User reviews

Fans of Anthony Hopkins will delight in this carefully staged teleplay. Fans of Blythe Danner will also be pleased to see a favorite character actress given more screen time than usual.

Although the plot is fairly standard and the events mostly predictable, it comes off much better than say your average Perry Mason or Columbo Movie. Hopkins, as a high-priced, high-power attorney, is delightful as he comically and and viciously destroys his own plans for his wife's murder. The play succeeds in its own ability to recognize its weaknesses. Unlike most television mysteries where the audience is asked to ignore the plot holes and revel in the detective's brilliance at spotting the clue and solving the crime, this play takes pride in pointing out its own holes as it goes along. As an audience participation spectacle, it is fun to play along, spotting the holes before the characters do. Overall, it's a bit static, with the vast majority of the action never leaving the main house, and cynics will find fault or boredom with the events leading up to the conclusion. But fans of the genre, or of Hopkins, will no doubt remain intrigued and find the ending quite satisfying. The whole play comes off much like the great Olivier and Caine character study, "Sleuth" and those who have seen that longish masterpiece know what kind of a compliment that is, and will also appreciate that this is 34 minutes shorter.

Mystery fans can do much worse for an evenings entertainment.

Hopkins always delivers his svelte, arrogant and yet intimidating and refreshing self to any performance. Blythe Danner as his beleaguered wife, in an unhappy marriage. Hopkins, an esteemed trial attorney, plays the Socratic "what if?" hypothesis game with himself, as he debates how to rid himself of his bothersome wife.

Blythe Danner, however, is an equal match. She is not to be fooled. She utilizes her patrician hauteur and surprise when she discovers his one (of several) mistresses. Swoosie Kurtz portrays a young sometime lover, Jackie, who at first seems to be in league with Hopkins. She plays the damsel in distress, and Danner is intrigued.

There is an interesting twist at the conclusion, which I will not spoil. Suffice to say, well worth watching for murder and mayhem as only Anthony Hopkins can project on the screen. 8/10.

Back in the '80s, Anthony Hopkins made a lot of TV movies, some which used his great talent to advantage, and others in which he was underused. Here he is teamed with Blythe Danner and Swoosie Kurtz in a Levinson-Link concoction, "Guilty Conscience." Levinson and Link were really masters of suspense and mystery, responsible for Columbo, Murder, She Wrote, and many TV movies, both as producers and writers.

In this movie, Anthony Hopkins is a prominent attorney who comes up with several ways to murder his wife (Blythe Danner) who has the goods on him and can expect a huge settlement in a divorce. In his mind, he argues the merits of the different plots before a judge, a portrait of his wife's father, and undergoes questioning by the DA, who is Hopkins in spectacles. Enter one of his dalliances, Swoosie Kurtz, and the fun begins. How is the murder going to be done? And who's going to be murdered? This is a wonderful movie, and the kind you couldn't make today - there's lots of talk - in fact, entire monologues by Hopkins as he talks back and forth with and to himself - and not a ton of action. Swoosie Kurtz is a riot as the offbeat mistress, and Blythe Danner appropriately elegant and thoughtful as Hopkins' wife.

It's unfortunate that these kinds of TV movies are no longer made. In the '80s, there were many of these mystery movies: Murder by Natural Causes, Rehearsal for Murder, Vanishing Act, The Guardian, etc., all very well cast. Today it's all true crime, which would be great, if any of them were half as well written as anything by Richard Levinson, William Link, or Larry Cohen.

ANTHONY HOPKINS is the mentally agile lawyer who is continually thinking up ways to get rid of his wife, the fashionable and elegant BLYTHE DANNER. Evidently, their stormy marriage is at a breaking point and he decides he must plot her demise rather than go through with a messy divorce.

But what follows has enough plot turns to hold your interest, although the device of having Hopkins weigh all considerations against a trial lawyer (Hopkins in a dual role) gets a little tiresome after awhile. Not that he isn't a compelling actor whether playing the lawyer or the prosecutor, and he does create sympathy for a very detestable man.

