The Art of Murder (1992) from Johnny Web (Uncle Scoopy; Greg Wroblewski)

This is yet another one, distinguished from the run-of-the-mill only be the presence of a cast which has some recognizable names. Michael Moriarty, Joanna Pacula and Peter Onorati are slumming in the "b" world for this film, but I think that is less a benefit for the film than an indication of how their careers are going, at least for Onorati and Pacula. Moriarty obviously took the role because they told him he could do whatever he wanted with the role, and he hammed up the part of the rich, old, cuckolded husband with a quirky speech pattern - very slow, very whispery, very deep, and with an outrageous Confederate accent of some indeterminate Southern origin west of Savannah, east of Foghorn Leghorn. He sounded like an old white guy doing a bad impersonation of Barry White.

The plot is as follows:

A rich, old yacht-builder has a young trophy wife. Some years before, when the old fella swindled his former partner out of half of the company, he agreed to take on his ex-partner's son, who now seems to be a trusted associate. But the ex-partner's son is only feigning friendship. Underneath the surface he's doing everything he can to hurt the old geezer, including having an affair with the trophy wife.

But wait - somebody else has seen the young guy with the trophy wife, and he's blackmailing them.

If I said any more I would spoil the plot, and this one is kind of fun. There are lots of twists, and nothing is ever what it seems, so it's an OK genre picture if you like this kind of film. If you don't like these anfractuous plots, with all the twists and counter-twists and red herrings, this doesn't have much crossover appeal, because the convoluted plot is the film's entire appeal. There is no interesting characterization or humor or deeper meaning to ponder, and there is no sympathetic character to identify with.