The Rich Man's Wife
Tags: murder

Plot synopsis:
Josie Potenza is the trophy wife of workaholic Hollywood producer Tony Potenza, but their marriage is crumbling due to his increased drinking resulting from stress at work. She convinces him to join her for a romantic getaway at a secluded lakeside cabin, but when it becomes obvious his concerns about the studio are going to take precedence over relaxation, she grudgingly tells him to return home but decides to stay on her own for a few days.
Josie sees Cole Wilson ogling her at a local bar and, uncomfortable with the unwanted attention, she leaves. Her jeep breaks down on a dark, secluded country road, and as she starts to hike to the cabin, Cole pulls up in his truck and offers her a lift. He convinces her he is harmless, and when he extends an invitation to dinner the following night, Josie accepts.
As they linger over drinks after dinner, Josie discusses her unhappy marriage. Although there are problems, and she sometimes fantasizes about her husband's death, she is grateful to Tony for all he has given her and still has hopes for their future. Cole becomes aggressive and she resists his advances. During the drive back to the cabin, he turns off his headlights and begins to drive erratically, and Josie becomes hysterical. When he tries to force himself on her, Josie fires a gun she found in a kitchen drawer and grazes his face with the bullet. Vowing revenge, Cole leaves.
With the passing of time, Tony stops drinking and he and Josie successfully work at repairing their damaged marriage. On the way home one rainy night, he stops at an ATM, and Cole conceals himself in the back seat of his car. He forces him to drive to a secluded park and shoots him numerous times, then goes to Josie's home and reveals he has killed her husband. He warns her if she reports him to the police he will tell them she hired him to murder Tony, and demands $30,000 for his silence. When the police question Josie she says nothing about Cole's involvement, but her story - or lack of one - makes detective Dan Fredricks suspicious, and his African American partner Ron Lewis accuses him of suspecting Josie simply because she is black and her husband was white.
Josie tells her lover, struggling restaurateur Jake Golden, she knows the identity of Tony's killer, but he warns her not to reveal anything. He has an ulterior motive - Jake, desperate for money to finance his failing business when his partner - Tony - bailed out, had hired Cole to kill Tony so Josie would be free to marry him and he could benefit from her wealth. Complications arise when attorney Bill Adolphe tells Josie all her husband's assets were in his name and he died intestate. All his accounts have been frozen and Josie will have to wait an undetermined amount of time for the court to supervise probate.
While Jake's ex-wife Nora tries to convince the police he may have killed Tony, Josie becomes the target of the increasingly deranged Cole. After killing Jake, he traps her in her garage and Josie kills him in the ensuing skirmish. Josie pleads self defense, and when Nora tells them she doesn't believe Josie is clever enough to have masterminded any of the events that have transpired, the police let her go, unaware the two women are partners in crime.

Review: Peter Greene as one of the vilest villains I've seen in a while, and Clea Lewis as the greedy, vindictive wife of the best friend.Let's not forget Halle Berry.
All in all, I don't think you can lose by spending a little time with this movie, but I have to warn you:  There are more plot holes in it than there are pot holes in Jersey City..
This wasn't a bad film, it was entertaining, made you guess most of the time, and was pretty tense, its only flaw is some stupidity, and the jump scenes in it are predictable.
Halle Berry is sensational as The Rich Man's Wife.
I watched this movie around 3 o'clock in the morning and I wasnt really impressed.First of all, How can you trust a guy like Peter Greene(Cole Wilson)?
This film was predictable in many parts and the lighting was really bad.However,Halle Berry was very pretty in this movie and yes she actually does cry.Just dont make the same mistake I did and stay up til' 3 o'clock in the morning.But what the heck I was bored.To wrap this comment up I give it a 6/10 *.
Early Halle Berry and Clive Owen Neo-Noir.
An early movie by three lead actors who would go on to super-stardom, well Peter Green is not a superstar but makes a super villain.
There is one scene that stands out (in the park) for all those movie fans that recognize that hitting a moving target with a handgun is not as easy as it looks in most Hollywood products.The camera loves Halle Berry and here she displays some acting chops that would prove that she was not just another (very) pretty girl.
Very good cast selection and Halle Berry looks so different in 1996.
