Deadly Intentions

I remember watching this movie on television while I was in University. I was providing some overnight home care for an elderly relative who went to bed early. After he was asleep, I placed a chair in the middle of the living room to watch TV and this movie came in. For the next two evenings, I sat perfectly still in the chair, not a muscle moved, white-knuckled, as I watched this story unfold. It was terrifying in its realism yet I could not pull myself away, desperately wanted this poor young wife to free herself from the grasp of her sickly possessive husband. I never forgot this movie and still bring it up once in a while in conversations about movies that had the biggest impact on my life.

If I watched it now, it may not have the same effect, but 30 years ago, it certainly left its mark!

Deadly Intentions, based on the book by William Randolph Stevens, tells the story of Katherine, a young woman who lives with her parents, loves children, and dreams of one day being a fully-fledged teacher.

Charles Raynor is young medical student with a promising future as a doctor; he falls in love with Katherine one evening on his birthday at the family home and the two eventually get married, much to the disapproval of his mother, Charlotte.

Pretty soon into the marriage, Katherine begins to notice changes in Charles' behavior and demeanor, particularly toward her after learning she is pregnant with his child. When she informs him of this, he expresses disappointment, as if he isn't ready to be a father.

Charles enjoys being mean to Katherine, regularly pushing her buttons, in order to get a reaction. She is frustrated with some of his childish antics, but Charles just laughs at her.

He is a narcissist, sadist, psychopath, master manipulator, and a little on the nutty side. He is also a something of a "mama's boy" since his mother always seems to play a major part in his life.

When Katherine does eventually leave Charles for good, he hatches various plans to find her and kill her for it, hence the title, "Deadly Intentions". She has to stay a step ahead of him to prevent a possible bad outcome for both her and her son.

I have only ever seen this ONCE on TV. Michael Biehn is brilliant as Dr. Charles Raynor, Madolyn Smith Osborne is also great as his tormented wife Katherine, and Cloris Leachman as Charles' influential/busybody mother. The story makes a point that some people aren't who they appear to be; you can't always rely on first impressions.

This 2-part teleplay (which goes for almost 3 hours) is worth a look if you haven't seen it.

A REALLY disturbing movie! Madolyn Smith plays Katherine Raynor, a young, naive woman who falls for and marries Dr. Charles Raynor, awesomely portrayed by Michael Biehn. Before long (but unfortunately AFTER she has his child), she realizes that he is NOT what he seemed.

Madolyn Smith did a fine job as Katherine, but the best performances were by Michael Biehn and Cloris Leachman. Michael Biehn was incredible as the "good" doctor, he really made you believe he was totally unhinged! And as for Cloris Leachman, well if Raynor's mother was anything like she portrayed her, you can almost see why he was such a wakco.

There was a sequel, "Deadly Intentions...Again", but unless you are really dying to know what happened "after", skip it. It does tell you that, but it doesn't hold a candle to this one.

I viewed this movie almost 8 years ago and it is still fresh in my mind. Biehn was captivating in the role of Dr. C. Raymor. The unsettling look in his eyes, the facial expressions, and the body language, carried this movie to a level of believability that is very rare to find. Of course Leachman was spectacular as the manipulative and overbearing mother. (Her mothering skills are right up there with Nurse Rachetts'.) What started out as a sweet and quirky romance, between two young lovers (Biehn and Smith-Osborne) quickly deteriorated. There are a couple of instances of animal cruelty, however the parts are left to the viewers' imagination and not shown. I would definitely recommend this as a must see if you like dark suspense.

There have been a number of films that deal with the `babe in the woods' woman who marries Mr psycho himself. Some like the Stepfather films are fictious and some like this one and Our Mothers Murder are true. In this one an educated man i.e. MD is the psycho husband. Once again the question comes up what exactly is it that makes these guys attractive to these women? This is a made for TV feature and is well done and well cast for the thriller/suspense factor. One interesting side note I noticed is that Cloris Leachman was cast as Charles Raynors mother. She also appeared as yet another wacko mother in a film about the late comedian Ernie Kovacks entitled Between the laughter.