THE WOMAN WHO SINNED is a typical TV movie thriller of the early 1990s which mixes and matches a few genre tropes. There's a psycho-thriller element in the tale of a disturbed maniac bumping off a few unfortunates, plus a wrongfully accused-style plotline in which an adulterous woman is accused of murdering her best friend. Truth be told, there's little here that hasn't been done better before, but THE WOMAN WHO SINNED plays out fast enough to never be boring. Susan Lucci makes for a fairly sympathetic protagonist while the supporting cast is bolstered by an endless number of familiar faces, with Tim Matheson playing the put-upon husband, Dick Miller and John Vernon as cops, Claudia Christian, and best of all Michael Dudikoff in a cast-against-type role.

This one was a thriller/romance to me. You've got the beautiful woman accused of a murder she didn't commit, a married couple with secrets that need to come out if the crime needs to be solved, and, yes, some romance. Susan Lucci and Tim Matheson (who's sexier than George Clooney--and that's saying a LOT) play characters who are not perfect people, but they're at a turning point in their marriage, and what happens could make the difference between life or death. The plot itself was fairly routine, and you could probably figure out whodunit as soon as the murder takes place, but the fun of watching this one was having Susan and Tim light up the small screen. It was on CBS's Sunday night line-up about a decade ago, and maybe WE or Lifetime will rerun it at some point. Catch it if they do. ..

So good to see the beautiful Ms. Lucci stray from daytime fare and take another shot at evening TV. This is a somewhat obvious murder melodrama about Ms. Lucci being accused of her best friends's murder after having an illicit affair. One look at her friend (Lenore Kasdorf) and even the feeble-minded should have this plotline worked out. The performances ran the gamut: Highest marks go to Claudia Christian in a small but impressive role showing once again her obvious talent can shine through some weak scripting and direction. Christine Belford, as your local PI gave a solid journeyman (er, journeyperson?) performance despite the obvious denouement. Michael Dudikoff, as your garden variety psychopath, makes a valiant effort to break free of his karate movie typecast--he's positively creepy! Tim Matheson is only mediocre as the supportive yet imperfect husband. John Vernon does a good job as the thick-headed but honest cop(but I'd much rather see his gorgeous daughter Kate, who was wise enough to avoid appearing in this episode). As for Ms. Lucci's performance--- I'm very happy to hear that she finally won her DAYTIME Emmy she has sought so valiantly on her 17th try.

This was a very interesting movie. Very clever and unusual plot.