Very good cast, direction, acting, sets and if you live in Australia and you see a copy of this movie, get it straight away because it is extremely rare since it is only on video now and they have stopped all production of videos.
Josie, the wife about half his age, feels neglected by him, but hides her concerns because she still loves her husband (and the money, let's not kid ourselves).
Their flawed, but satisfactory life goes awry one night when Josie admits her marital problems to a Cole (Peter Greene), a total stranger who she becomes acquainted with after her car breaks down and he helps her out.
Despite taking the comment back, Cole appears to take Josie's words seriously, and the problems ensue.The cast, especially the supporting actors, bring a rather pedestrian script to life.
Halle Berry is not only beautiful, but a competent actress in any role (aside from Catwoman), and in the context of the first 93 of the films 94 minute runtime, she does extraordinary as a woman lost in a situation which is totally out of her control.
Peter Greene and Clive Owen (Josie's boyfriend) both work with what they have, and Clea Lewis (who I never heard of before this film) brings some mild humor.The plot itself is nothing particularly new or original, but it grabs your attention slowly and when it has you hooked, it doesn't let go.
I won't spoil the "surprise," but it is a twist ending that will cause you to scratch your head for a few minutes, and then make you wish you hadn't wasted your time.
And with the twist at the end, gaping plot holes are left in the film.
It's not such a bad movie, but skip the last 60 seconds or you'll feel cheated out of your time and intelligence..
Beautiful young Halle Berry (as Josie) is married to ultra-rich older PBC-TV network executive Christopher McDonald (as Tony Potenza).
Because Ms. Berry loves her husband, really, she is concerned with his drinking problem and preoccupation with work.
Arriving solo and looking to arouse, Berry has a drink and catches the eye of pool-playing Peter Greene (as Cole Wilson).
No problem, as Mr. Greene happens by to drive her home...Berry insists she loves her husband and declines Greene's sexual invitations.
Greene believes Berry is asking him to kill her husband, but she disagrees.
"The Rich Man's Wife" begins with Berry's arrest.
Cinematography (by Haskell Wexler) and support (like Clea Lewis) help.***** The Rich Man's Wife (9/13/96) Amy Holden Jones ~ Halle Berry, Peter Greene, Clive Owen, Clea Lewis.
This is one of his rare bad movies, but as someone once said, sometimes you just have to make a living too.Story is older than mold.
Christopher McDonald I liked from such classics as "Requiem for a Dream" and "Quiz Show" but his character here is sketchy, at best.Oh yeah, Halle Berry is in it too, and SURPRISE SURPRISE, she cries.
With big A-list stars like Halle Berry and British actor Clive Owen starring in a murder mystery, which on the package seemed intriguing and suspenseful and with promises of twists and turns I was really looking forward to this, but oh dear!
The acting was horrible, Halle Berry as wife Josie Potenza gives a truly dreadful performance, her worst ever.
She wasn't convincing in the slightest, the principal villain Cole Wilson played by Peter Greene has to be one of the worst portrayed villains in cinematic history,he was about as frightening as a piece of fruit that just sits on the shelf waiting to be eaten.Any suspense and tension in the film, which is told in a flashback by Berry to the police who have arrested her, is none.
Yes there are a couple of good twists, but I did see them coming just before they were revealed and I liked Clive Owen's acting as the character Jake, which is why I gave this a two star, but really the acting was so theatrical, it just had the air of a TV movie like you watch on channel four late one night!
I am not sure which movie ripped off who (I believe this one came out first), but the scenes are similar.Overall, Jones wrote/directed an excellent thriller.
The ending has such a neat twist, and even if this is not your type of movie...do watch it to see Peter Greene topless.;).
Oh, I loved this movie from the beginning to the end.
Halle Berry is beautiful, but that doesn't up for mediocre acting and an overall weak movie.
The Rich Man's wife is an unabashedly trashy little Hitchcockian thriller with a young Halle Berry caught in a very dangerous situation that has spun wildly out of control.
Over drinks with intense stranger Cole Wilson (Peter Greene), she offhandedly jokes that she should arrange his murder to speed up the process.
Berry is also getting side action from suave restauranteer Clive Owen, who ends up in way over his head trying to deal with murderous, unhinged Wilson who is attempting to frame Berry for her husband's death and generally causing problems for everyone.
