There's no doubt about Morgan Fairchild's (neé Patsy McClenny) porcelain beauty, especially when she's all glamorized up, as she is here. That lustrous blond hair with nary a strand out of place, That surgically perfect nose, those over-sized blue doll's eyes with those alluring black lashes. (She wears them even while swimming otherwise nude.) Her acting is adequate for a community playhouse, but her voice is that of a high school girl -- and not even a senior, but a freshman.She's one of those TV news babes and a real dish, with the figure to go with her features. It's no wonder that her neighbor, Andrew Stevens, takes photos of her naked with his telephoto lens or falls in love with her from afar before he begins to make a real nuisance of himself. Having a fan who is obsessed with you is a real problem. I know, because beautiful women throw themselves at my feet all the time, begging me to mistreat them.As is usual in these stalker movies, the cops are of no help at all, the stalker is clever and murderous, the boy friend is either away at the wrong time or disabled somehow. Occasionally, as here, he is stabbed to death just about the time he reaches ejaculatory inevitability.Then the movie falls completely apart. With her boy friend's bloody body pulled from the jacuzzi and buried by the maniac, Fairchild calls the murderer instead of the homicide squad and tells him, "It's just you and me now." It's a horn of plenty of clichés, with hands reaching from out of the frame to grab the heroine by the shoulder, accompanied by a loud sting on the sound track.There's no need to go on about the film but it does have a few good points. It opens with Morgan Fairchild swimming naked in her pool, while we listen to a romantic ballad under the credits ("Love's Hiding Place"). Another scene, rather artistic I thought, has her undress and slide into a bath tub full of lather, while Stevens gawks at her from a closet. The linkage between the murderer in the closet and the theme, "Love's Hiding Place", is so subtle that the insensitive among us are liable to miss it. There must be other virtues. I'll think of them sooner or later.

I must say that I had my share of reservations going into David Schmoeller's The Seduction regarding a disturbed "erotomaniac" stalking a popular newscaster, but I was pleasantly surprised at it's quality in regards to the fabulous look and better-than-expected acting.Mac Ahlberg's photographic work and Lalo Schifrin's score really enhance the mood of The Seduction and Morgan Fairchild has never been as beautiful or enchanting as she is here in this movie. I was quite impressed with a young, handsome Andrew Stevens(..whose cold, dark eyes are well utilized)as Fairchild's tormenting stalker. There's a chilling scene where he wipes the blood from a knife he had just buried into a victim's back, cutting away pieces of apple, slowly chewing as if savoring every taste. Stevens makes for a really unsettling creep, his good looks actually adding something extra to his psychopath. The luxurious locations(..such as Fairchild's palatial mansion and pool)in LA also add a great deal of vogue and splendor establishing the allure of affluence and wealth.Some nice supporting turns include Michael Sarrazin as Fairchild's reporter lover who becomes fed up with Stevens' intrusive ways, Vince Edwards as the cop they turn to for help(..who tells them that his hands are tied due to Stevens having not committed a "real crime"), and Colleen Camp(..at the peak of her sexiness)as Fairchild's brassy commercial actress pal. Kevin Brophy is a fellow station co-worker of Fairchild's.I guess if I had to pick a favorite scene it'd be Fairchild's bath as Stevens peeps on her from a closet, sweating away as she strokes / caresses her body. Pretty violent conclusion as the heated confrontation ensues with Stevens attempting to force Fairchild into a sexual scenario(..this is where we watch as Stevens delusion shatters when Fairchild turns the tables psychologically against him). Wendy Smith Howard has a small but pivotal role as a woman enamored with Stevens, rejected by him when she attempts to express her love to him. Not a flattering view of the police as Fairchild and Sarrazin's pleas for protection are met with little assistance. Actually a film ahead of it's time in regards to the invasion of a public figure's privacy, before the internet / reality show boom. Fairchild's beauty is well captured throughout, and the camera simply adores her.

for anyone who might tend toward romantic obsession, here's your cure. do yourself (or a friend) a favor and (get him to) watch this film. fifteen minutes into the film, you just want to punch andrew stevens in the mouth. the problem is that the harasser never seems to know what a jerk and a fool he is being. here's the message, written in big red letters. too bad more men don't see themselves this way until it's too late. of course, derek (mr. stevens' character) becomes a very bad person by the time he gets his due. if only derek could see himself in this movie, maybe then he wouldn't have taken that first step. sure, not all crushes are actually stalkings. and there is the risk that the truly disturbed stalkers won't understand that this movie is supposed to help them not to do it. the movie may just make a lot of people paranoid. still, it as an effective counterpoint to the CINEMA PARADISO-style treatment of unrequited love, and too much of that sort of fantasy romance in cinema just exacerbates this social problem.it's not so much a thriller as a public service announcement. amazingly, farrah fawcett is in BURNING BED just two years later. one has to think that blossom kahn had more to do with this film than the credits reveal.it's obvious why morgan fairchild took the script. ms. fairchild was never the bimbo that people accused her of being. (i have a friend who was at a bio lab at harvard when she phoned to discuss primate genetics for several hours! no kidding!) the kind of power that julia roberts uses today to deliver ERIN BROCKOVITCH was enjoyed by ms. fairchild in 1982, and she seems to have used it here. ms. fairchild even gives up her body with shocking compliance (with dozens of nude scenes, and almost constant appearance on screen) in order to keep the drooling men in their seats until the lesson is complete. as easy as it is thus to applaud ms. fairchild, mr. stevens deserves greater praise. not many leading men would have taken such a role in 1982, and mr. stevens is the perfectly detestable pretty-boy delusional peter-pan smarm. the boys will watch this film for ms. fairchild, and they will learn to leave the girls alone because of mr. stevens.

An extremely silly "thriller". First of all, the Dereck character in real life would have gotten arrested for a number of offensives he commits. (He wouldn't have gotten serious sentences, but he would at least been arrested.) Second, the plot is really thin - see how many times and ways the filmmakers pad out the movie, including, but not limited to people walking around slowly from point A to B, Fairchild undressing, Fairchild showering or bathing, Fairchild in a hot tub, Fairchild driving around, etc. etc. Third, Dereck doesn't really become creepy or frightening until near the end of the movie - most of the movie, he acts like a confused little boy.However, credit to the crew who lit and photographed the movie. Their work is definitely above average. Pity that the other material of THE SEDUCTION doesn't deserve it.