Widow on the Hill

2005

Drama / Romance

4
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 33%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 33% · 100 ratings
IMDb Rating 5.5/10 10 743 743

Plot summary

A sexy young hospice nurse, is hired by a wealthy man to care for his sick wife who eventually dies. When the nurse becomes the widower's new bride and then he dies suspiciously leaving his vast fortune to the new Mrs., his daughter becomes convinced that her gold-digging stepmother is up to no good and could be a murderess.


Uploaded by: FREEMAN
September 01, 2024 at 04:56 AM

Director

Top cast

Natasha Henstridge as Linda Dupree Cavanaugh
Jewel Staite as Jenny Cavanaugh
James Brolin as Hank Cavanaugh
720p.WEB 1080p.WEB
822.9 MB
1280*720
English 2.0
NR
us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 29 min
Seeds 18
1.49 GB
1920*1080
English 2.0
NR
us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 29 min
Seeds 7

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by juneebuggy 7 / 10

Better than average Lifetime movie. Enjoyed James Brolin, the sex, murder & mystery

This ended up being a better than average Lifetime movie. Totally captivating in a I'm hungover and can't get off the couch sort of way. Good cast and an intriguing story that I was never entirely sure how it was going to play out, including a surprising ending -which lets face it, doesn't usually happen with made for TV dramas.

The story starts out just before the trial and has been based on real events, following an ambitious young hospice nurse who is hired by a wealthy man to care for his wife during her final days.'Linda' "cares" a lot for 'Hank' as well (flirts) and soon after the death of his wife they marry, much to the suspicion of Hank's youngest daughter. Before long, Hank himself falls seriously ill and dies, leaving Linda one of the richest women in Virginia and arousing suspicions that she not only knocked off Hank, but his first wife as well.

This was heavy breathing melodrama. I really enjoyed James Brolin who was surprisingly sexy here with some very good love scenes (yeah I said it) but he also suffered from dumb man thinking with the wrong head (yeah I said that too). Natasha Henstridges is suitable sexy, wears nice underwear and wow, some of the stunts she pulls sleeping around with several men. Nice shock value there.

The daughter was excellent, although I'm not sure why they kept referring to her as "the alcoholic" she was sober for the entire movie. I guess to cast doubt to her credibility. Beautiful cinematography on the horse ranch and an interesting secondary cast, containing all the elements for great Lifetime television; sex, murder, family drama and mystery. 1/22/15

Reviewed by blanche-2 6 / 10

Lifetime movie based on a true story

Natasha Henstridge is a widow accused of murdering her husband (James Brolin) in The Widow on the Hill, a 2005 film that has the stamp of Lifetime all over it.

This is the true story of the Donna Sommerville case, here called Linda Cavanaugh. The device of the film is that Linda is being interviewed for an in-depth news story before her trial, so we see in flashbacks that she originally came to Mt. Iris, the home of Hank Cavanaugh (in real life Hamilton Sommerville), to care for his dying wife. Shortly after his wife's death, Linda and Hank marry.

According to the film, Linda considered herself hot stuff and seduced two of the stable boys, and everybody knew but Hank himself. He intended to divorce her, but he became ill. He recovered but then died. Linda wanted him cremated immediately, but one of the daughters was convinced that Linda had killed her father.

The coroner finally called for an autopsy after one of the stable hands admitted that he had seen Linda reading the will the night of her husband's death, and before bringing him food, she had made a stop in the kitchen. Morphine was later discovered there, and the autopsy showed Hank had died from a combination of drugs. In the film, he evidently made a new will to benefit only his wife and disinherited his daughters, which was felt to be Linda's influence. There is a scene in the film when Hank learns she cheated on him and he says he is divorcing her and redoing his will.

The film stops at a point before the trial. In real life, Donna was acquitted of the crime and continued to live on the family estate, eventually studying for the ministry. Somerville's daughters filed a multimillion dollar suit against her as in civil court, the burden of evidence of murder is less. This is all stated on the chiron at the end of the movie.

Five years later, Somerville lost in civil court and the daughters were able to reclaim the family estate.

This isn't particularly well acted. Henstridge, despite comments here from one poster, is a gorgeous woman who has had a career as a model. I find the comments about her rear end ridiculous. You'd think no one had ever seen a woman before. Was she too young for James Brolin? Yes, but I believe there was an age difference between the real-life characters. This isn't the first time we've seen an old guy with a young woman.

Let's face it, even when they're based on a true story, Lifetime movies are not Grade A productions. They're light entertainment that you watch when you want to relax and shut the world off for a while. Obviously this real-life story could have been more compelling, but you can't expect that from Lifetime. It's like expecting McDonald's to be a five-star restaurant.

Reviewed by Ajm_mmc 6 / 10

Not extremely original, but worth a rental.

In Widow on the Hill, Natasha Henstridge plays a former nurse, Linda Dupree, who captures the affections of a recent widower (James Brolin as Hank Cavanaugh) and quickly becomes his new wife. Both parts are well acted, although often upstaged by Hank's grown daughter, Jenny (Jewel Staite). Jenny appears at first glance to be a troubled girl trying to overcome her mother's death while trying to stay sober. The audience quickly realizes that Jenny is much stronger and smarter than most of her family and friends give her credit for. Jewel Staite creates a 3-dimensional character out of what could have been a cardboard cliché. The story tends to fall flat at points, but overall this movie boasts a quality cast that make it worth seeing at least once.

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