Touchstone and Beyond: "The Rich Man’s Wife"

Feature Presentation: The Rich Man’s Wife

Cast of Characters

• Halle Berry as Josie
• Christopher McDonald as Tony
• Peter Greene as Cole Wilson
• Clive Owen as Jake Golden

Elevator Pitch

Josie is married to uber-busy Hollywood producer Tony. After trying to get her husband to join her at a cabin retreat, Tony is wrapped up in the business of movie making, that he leaves to go back to work, and Josie stays on vacation.

She spends a few days taking the time for herself and meets Cole Wilson. They have a drink, dinner, and while Josie talks about the faults of her marriage, she is grateful for what her husband offers her. When Cole tries to force himself onto Josie, she wounds him with a gunshot, and the wannabe creep flees. 

Josie and Tony have worked through their strained marriage, and just when things are looking good, Cole returns and kills Tony. Cole demands payment or he will implicate Josie in the murder. Josie must decide if she is going to pay the psychotic Cole off, or will she take matters into her own hands, and deal with the deranged man who threatens her. 

The Orson Welles Award of Brilliance

Halle Berry, no matter how bad the film is, will always be a shining star on the silver screen.

Early Clive Owen is always a treat, and he isn’t a disappointment in the movie.

The Alan Smithee Award of Anonymity

What a terrible mess of bits stolen from Hitchcock films to create a movie that is not only ridiculous but also poorly constructed. I didn’t like Josie as a character. She was whiny and petty, and honestly, Tony should have left her.

Peter Greene is a great supporting character, but for him to play the villain of the movie was a bad choice, that never lets him shine.  Between him and Berry, the film has no chemistry, because from the moment we meet Greene’s character, everyone knows he is a psycho. I don’t trust the man, because he has too much baggage in his life to make him a trustworthy character.

The film is predictable and dull. 

Production Team

• Directed by Amy Holden Jones
• Produced by Hollywood Pictures / Caravan Pictures
• Written by Amy Holden Jones
• Release Date: September 13, 1996
• Budget: $36 million
• Domestic Box Office Gross: $8,543,587

I Know Their Name

Frankie Faison of The Wire is front and center as Det. Ron Lewis. If you are a fan of the gritty cops and criminal drama, then you will instantly see Commissioner Ervin Burrell the second he is on screen.

Deep Dive Behind the Scenes

• The film’s opening weekend gross was just a little more than three million dollars.
• As of 2022, this was last film Amy Holden Jones directed.
• The final death scene was reshot after test screenings. According to Cinematographer Haskell Wexler, the audience thought the killing needed to be crueler for the bad guy.
• Joe Roth was originally going to direct the film, but after he left Caravan Pictures for Disney prompted Amy Holden Jones to take the reins of the film.
• Gwyneth Paltrow had auditioned for the role of Josie but lost the part because the director reportedly thought she wasn’t a good match for the character.
• Film critic Roger Ebert stated the film started off satisfactorily but hated the ending. He describes how the arbitrary ending forces the audience to forget what they have learned throughout the whole movie, which makes the film unsatisfying. 
• On a 2019 episode of The Late Late Show, Berry stated she knew the film would fail at the box office and questioned if she was high when she agreed to the picture.

Bill’s Spicy Take 

Remakes and bad copies of classic films are not a new trend in Hollywood. The Rich Man’s Wife is a pale imitation of much better films. 

Oscar Thoughts

(These rankings are awarded based on my love for Hitchcock films)

{Frenzy Award-Skip this Film, Torn Curtain Award-Desperate for Something to Watch, For the Birds-A Perfect Film for Any Device, Rear Window Award- You Must Watch This Film on a Big Screen because this film is cinema.}

Alfred Hitchcock was a genius that is being copied ad nauseum and those copies are fairing poorly at the box office, because Hitchcock was a master at suspense, while the copycats are not. The Rich Man’s Wife is just another poorly put together pain by numbers repeat of what worked in the past to acclaim, but fails to make a presence on the screen because those who studied film cared about the execution of the story, while today’s filmmakers are just trying to see their names on the marquee. 

I give The Rich Man’s Wife my Frenzy Award. Skip this movie. I don’t care if it’s the thirtieth anniversary, the movie is not worth the time spent, no matter how awesome Halle Berry is. 

Coming Attractions

Next week, a look back at New Port South.