A story the average viewer has seen at least twenty times or more.The screenplay is almost entirely based on unexpected twists the last of which is so implausible only someone who has never seen HG Clouzot's "Les Diaboliques" will be surprised.That said ,Halle Berry is a solid thespian and a very attractive woman,but here she screams to no avail.Peter Green tries and tries to be threatening and scary.Clive Owen does not seem to believe in his part.The cops don't either.Only Clea Lewis displays a sense of humor and is the only one on the screen to have plenty of go.For a rainy day...Barely....
Amy Holden Jones writes and directs this tense drama about a beautiful woman(Halle Berry)who feels her wealthy husband(Christopher McDonald) is not spending enough time with her.
She makes a mistake telling her marital woes to a stranger who decides to help her out by killing her husband.
Rounding out the cast are:Clive Owen, Peter Greene, Frankie Faison and Clea Lewis.
I started watching The Rich Man's Wife, even though the title alone would suggest a crappy, soap-ish kind of movie.
It's a good movie, right up to the ending, then along comes that final twist-- the one plot twist too many-- that shot the whole movie to hell for me.
My problem with this movie is that it tries too hard.It is neither thriller no suspenseful as it intended to be.Can you say predictable??
It tries to take twists and turns but any intelligent viewer has figured them out before the movie actually gets to them.1.
Halle Berry's character says she doesn't need to speak with an attorney.Only an idiot would make a remark like that sitting in jail facing a murder one rap.2.
Plot hole.We see Halle Berry in one scene playing with the gun that would eventually kill her husband.
Mainly the conversation between Cole Wilson (Greene) and Jake Golden (Clive Owen) How can Berry's character tell the story for scenes she wasn't even in?
We learn that supposedly Golden hired Cole to do a simple hit and not even talk to Josie (Berry), but he became attracted to her.How can she tell how the murder occurred if she was not there or had nothing to do with it?
Jake's ex-wife had something to do with it obviously because she was always taking up for Josie.This movie just has bad pot holes and flaws.If you're going to do a murder-for-hire "Don't be seen with the killer in public" Dumb writing, even dumber acting.And this cast is generally a very talented set of actors, too bad they had to follow this piece of crap of a script..
The Ending Really Did It For Me. I would have considered "The Rich Man's Wife" a wonderfully acted and competently made, if cliché ridden, "Women in peril" chick flick, except for the last five minutes.
The ending redeems the movie and makes it a "must see" mystery for those who enjoy movies such as "The Six Sense" and "Wild Things".
Peter Greene takes the obnoxious, menacing villain to new levels of creepiness; and Clea Lewis dominates every one of her small scenes.
I just wish the movie had used the "Wild Things" end credits technique to tie everything together a little better.WARNING: SPOILERFor those who complain of pot holes and "Berry tells the story in the first person, but scenes occur that she couldn't possibly know" is misguided.
Since Berry and Lewis have concocted the entire story to kill their husbands and inherit the estates, of course the story is going to have some disjointed elements.
Most likely, Berry lured Clive Owen's character to the house and shot him.
SPOILERS THROUGHOUT POST: Rich Man's Wife, starring Halle Berry, has one major flaw that I saw and that is to take out all the things that make psychological thrillers great and put in all the things that make them problematic.
As such, this movie let me down many times throughout.As thrillers go, this one actually starts OK.
Everything that's bad in psychological thrillers appears(car chases, chases on foot, ominous music, violence, characters who just seem like caricatures, plot holes that are absolutely unexplainable, and much much more).
Throw in characters who seem to make bad decision upon bad decision solely for the purpose of making a movie and one has The Rich Man's wife.Now I'm not sure if it's the writer to fault-because most of the bad things seem like standard stuff thrown into lots of bad movies.
We get the raging psychopath (played quite well actually by Peter Greene.) The cops who seem to be in another world altogether, the hysterical put upon heiress(Berry who is never quite convincing here) and a few more .
This movie had me rolling my eyes in quite a short period of time, such as when Cole chases Josie into her cabin and she, screaming and shrieking as she runs for her life, then proceeds to leaves the door open for Cole to follow her into the cabin.The Rich Man's wife had a great cast but doesn't seem to care if the audience buys any of what is happening on screen.
