Somebody Killed Her Husband (1978) Columbia/Comedy-Thriller RT: 97 minutes Rated PG (language, violence) Director: Lamont Johnson Screenplay: Reginald Rose Music: Alex North Cinematography: Andrew Laszlo and Ralf D. Bode Release date: September 29, 1978 (US) Cast: Farrah Fawcett-Majors, Jeff Bridges, John Wood, Tammy Grimes, John Glover, Patricia Elliott, Mary McCarty, Laurence Guittard, Vincent Robert Santa Lucia, Beeson Carroll. Box Office: $6.1M (US)
Rating: *
It’s odd, but I can’t seem to find a lot of information on Somebody Killed Her Husband, a comedic thriller that opened in cinemas in fall 1978. It was supposed to be huge as it marked the first starring role of ex-Charlie’s Angels star Farrah Fawcett-Majors (as she was known back then). It didn’t do that well with audiences or critics. It closed after a short run.
I saw Somebody Killed Her Husband on network TV a couple of years later. It’s the only time I ever saw it. It never aired on cable as far as I know. It was scheduled to show on Cinemax in August ’86, but they pulled it. It never came out on video or DVD as far as I know. I never saw it on the shelves at any of my regular video stores or available to order on Amazon. It was as elusive as the Lily Tomlin-John Travolta romantic drama Moment by Moment, also released in ’78.
Prior to this past weekend, I vaguely remembered two scenes from Somebody Killed Her Husband: (1) the scene where Fawcett’s character finds her husband’s dead body with a knife sticking out of it and (2) the finale in a warehouse filled with giant toys. I thought I hit the proverbial jackpot when I discovered it was playing on the free streaming service Tubi. Naturally, I didn’t hesitate when it came time to choose Saturday night’s feature film. I was elated to finally be seeing it. Elation turned to regret long before the end credits roll.
Although Fawcett is billed as the star of the show, that dubious honor belongs to Jeff Bridges (King Kong) who plays Jerry, a struggling children’s book author who earns his daily bread in the toy department at Macy’s department store in NYC. That’s where he has his meet-cute with Jenny (Fawcett), a gorgeous woman with a toddler. Oh yeah, she’s also married. That doesn’t stop Jerry from pursuing her romantically. It’s fine with Jenny because she isn’t happily married. Her husband (Guittard, A Little Night Music) is a bore who only talks about work. He’s in insurance and we all know how exciting that it is, right?
ANYWAY, Jerry and Jenny start seeing each other on the sly. One night, she brings him to her place to share some Chinese food and a little loving. Their plans are interrupted when the husband comes home unexpectedly. They hear him talking to somebody then nothing. They go downstairs where they find him dead in the kitchen with a knife in his back. Naturally, they freak out. Jenny wants to call the cops. Jerry tells her if she does that, they’ll be accused of murdering him. His solution is to hide the body in the freezer and find the killer themselves. Now that’s a good idea…. NOT!
I didn’t know Somebody Killed Her Husband was supposed to be a comedy. I only realized it when I looked at the Wikipedia entry after watching it. No, scratch that. I endured it. Either way, it explains why Jerry and Jenny act like idiots the whole time. It’s supposed to be funny except it’s not. I didn’t laugh once. I did shake my head a lot though if that counts.
It doesn’t work as a whodunit thriller either. I knew who the killer was the minute the player’s name appeared in the opening credits. My suspicion was further confirmed by the character’s intro. Roger Ebert’s “Law of Economy of Characters” states that no character in a mystery movie is unimportant no matter how insignificant they initially appear to be. The person in question, played by a known name, shows up briefly then disappears until the end when it comes time for the big reveal. Even so, director Lamont Johnson (Lipstick) throws in a lot of red herrings like Jenny’s affluent neighbors Ernest (Wood, WarGames) and Audrey (Grimes, Can’t Stop the Music), an odd couple with a secret pastime they must have learned from Richard Nixon.
Bridges is better than this. He’s certainly better than the material deserves. Professional that he is, the actor nonetheless brings his A-game to Somebody Killed Her Husband. He has a likable, relatable quality with which he imbues his characters. It’s too bad it’s not enough to save this rapidly sinking ship. After a while, you wish he’d come to his senses and get the police involved. Instead, he keeps getting himself and his newly single girlfriend in deeper- i.e. more murders occur. Jerry is what’s commonly known here in the City of Brotherly Loe as a “smacked-ass” (look it up).
Somebody Killed Her Husband may be Fawcett’s first starring role in a feature film, but it’s not her first gig. She previously appeared in the notorious 1970 stinker Myra Breckinridge and the 1976 sci-fi piece Logan’s Run. The TV detective series Charlie’s Angels propelled her to stardom. What male didn’t have her famous poster on his bedroom wall in the 70s? She’s beautiful, no question, but her acting abilities leave a lot to be desired. She’s terrible in Somebody Killed Her Husband. Not a single word that comes from her mouth sounds the least bit convincing. She has no chemistry with Bridges at all. It’s clearly forced on both their parts.
What can I say about the supporting cast? I know there are a lot of weirdos, wackos and wing nuts in New York, but the New Yorkers in Somebody Killed Her Husband are like beings from another planet. The aforementioned neighbors are bad enough, but wait until you get a load of Jerry’s co-worker and sort of girlfriend Helene (Elliott, One Life to Live). Her character sounds like she spends all of her off-time on a therapist’s couch. We’ve all dated some odd people, but this woman is a real doozy. No wonder Jerry goes running into the arms of a married woman.
There are wall-to-wall miscalculations in Somebody Killed Her Husband, but the topper has to be the ending. No. I’m not referring to the final where Jerry and Jenny face off against the killer in the basement of Macy’s where they store all the floats for their annual Thanksgiving Day parade although it is definitely weird. No, I’m talking about the closing credits where we get a montage of the stars’ scenes together while a sappy love song by Neil Sedaka (“Love Keeps Getting Stronger Every Day”) plays on the soundtrack. What in the actual f***? Words fail me here.
I can see why the studio wasn’t anxious to keep Somebody Killed Her Husband in circulation. It’s a bad movie. Johnson can’t seem to strike the right balance between murder mystery and rom-com. Both elements end up cancelling each other out. What we’re left with is a movie from the 70s that’s best left forgotten. Fortunately, it didn’t kill the stars’ careers. Bridges went onto make great films like Starman, Jagged Edge, The Big Lebowski and Hell or High Water (to name but a few). The late Fawcett did too, going onto to an Emmy nomination for her role as a battered wife in The Burning Bed (1984). Good for them! They’ve long since washed the stink of Somebody Killed Her Husband off of them. I’m just happy I finally got to see it. That’s one more title off my movie bucket list.
