***SPOILERS***
The British have always had a knack for making the most convincing, nail-biting mysteries of all time. Woman of Straw is one of them. The story centers around a wheelchair-bound, crotchety old tycoon who eats his help for breakfast, he's so cold and unfeeling. He hires a live-in nurse (Lollobrigida, in one of her very best roles) who manages to keep her cool as he barks out insults to her like she's an animal yet she remains faithful to his needs for living and then some... Then we have the handsome, sexy, horny, conniving, two-faced only-surviving-relative nephew (Connery) who gets Lollobrigida to fall for him while plotting...you know the rest. Typical mystery story line. There's everything here - highbrow put-downs, sex, racial bigotry (towards Johnny Sekka's butler character), betrayal and, of course, murder! The soundtrack featuring much of Beethoven's classic pieces helps to create the mood for much suspense and keeps you there to a hold-your-attention-to-the-end climax that totally blew me away. It would indeed be nice if this were on video. It would be well worth your money. Catch it on AMC or try Turner Classic Movies or a late night movie program and enjoy. {Sean, if you're reading this, would you please do your fans a favor and do one more Bond film where in the end he retires to a country estate with Miss Moneypenny and the character can retire forever? Pierce Brosnan and the rest just don't have "it" to be the James Bond that we all knew and that I still love! You de man, Sean!!!} :)
The British have always had a knack for making the most convincing, nail-biting mysteries of all time. Woman of Straw is one of them. The story centers around a wheelchair-bound, crotchety old tycoon who eats his help for breakfast, he's so cold and unfeeling. He hires a live-in nurse (Lollobrigida, in one of her very best roles) who manages to keep her cool as he barks out insults to her like she's an animal yet she remains faithful to his needs for living and then some... Then we have the handsome, sexy, horny, conniving, two-faced only-surviving-relative nephew (Connery) who gets Lollobrigida to fall for him while plotting...you know the rest. Typical mystery story line. There's everything here - highbrow put-downs, sex, racial bigotry (towards Johnny Sekka's butler character), betrayal and, of course, murder! The soundtrack featuring much of Beethoven's classic pieces helps to create the mood for much suspense and keeps you there to a hold-your-attention-to-the-end climax that totally blew me away. It would indeed be nice if this were on video. It would be well worth your money. Catch it on AMC or try Turner Classic Movies or a late night movie program and enjoy. {Sean, if you're reading this, would you please do your fans a favor and do one more Bond film where in the end he retires to a country estate with Miss Moneypenny and the character can retire forever? Pierce Brosnan and the rest just don't have "it" to be the James Bond that we all knew and that I still love! You de man, Sean!!!} :)