This movie, like most made-for-TV movies, was fairly low budget and shot in only 4 weeks. However, the characters are well cast and the movie works very well. I have seen it 5 or 6 times over the years, most recently on the USA Network, and have enjoyed it each time. In my opinion, the real star is Doug Savant who had one of the recurring roles on the old TV series, Melrose Place fame. Here he does a superb job of being the charming but scheming husband that makes this whole movie work well.
Although set in Virginia, it was filmed entirely in Texas. The scenes of horse racing were filmed at the Sam Houston horse track in Northwest Houston, during August 1998. I am very familiar with it because my wife and I were "extras" in the movie. A casual viewer would never notice it, but I appear in about a dozen scenes, all involving the race track. Even though it was one of Houston's hottest Augusts in recent memory, well over 100 degrees during afternoon filming, many of us were required to wear long sleeve shirts or wool jackets. A very memorable experience!
I give it 7 of 10 rating, for a made-for-TV movie. Against all the bigger budget blockbusters, I give it maybe 5 or 6 of 10, and much better than many of them. It was a ball being involved in the filming, and nice to meet and converse with such stars as Doug Savant and Barry Corbin, who created the memorable role of Maurice Minnefield on the old TV series, "Northern Exposure."
