Watch Guilty Conscience For Free

Too much of everything

To me, this movie is perfection.

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Good movie but grossly overrated

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.

Arthur Jamison (Anthony Hopkins) is a confident and successful attorney who enjoys a good battle of wits. He decides to off his wife (Blythe Danner) in favor of the latest in a long line of mistresses, and as he pictures various methods, he debates the pros and cons with himself.This 1985 made-for-TV movie is all talk; it's witty and clever but also quite devoid of emotion and gets old after a while. Hopkins is very good in dual roles as Arthur and the devil's advocate with whom he discusses the merits of his plans. Danner plays the wealthy, somewhat scatter-brained matron well, but hers is an unsympathetic role. Swoozie Kurtz is the streetwise, off-beat mistress, an odd choice because she lacks any appeal or chemistry with Hopkins.The movie is almost too clever for it's own good, being one long, somewhat tedious exercise in courtoom "What if? Although it's about murder, there is no suspense and I was glad when it was over. The legal language would certainly be of interest to attorneys and law students, however.It should be noted that this DVD is an extremely poor transfer. It looks like a taped-at-home video. Neither the box nor the movie credits list the production company. If you're a Hopkins fan, it might be worth a look, but expect to be disappointed in the audio-visual quality.

***SPOILERS*** Clever made for TV movie involving a top defense attorney Arthur Jamison, Anthony Hopkins, trying to figure a way in "off" his annoying and blackmailing wife Louise, Blythe Danner, and make it look like either an accident or break-in murder. We get to see the well laid plans of Arthur in action at the beginning of the film as he set up his alibi and then goes through with murdering his wife Louise in their San Francisco mansion.It's then that we see that Authur was only doing all this, murdering Louise, in his mind as he together with his alter ego or double, Donegan Smith, debate how to plug all the gaps in his murder plan. It's later that a new ingredient is added to the mix, or movie, with Jackie Willis, Swoosie Kurtz, who shows up unexpectedly at the Jamison Mansion! Jackie wants to know if the Jamisons have the key to their next door neighbors, the Starks, home. Jackie was to water the Starks, who are away on vacation, plants and lost the key to their house.As the movie starts to unfold it becomes apparent that Jackie isn't just an innocent bystander in this bizarre murder plot but one of the main characters in it! In fact she's both Arthur's mistress as well as Louise's co-conspirator in a murder plot to "off" her unsuspecting husband!Even though the movie goes in and out of sub-plots in how both Arthur and his wife Louise plan to murder each other it's Jackie who holds the key to how the crime will be both committed and covered up. Playing both sides to her advantage Jackie knows, by the skillful cover-up of her relationship with the Jaminsons, that in the end no matter who of the two wannabe murders succeed she'll alway have an alibi in not being connected at the murder scene.There's also Arthur's double, or conscience, who gives him, as well as in the audience, a free lesson in the workings of law that even the very best law schools, costing as much as $25,000.00 a semester in tuition, will have a hard to to match. You learn so much about the in's and out's of criminal law in the conversations between Arthur and his double, as well as with Louise and Jackie, that you'll easily be able to pass the bar exam without as much as a sweat!****SPOILERS**** The movie ends as it began but with the opposite results which shows that the smartest and most thought out plans to murder someone don't always work out!

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.