It's almost worth it to see the movie just for her.Rich Man's wife also almost crosses into that "so bad it's good" category.
All the scenes of Josie running for her life-oh man, I think I started to lose count.
And I will agree with so many others-the "twist" is completely over the top, a complete rip off from Usual suspects and, rather then thinking "Clever movie" at the end, as with suspects, one just feels a bit ripped off.
(I also think this movie had a bit of "Mortal Thoughts" in it as well as Suspects.) So while I wasn't bored, loved the cast, and thought the premise had potential I am giving this a 3.
Suffering from a bad childhood, "Josie Potenza" (Halle Berry) marries at an early age to wealthy real estate developer named "Tony Potenza" (Christopher McDonald) in order to essentially escape from a life of poverty.
Not long afterward she meets a man named "Cole Wilson" (Peter Greene) and subsequently tells him about her rich husband and the marital problems she is currently having.
Be that as it may, Halle Berry put in a fine performance and because of that this movie wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been.
am not a big fan of Halle Berry but seeing this film was very enjoyable .
the film starts like any thriller trying to set the mood and place for the unusual plot of a nasty husband and a submissive wife who is being abused by him .the night scenes in the woods are very powerful and it brings back the 80s style of suspense .
a twisted series of events take place and one becomes really keen on knowing how it is going to end .the soundtrack is great and the acting is very convincing .if you are a fan on the classic thrillers that keep you at the edge of your seat .
Halle Berry's beauty is ALMOST reason enough to sit through any film, and here she's surrounded by a good supporting cast.
But this glossy thriller (great cinematography by Haskell Wexler) spins a familiar tale, and in the end turns out to be a blatant rip-off of "The Usual Suspects" (even using pretty much the same closing shot).
When I start talking to the characters on the screen, I know it's a bad movie.
I should've turned this one off after 30 minutes but I kept watching it to see if it would get any better, which it didn't, and, not only did the ending leave me scratching my head as one poster said, but it left me dope-slapping myself for wasting so much of my time.Plot holes?
Nowhere to be seen.A woman tells some jerk she just met in a bar that sometimes she wishes her husband was dead -- and show me one woman who hasn't said that at least once in her married life -- and just like that he says, "I'll kill him for you," and she doesn't say to herself, "Uh, could this guy be a psychopath by any chance?" and make some excuse to get the hell out of there and put as much distance as possible between them?
Halle Berry's character is smart enough to double-cross the guy who plotted to kill her husband, but she doesn't take the time to make sure at least some of her husband's assets are in her name.
I'll grant you that we don't know how large a family the man had, or if he even had a family at all, but logic dictates he would have at least a cousin or two somewhere who would definitely make a claim against a multi-million dollar estate.What I love most about murder movies is the funerals themselves.
And the killer comes up to the widow and nobody stops to ask who this man is, since he's obviously not dressed appropriately for the occasion and seems to be causing the widow to be upset and angry.The ending was stupidest of all because Halle Berry and her lover's ex-wife drive off, acting smug, when all they have is 30 grand between them to last them for who knows how long, and with their lifestyles you know it won't get them very far ...
and they're saying men are idiots?I'm the real idiot, for having wasted my time on this silly movie, so learn from my mistake and watch something else..
Halle Berry, around 30 in this movie, not yet the big name she was to become, plays Josie Potenza, married to an older wealthy man after they had barely known each other.
She makes a mistake when she goes to a local bar alone, attracts the attention of a strange looking man Cole (Peter Greene) but, in the cool and wet he gives her a ride back to the cabin, apparently an OK guy.Now, I can't say anymore about the actual story without giving away some key themes.
Berry is nice looking, the acting is pretty much what it should be, but the story relies on some twists near the end, and when it was over I felt a bit cheated.
It isn't a totally bad movie, but it isn't a very good one either.SPOILERS.
Even though Josie claims she loves her husband, she is at the same time having an affair with Jake Golden (Clive Owen).
He ends up back at her home, and follows her husband, getting into his car at night during an ATM stop, making him drive to a park, where he chased him down and shot him multiple times.
Jake was broke and this was part of his plan to get Josie and her dead husband's riches.
But Josie had a plan of her own, with Jake's wife Nora, and in the final scene we see Nora and Josie going away together, having disposed of the bad guy Cole and each of their cheating husbands.