The plot takes quite a surprising turn when SWOOSIE KURTZ shows up as his mistress, another very calculating character who has some surprises of her own to throw into the mix.

It all has the feel of a poor man's DIAL M FOR MURDER, showing its TV origins within some narrow settings. But you have to give credit to the writers who keep the tale spinning right until the sudden finish.

The cat-and-mouse byplay between husband and wife is reminiscent of the sort of banter between Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine in SLEUTH, but the overall result is not quite as clever.

This is a good movie, especially since I am a big Anthony Hopkins buff. I also like Blythe Danner, who plays his loving? wife. It's a fun, quirky and clever mystery with twists and turns. As Anthony Hopkiins makes plans for his future by planning the demise of his wife, he anticipates and participates, in his imagination, how he should perform in Court as he stands trial for murder.

There is a problem, however. I ordered a brand new, factory-sealed VHS by Quality Video and the sound and picture quality were dreadful and unwatchable! I re-ordered it on DVD and it was a little better, but the picture was dull and grainy. It is hard to believe that it is not possible to get a good quality picture and sound for this TV film.

What a shame... It's an interesting and clever movie!

As my brother might say, "This has more twists than a bag of pretzels."

I wasn't expecting much and came out with feeling of extreme satisfaction, for this film is great. The beginning is a little slow but it soon picks up speed quickly and then you are on the edge of your seat.

Some people said 'GuiltyConscience' was predictable, but I severely disagree. Not only did Ihave no idea was was going to happen, but I gasped out loud at several points. The plot was simple but complicated. Hopkins was fantastic as the scheming husband and cross examiner. The rest of the cast was excellent as well. Thoroughly entertaining.

Check this film out if you are looking for interesting mystery-drama; you won't regret it.

Clever, restrained yarn with enough plot twists to please Hitchcock himself! A *must* for Hopkins fans-- the film contains more extended close-ups of his face than any of his other films (I should know, I'm a fanatic)! Tony is IT!!!

Writers Richard Levinson and William Link open this drama for CBS very unfairly: a smug, self-assured criminal attorney (Anthony Hopkins) gives a speech on the profitable business of murder to his amused colleagues just before slipping out unnoticed, breaking into his own house and shooting his wife (Blythe Danner). He then fantasizes his own day in court, with himself as both witness and prosecutor. But it turns out the entire opening is a rather elaborate ruse to get our attention; the remaining drama derives from the false-front marriage of this cheating husband--who has also been abusive--and his kissless spouse, both of whom have their reasons for wanting the other eliminated. Stultifying exercise must have looked promising on paper--how else to explain the presence of Hopkins in a made-for-TV movie?--but Columbo would have reached these same conclusions in less than an hour.

For a TV movie, this is awfully good. Hopkins spends much of the movie playing out scenarios of how his murder trial would play out if he killed his wife, with a portrait of his father playing the judge. He goes through different methods of killing her, and plays out the trial until he finds the mistake in his plan. These one-man scenes are very funny, and Hopkins delivers them expertly, as one would expect.

Written by Richard Levinson and William Link, the creators of Colombo. This is an American television movie from the mid 1980s.

Arthur Jamison (Anthony Hopkins) is a much lauded defence lawyer. Unfortunately his his wife Louise (Blythe Danner) wants a divorce and it is going to be an expensive one for him.

Years earlier she was a good catch, her father was a judge. An ideal match for an aspiring lawyer. Now he is successful and wealthy and he plans to kill Louise.

Only with the plans in his head. Arthur cross examines each murder scenario to see if he can get away with murder.

Later a curve ball is thrown, when his mistress Jackie (Swoosie Kurtz) turns up and it seems both her and Louise have met before. Maybe even cooked something up.

The story is very much like a stage play, a three hander. This plays into Hopkins strengths as he in essence interrogates himself for long portions.

