman McElvy: Pvt. Reese's commanding officer at the time!
Meanwhile insurance investigator John got very friendly with Katie to the point where he couldn't do his job properly. This has his partner Mac get a bit put off in John possibly screwing the company, that Mac & John worked for, out of five million big ones! The movie starts to pick up when Reese, with a bullet still lodged in his left shoulder, pops up and demands from his shocked wife Katie that she get's his money, the five million, for him from the insurance company as soon as possible if not sooner. Reese then also kidnaps both Katie and Ginny in order to keep them from talking to the police and insurance investigators. In another big surprise in the film it later turns out that Ginny ***ANOTHER MAJOR SPOILER*** secretly had Reese's, not her husbands Charlie, son Joey, Jack Dinwiddle, while he was a GI at her father's, Gen. McElvy, military base! Reese is now using that fact in order to blackmail her which lead to Ginny going along with his planned and faked death.
Reese now wanting to put an end to all this musical chairs act decides to put a bullet in the skulls of both Katie & Ginny and have his secret, that he's alive and well, die with them. This so he can collect the money, the five mill, that he worked so hard to get even willing to go so far as murder to get it.
Not that good of an ending with Reese getting everything he's got coming to him but from an unexpected source, guess who! Someone that he in fact didn't screw, like almost everyone else in the movie, only because he didn't have a chance to do it!
Being the sick and uncontrollable gambler that he is Reese has just about bankrupted himself and Katie in his exploits in Vagas and now want's to pull off a faked death, on his part, for him to hit the ultimate jackpot. All this is in order for Reese to collect five million dollars in a life insurance policy that he dreamed up for himself. Putting on an act in front his brother-in-law Charlie Halloran (Johm Ratzenberger), who was unwitting used as a witness, by staging his own death all Reese had to do now is wait for it, his accidental death, to be declared official by the courts. It's then that he'll, with the help of his wife Katie, pick up his millions and live happily ever after; or so he thought.
Like all perfect crimes this one was anything but perfect with Reese actually getting shot when he was in the process of faking his death by jumping into the Pacific Ocean while out hunting with Charlie. It's then that insurance investigators Mac & John, George Dzundza & William Katt, got on the scene to first find out if Reese was actually dead! And then if possible find Reese's body, that was supposed to be swept out to sea, to prove it.
It later becomes obvious, with him resurfacing, that Reese was actually shot but miraculous survived both bullet and ocean! But the big question in the movie is not who shot him but who didn't! It seemed that everyone in the cast had it in for Reese including****SPOILER ALERT****Katie's sister Ginny! It turns out that Ginny ****MAJOR SPOILER**** had an affair with Reese while he was in the US Army! This affair lead to Reese being dishonorably discharged from the military after spending six months in the brig. You see Ginny as well as her sister, now Reese's wife, Katie were the daughters of the late Army base camp commander Briadier General Herman McElvy: Pvt. Reese's commanding officer at the time!
Meanwhile insurance investigator John got very friendly with Katie to the point where he couldn't do his job properly. This has his partner Mac get a bit put off in John possibly screwing the company, that Mac & John worked for, out of five million big ones! The movie starts to pick up when Reese, with a bullet still lodged in his left shoulder, pops up and demands from his shocked wife Katie that she get's his money, the five million, for him from the insurance company as soon as possible if not sooner. Reese then also kidnaps both Katie and Ginny in order to keep them from talking to the police and insurance investigators. In another big surprise in the film it later turns out that Ginny ***ANOTHER MAJOR SPOILER*** secretly had Reese's, not her husbands Charlie, son Joey, Jack Dinwiddle, while he was a GI at her father's, Gen. McElvy, military base! Reese is now using that fact in order to blackmail her which lead to Ginny going along with his planned and faked death.
Reese now wanting to put an end to all this musical chairs act decides to put a bullet in the skulls of both Katie & Ginny and have his secret, that he's alive and well, die with them. This so he can collect the money, the five mill, that he worked so hard to get even willing to go so far as murder to get it.
Not that good of an ending with Reese getting everything he's got coming to him but from an unexpected source, guess who! Someone that he in fact didn't screw, like almost everyone else in the movie, only because he didn't have a chance to do it!
I liked this one!
alliesmom979 June 2005
I actually enjoy mad for TV movies of this type, but even I admit some are better than others. This was among the better ones I have seen.
The story was engaging and well told, the acting wasn't bad, it had some good plot twists, and the solution to the "crime" was a complete surprise! It managed to keep you guessing about what had happened till the very end.
Because the main point of the movie wasn't the abuse that Michelle Greene's character suffered, but more what she did about it, it wasn't sickeningly violent, at least not after the first 15 minutes or so.
Not a bad way to spend a couple of hours.
The story was engaging and well told, the acting wasn't bad, it had some good plot twists, and the solution to the "crime" was a complete surprise! It managed to keep you guessing about what had happened till the very end.
