Black Widow

Blonde... The word conjures up so many associations. Beauty... sex... blonde moments... the unattainable... danger... death...

"WHOA! Hold the phone! Did you say death?"

Do I stutter? There's always been an element of danger among the concept of the blonde woman. Is there an excitement specifically associated with her? Most definitely. Within that, there's also the sense that you're walking into something you may not get out of.

Catharine Petersen (Russell) is that dangerous blonde. Her eyes shoot like jagged ice into the soul of many a rich man. Her curves are dangerous in more ways than one. She has millions of dollars under her, but there's a violent need for more. She poisons her rich men by spiking their brandy and their toothpaste. An operator par-excellence, she runs all over America, gaining cash while her lovers drop like flies.

Alex Barnes (Winger), by comparison, is stuffy and business-minded. Her business is being a Fed and she's developed a major interest in Catharine. Tracking down articles and finding pictures of her, she's managed to discover Catharine in her many guises. The uptight socialite... The down-home Texas girl... The bookworm benefactor... A different girl for every guy. Tracking Catherine to a tropical isle, the two meet under different guises and fall for the same man. Who will come out on top?

This movie is one of the most sensual thrillers of the 80s and it has a very interesting theme. We've all had to deal with at least one girlfriend/boyfriend who kept one or two people on the side, but have we ever stopped to think about their dark sides? Oh, sure, she has a great figure or he has a dazzling smile, but they said that true beauty is on the inside. It's confusing, though; how could somebody be so attractive yet so brutal at the same time?

I think that the looks of the main characters play a part in this theme. As Catharine, Russell is the epitome of brutal sexiness. Her delicate features and near-ivory skin catch you like a glove grabs a baseball. The disguises she puts on mask her soul even further. Her sunglasses hide the danger and eroticism in her emerald eyes... The wigs and hats on her head keep you from imagining what thoughts lay dormant within her brain. The way she kills her prey is quiet but disturbing nevertheless. The needle and liquid are kept secret and that's very frightening. Everything about Catharine is an enigma.

As Alex, Winger has a totally different style of mind and face. In many of her 80s roles, she was portrayed as somewhat of a very forward sexpot. In here, though, we see her as a rather inhibited and frumpy woman. You can see that her only excitement comes from reading of Catharine's path of death. I wonder if there might be an underlying layer to Alex's pursuit of Catharine. As a Fed, Alex seems to have taken on a sense of vigilantism in her trek to nail down Catharine. At the same time, there's also a Sapphic sense to her quest. Catharine seems to represent the dark side of life that fascinates some of the people in Alex's line of work. The Sapphic sense I speak of is probably best represented by a scene near the end of the movie. In her quest to take down Catharine, Alex has assumed an alias herself while Catharine has chosen yet another one. When Catharine is going to get married, she catches on to what Alex is doing and then gives her a very forceful kiss. There's an eroticism and a menace to that scene that seems to sum up the whole movie.

There's a dark side within everybody, but somehow we can hide it. The question is, how good can we do that?