It is clear that Guilty Conscience is an updated version of Sleuth. It is not as captivating as the Caine/Olivier movie.

It is sophisticated, smart, sharp as a Swiss mechanic. But it is a bit too much talkative and that may lead some audience to leave the show earlier than it should be. Shame on them. I am sure it could have been made for a stage play, and it is splendidly acted by Anthony Hopkins. He was a friend of Laurence Olivier, another famous Sir from the British stage ; so it could be here a kind of tribute to Laurence Olivier in this role for Hopkins. The latest would be perfect is a SLEUTH remake. The flaw here is the women's presence, I think it could have been better without them, or more precisely with less presence. It was a bit boring for me. Don't misunderstand me, I have nothing against women's stories, but this movie did not prepare me to that. Anyway this is a worth watching story, written and produced by COLUMBO screenwriters. A good reference.

My edition is "Authored and remastered by DDC Labs - Made in Canada," packaged as a double feature with "Dangerous Relations." There is no other edition information on jacket. The DVD transfer is so bad, it is nearly unwatchable. The low price (USD 2 + tax) is no excuse for a sloppy job. This is very unfortunate because the movie is excellent, as far as murder mysteries go. I give it highest grade for story and acting. I am sure that there were other production values such as photography, sound, and production design, however I cannot evaluate those because of the poor video and audio quality. I would like to know what editions the other reviewers were evaluating.

This movie will mess with your head, and you'll be delighted about it! A true sleeper, Guity Conscience is a bit talky, but delivers a deliciously tongue-in-cheek story of a prominent criminal attorney's (Anthony Hopkins) attempt to devise the perfect murder. His intended victim is his wife (Blythe Danner). Their marriage is anything but blissful, and their early interplay is civil yet icy.

Into the mix comes Hopkins' ditsy girlfriend, wonderfully played by Swoozie Kurtz, who may be much smarter than she seems. Soon the surprises start coming out of nowhere (or do they?) and the many clever plot twists along the way lead up to an equally unexpected finish. Nothing is what it seems, or is it? Finding out the answer is great fun.

A WARNING- Most DVD versions that I've seen of Guilty Conscience are very poor, both in sound and picture quality. This will detract from the viewing enjoyment, so it's worth searching out a good one.

Hopkins and Danner are great as the opposing spouses. His conversations with himself are fun to watch, as he tries to work out how to kill his wife. Not so much a whodunit, as a who's going to do it, with a wonderful twist at the end. And don't miss a word of the dialogue.

Lots of nice words about Hopkins and Danner in these reviews - which I both believe did a fantastic job in this play...but PLEASE....the quirky character played by SWOOSIE KURTZ is - by far - the most fascinating and her performance the most whimsically memorable in this wonderful murder mystery.

Even if I know what's going to happen, I love to run into this fascinating movie and it becomes new every time.

"Guilty Conscience" is a made for TV movie which features a plot and style which make it seem more like a taped play than a typical movie. It mostly takes place in one room and almost all the acting is done by three people.

The story is very much like the wonderful French film, "Diabolique"...though the story is also quite different...different enough to make both worth seeing. Arthur is an unfaithful husband who is also a very successful and unscrupulous defense attorney. He plans on murdering his wife and getting away with it. After all, he enjoys cheating on her and now that his wife has had enough, she's planning on raking him over the coals. No, I'm not talking about alimony. Instead, she knows about some highly illegal things he's done with a client's trust fund...and unless Arthur gives her a hefty settlement, she's going to the police. But this is only the beginning of the story...it's MUCH more complicated and soon Arthur's mistress (Swoozie Kurtz) also gets in on the plot...but on whose side?

I could say a lot more about the plot, but it would ruin the film. It is, however, a film that won't appeal to everyone. If you love action, well, you'll be disappointed because of the movie's play-like pace and setting. But if you don't mind all the talking and look to the acting and plot twists, you're bound to enjoy this movie.