The Lost Wife of Robert Durst (2017 TV Movie) User Reviews

Decent, but abrupt ending

[bt698nhj · 6/10 · 23 December 2017]

It's a Lifetime movie. Adjust your expectations accordingly.

That said, the movie did a decent job of portraying events in this drama. However, it ended extremely abruptly, as if they ran out of time and said screw it, rather than editing the movie to allow for a proper ending, we'll just cut it here.

"I want this to work" - A tale of toxic hope

[evening1 · 5/10 · 18 June 2022]

Another sad reminder that when a love match turns violent, get out!

Katharine McPhee is excellent as Kathie, a naive suburbanite with the terrible luck of crossing paths with a deeply troubled real-estate scion (Daniel Gilles). She's a lovely young lady, and we never quite grasp the appeal.

Kathie's anger-prone spouse behaves beyond-oddly, and his husky dogs keep disappearing, but still she stays put, dreaming of a future as a pediatrician.

Through the chilling finale and until the credits roll, we hope she'll do the safe thing and leave, even though we know how this taken-from-the-headlines story will end.

God willing, people will learn from this.

Watch this movie and "All Good Things" too

[phd_travel · 8/10 · 2 December 2017]

For those who may remember there was a movie "All Good Things" with Ryan Gosling and Kirsten Dunst about the same subject matter some years ago. That movie showed a longer time span of events and I think is better in some ways not so good in some ways. But the subject matter and crime is so fascinating it's still worth watching this movie.

Katherine McPhee shows she can play dramatic roles well and she is beautiful and sympathetic here. Daniel Gillies is creepy looking enough with a twitch and all - better than Ryan Gosling who is too much the good guy to be convincing as the title character Robert Durst.

You keep on thinking why didn't she just leave him but it was a long time ago and he was very wealthy so things weren't that simple.

This movie shows with enough money you can get away with quite a lot.

Life With Bobby

[lavatch · 8/10 · 2 September 2022]

When he was eleven years old, a school psychological profile indicated that little Bobby Durst was prone to being "a destructive psychologic force" and that he had "personality decomposition and possibly even schizophrenia." It was unfortunate that Katherine "Kathie" McCormack was unaware of the report at the time of her marriage to Bobby.

The film was successful in dramatizing the nightmare of living with Bobby Durst from the perspective of his long-suffering wife Kathie. He was such a repellent creature that the film begged the question of why Kathie had not left him sooner. Was it due principally to the money? Was it because the 1980s was not yet sufficiently open about spousal abuse? Was it the naivete of Kathie, a decent person who saw the best in people?

Bobby grew up with a silver spoon, the son of a real estate magnate in New York. His younger brother outhustled Bobby and eventually became the head of the business. The film portrayed him as a failure in everything in life, especially as a controlling and unhinged husband.

The narrative design of the film toggles between the 1970s when Bobby and Kathie were living together; the 1980s when Kathie vanished and Bobby was under investigation; and the 1990s when the case was reopened. The performances were first-rate, and the film direction was superb.

As a post script to the story, Bobby Durst murdered two other people, including his best friend Susan Berman, who likely had too much knowledge of the skeletons in Bobby's closet. He died of natural causes in 2022. His pathetic life has been the subject of multiple films and documentaries.

Stupid Stupid Woman

[pgooden · 6 November 2017]

SPOILER so- dogs go missing - he emotionally and physically abuses her - fores her to have an abortion -she sends a dossier to a U S Senator and he send it back to her husbands' father - he leaves for days, admits to adultery- drags her by the hair from her family's home and still she doesn't leave - sorry this is one stupid woman