Because the main point of the movie wasn't the abuse that Michelle Greene's character suffered, but more what she did about it, it wasn't sickeningly violent, at least not after the first 15 minutes or so.
Not a bad way to spend a couple of hours.
Empty
david-140-32837420 January 2024
Like this made for TV effort, just a morsal of tainted food will not only result in a troubled reaction, but leave you feeling very empty at the end of the experience. Passable to very good acting by some classic recognizable professionals, but a horrible script that I suppose they were stuck with, all the way to the disgustingly-convoluted ending. Not a lot of concern regarding what is eventually a minor afterthought as to the remaining mystery at the end as much as a lack of resolution. Akin to eating a bowl of popcorn, staring into an empty screen until an alarm sounds to announce it's over.
neat story
blanche-225 August 2005
This is a very good movie with lots of twists and turns in the plot. Veronica Hamel stars as an attorney whose brother-in-law dies while hunting with Hamel's husband. What no one knows is that the evil brother-in-law and the wife he has abused planned to fake his death to get their hands on a $5 million insurance policy. Someone, however, would rather that his death be real, but a bullet only wounds him. Insurance investigators William Katt and George Dzunda descend upon the family to investigate, since there's no body. Dzunda smells a rat; Katt is sympathetic towards Greene.
Marc Singer is the husband in a familiar role for him. Michele Greene is very good as his wife, and Hamel is always interesting to watch.
New information keeps popping up as the story goes along, making it not only more interesting, but much less straightforward as to what happened to Singer, who planned what, etc. The family turns out to be a lot more complex than it seems on the surface.
Very entertaining and absorbing, and you won't guess the ending.
Marc Singer is the husband in a familiar role for him. Michele Greene is very good as his wife, and Hamel is always interesting to watch.
New information keeps popping up as the story goes along, making it not only more interesting, but much less straightforward as to what happened to Singer, who planned what, etc. The family turns out to be a lot more complex than it seems on the surface.
Very entertaining and absorbing, and you won't guess the ending.
Great mystery film
NuttyBaby20 July 2022
This was both a mystery and a thriller. Marc Singer played a villain wife beater in this, scheming to get a ton load of cash by faking his death. It doesn't turn out like planned. It got me guessing all the way through. Besides the awesome acting, there is the beautiful scenery of the beach.
The perfect murder plot with all the suspects with motives having no idea of how it happened
clanciai10 August 2023
Everyone is a suspect, everyone had a motive, everyone had plenty of reasons to kill that particularly beastly man who only made a nuisance of himself and destroyed everyone's lives, and yet the mystery of his death becomes unfathomable, everyone groping around in the dark for any clue without finding anything except loose ends, and yet it is all perfectly clear. The tempo is slow to begin with but gradually builds up into a tremendous pile of mysteries collapsing into nothingness, as actually everyone is more or less proved innocent or at least convincingly so. And yet there is still the final dot on the final i in the end.
The acting is gorgeous, everyone is absolutely convincing, Michele Greene almost takes the prize with hard competition from Veronica Hamel, not even Marc Singer is overacting, while I still would like to propose George Dzundza, the insurance agent with some experience, as the ultimate glory of the show. The dialog is terrific all the way, the music is excellent without being intruding, in brief, this is something of a perfect thriller.
The acting is gorgeous, everyone is absolutely convincing, Michele Greene almost takes the prize with hard competition from Veronica Hamel, not even Marc Singer is overacting, while I still would like to propose George Dzundza, the insurance agent with some experience, as the ultimate glory of the show. The dialog is terrific all the way, the music is excellent without being intruding, in brief, this is something of a perfect thriller.
What a twist!
aetherialuna11 May 2022
Great little made-for-tv murder mystery with a real shocker at the end... Good script, acting was solid, well shot and edited. By all means, this is not big Hollywood stuff, but it was excellent for what it is. I really enjoyed it overall and would recommend it as a good rainy-day popcorn flick.
Cross and Double Cross
lavatch14 November 2022
Warning: Spoilers
In "Determination of Death," there was a tongue-in-cheek approach to a potentially serious and tragic family drama. The repellent character Reese Williams had romantic relationships with the two Halloran sisters, Ginny and Kate. He sired a child with Ginny, prior to being discharged from the army for criminal misconduct. He then oozed his charm to win over Kate, who is now trapped in a marriage that is a living hell.
With the complicity of both sisters, Reese hatches a plan to fake his death, then collect on a $5 million-dollar life insurance policy. His plan is disrupted when he is wounded by an unknown assailant. It turns out that there are unlimited suspects who loathe Reese to the degree that he/she may have shot him.
The heart and soul of film revolves around the two insurance investigators who suspect nearly everyone of being involved in the scam. Mac is the wily lead investigator and John is the novice, who becomes emotionally involved with Kate.
The only disappointing section of the film was the brief trial scene in which the judge, a close friend of the Halloran family, should have recused himself. Inexplicably, he allowed the $5 million in insurance monies to be released without the body of Reese having been discovered.
The film became a guessing game as to who shot Reese, and how he would be thwarted when he returned with only a shoulder wound. There was excellent character development with Ginny and Charlie Halloran, Granny, Kate, and Kenny, the hired hand at the Halloran ranch, whose behavior was suspicious.
At one point in the film, John referred to the film noir classic "Double Indemnity." "Determination of Death" did not have lively banter and mystery of the former film. But it nonetheless delivered a solid punch of neo-noir entertainment.
With the complicity of both sisters, Reese hatches a plan to fake his death, then collect on a $5 million-dollar life insurance policy. His plan is disrupted when he is wounded by an unknown assailant. It turns out that there are unlimited suspects who loathe Reese to the degree that he/she may have shot him.
The heart and soul of film revolves around the two insurance investigators who suspect nearly everyone of being involved in the scam. Mac is the wily lead investigator and John is the novice, who becomes emotionally involved with Kate.
The only disappointing section of the film was the brief trial scene in which the judge, a close friend of the Halloran family, should have recused himself. Inexplicably, he allowed the $5 million in insurance monies to be released without the body of Reese having been discovered.
The film became a guessing game as to who shot Reese, and how he would be thwarted when he returned with only a shoulder wound. There was excellent character development with Ginny and Charlie Halloran, Granny, Kate, and Kenny, the hired hand at the Halloran ranch, whose behavior was suspicious.
At one point in the film, John referred to the film noir classic "Double Indemnity." "Determination of Death" did not have lively banter and mystery of the former film. But it nonetheless delivered a solid punch of neo-noir entertainment.
a very nice popcorn whodunit
alannasser4 July 2012
The whodunit is a genre that has not fared well over the years. Murder, She Wrote is typical - uninteresting stories, poor acting (except, in M,SW, for the lead actress) and an unimaginative climax. This movie is the very rare exception. The story is quite good for a TV movie and the actors keep you engaged. Yes, Marc Singer's performance is over the top, but so is his character, as evil a villain as you'll find in any film. Singer is a fine actor, which makes his wildly intense bad guy a pleasure to watch. All of the other actors do a better than creditable job, and the ending is a genuine surprise and makes sense to boot. The writing is entertainingly manipulative, designed to keep you guessing and off the track. -- Remarkably, the movie never drags and everything going on is essential to the internal logic of the story - except of course for the obligatory love interest between Greene's and Katt's characters. And the use of flashbacks to the attempted murder is a bit overdone. But on the whole this film is far better paced and absorbing than 8 or 9 out of 10 of the TV thrillers turned out these days.
Very twisty plot
1726828 March 2007
There is hardly anyone in the cast that I particularly like and would normally tune in to watch. However, I recorded this and figured I could dump it if it wasn't good.
I didn't dump it.
I will say nothing about the plot--except that it will probably keep you guessing to the end. (At one point I correctly figured it out, but I soon changed my mind.) The clues are all there, so you won't feel cheated by the ending--surprised probably, but not cheated.
As for the cast, everyone is good. However, Veronica Hamel and Michele Green are not aging too well. Greene was, surprisingly, much less annoying than I usually find her; and John Ratzenberger was very likable in a totally different, for him, role.
I didn't dump it.
I will say nothing about the plot--except that it will probably keep you guessing to the end. (At one point I correctly figured it out, but I soon changed my mind.) The clues are all there, so you won't feel cheated by the ending--surprised probably, but not cheated.
As for the cast, everyone is good. However, Veronica Hamel and Michele Green are not aging too well. Greene was, surprisingly, much less annoying than I usually find her; and John Ratzenberger was very likable in a totally different, for him, role.
Ho Hum
guilfisher-116 November 2008
Not the best on TV movie lists. A stellar cast does mediocre job with bad script. I guessed the killer from the beginning. Won't reveal. A shame to make you watch this terrible movie to find out, but thoze the rules, baby. With the likes of Veronica Hamel as her usual cold look self, Michele Greene, a bit on the boring side, John Ratzenberger a bit on the over weight side, William Katt, looking middle aged these days, George Dzundza, looking like he's serious about this movie, Marty Papazian, looking like he doesn't know what's going on, Alice Hirson, looking like she's lost Ellen DeGeneras and Marc Singer giving an over the hill acting job. Way over the hill.
Now some of these actors are good actors. So you hate to see them do a bad job, but this script demands it from them. I hate to think of the money it cost to hire them, so my heart goes out to the producer.
Now some of these actors are good actors. So you hate to see them do a bad job, but this script demands it from them. I hate to think of the money it cost to hire them, so my heart goes out to the producer.
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