Double Threat
Aging film actress Monica Martel (Sally Kirkland) returns to the screen after a 20-year absence. Stephen Ross (Chick Vennera), the director of the murder-mystery she is filming, shows footage to his p…
Double Threat
Aging film actress Monica Martel (Sally Kirkland) returns to the screen after a 20-year absence. Stephen Ross (Chick Vennera), the director of the murder-mystery she is filming, shows footage to his producer, Crocker Scott (Anthony Franciosa). Crocker decides the film needs more sex, and chastises Stephen for believing Monica is no longer a sex symbol. Stephen hires body double Lisa Shane (Sherrie Rose) to film the racy scenes. At her home, when Monica is discouraged by the criticism she reads in the newspaper regarding her comeback, her co-star and lover, Eric Cline (Andrew Stevens), consoles her. After Eric leaves, Monica receives a telephone call from a life insurance company about Eric's policy. Knowing nothing about the changes, she hangs up. A police detective named Fenich (Richard Lynch) approaches Eric, and warns that he is keeping a close watch on the actor, believing he is guilty of an unnamed crime. Monica is not pleased when she learns that the studio has hired a body double for her. Stephen insists a nude scene will be good publicity for her return. Later, Monica receives an anonymous telephone call from a man calling himself "a friend," warning that her life is in danger. At the studio, before shooting the love scenes, Monica warns Eric and Lisa not to get carried away. Crocker compliments Lisa on her performance, and warns her not to get involved with Eric, calling her co-star a "user." Lisa thanks Crocker for his support, calling him "dad." However, she ignores "dad's" advice and begins a flirtation with Eric. Eric asks her out, but she turns him down saying she has to work at a nightclub. Noting Monica's jealousy, Crocker warns Eric to stay away from Lisa. Eric remembers that Crocker was married to Monica twenty years ago. Sometime later, Eric tells Monica he is going to spend time with his brother. When she asks him point-blank if he is going out with Lisa, he denies it. Monica warns Eric not to bite the hand that feeds him. Eric telephones a private detective named Coleman, and gives him Lisa's name, then pursues Lisa at the nightclub where she works as a performer. Meanwhile, Coleman opens an envelope filled with pictures of Lisa and a letter reading, "You know what to do." Back at the club, Lisa tells Eric she will not have sex with him because of his relationship with Monica, yet she encourages him to keep trying. He waits for her in the parking lot, where they are robbed at gunpoint. Eric fights the two men, taking their guns. Afterward, Lisa invites him over for a drink. Elsewhere, the gunmen count the money Eric paid them to stage the fake attack. Eric tells Lisa his relationship with Monica has become a nightmare, but feels too guilty to leave her after she got him the starring role in the picture. Lisa initiates sex with Eric. In the morning, Eric worries what to tell Monica. However, when he returns home, Monica is in good cheer. Eric admits he slept with Lisa, but Monica is unfazed, asking only for his discretion. When Eric hints that his relationship with Lisa is serious, Monica mocks him. Monica later visits Lisa in her dressing room and gives her $10,000 to disappear, insisting that the pay-off was Eric's idea. When Lisa confronts Eric, he stops her from driving off in anger, and takes her to learn the truth from Monica. As they walk away from Lisa's automobile, it explodes. Eric comforts Lisa, and they report the incident to detective Fenich, believing Monica is to blame. Fenich's apathy infuriates Eric. Afterward, Fenich tells a co-worker he is certain of Eric's guilt. In time, Eric gives Coleman $10,000, but the private detective insists he is not a hit man. He accepts the money when Eric promises another $10,000 after the job is done. Late at night, Eric telephones Lisa and asks her to pick him up across town. Lisa realizes she is being followed, and drives erratically to evade her pursuer. When gunshots are fired at her, Lisa loses control and flips her car As she runs to safety, Coleman chases her on foot, and continues shooting. Lisa is trapped against a fence, and surrenders. Coleman shoots again, but purposely misses. As he turns to leave, Eric appears and shoots him. Eric telephones police, and Fenich arrives on the scene. He asks Eric how he happened to be there if he was across town, and accuses him of trying to kill Lisa himself. Eric confesses that he followed Lisa, using her as bait to find her attacker. Fenich does not believe his convoluted story. Sometime later, Monica asks Crocker to help her with a secret plan, and he agrees. Eric takes Lisa with him to confront Monica at her home. As the women insult each other, Eric points a gun at them. Lisa is stunned, but Monica proclaims that Eric planned to kill them both all along, and reveals her knowledge that Eric paid a private detective to frame Monica by saying she hired him to kill Lisa. Monica accuses Eric of killing Coleman to keep him from talking, and Eric applauds her for figuring out his plan. He refuses to tell Lisa why he wants her dead, fires his gun at her, and she falls dead. Before killing Monica, he telephones police and reports that he has been shot. He tells Monica he is tired of living in her shadow, ignores her pleading, and pulls the trigger. Sometime later, Fenich arrives and looks at the body on the gurney. He is surprised to see Eric lying dead under the sheet. An investigator tells Fenich that there was a burglary in progress when Eric arrived, and the intruder shot him. Fenich enters the house and sees Monica and Lisa sitting unharmed at the dining room table. The women claim to have been on the film set and only arrived home after the robbery took place. Crocker telephones police to confirm their story. Fenich picks up a bullet casing from a "blank," and asks Monica how she committed Eric's murder. Fenich reveals that Coleman survived his gunshot wound, and after waking from his coma, disclosed that Monica hired him to make it appear that someone was trying to kill Lisa. Fenich was coming to arrest Monica when he received the call about the murder. However, the women plead their innocence. Here, Fenich presents his theory that Eric did plan to kill them, but that Monica anticipated this, and loaded her gun with blanks, which she knew Eric would use. When Eric shot Lisa, she only pretended to die. Monica tells Eric she began to suspect him of plotting to kill her when she learned he took out a life insurance policy on her, and after receiving the warning from the anonymous caller. Knowing that Eric loves younger women, Monica recruited her daughter, Lisa Shane, to help set up Eric. Monica wonders how Fenich knew what really happened, and the detective tells her that three years before, in San Francisco, California, Eric received $1 million dollars from insurance claims after his older lover died. Fenich believed Eric had murdered the woman, but he could not prove it. Monica tells Fenich that the gun went off accidentally when Eric tried to take it from her, and she had not meant to kill him. When Fenich calls himself a "friend" and tells Monica not to worry, she realizes that he was the anonymous caller who warned her about Eric. Fenich tells the women he will hide the "blank" bullet casing from investigators, and reveals that the woman who died in San Francisco was his sister. Monica embraces her daughter, Lisa.
Double Threat
Thriller
Film Details
Aging film actress Monica Martel (Sally Kirkland) returns to the screen after a 20-year absence. Stephen Ross (Chick Vennera), the director of the murder-mystery she is filming, shows footage to his producer, Crocker Scott (Anthony Franciosa). Crocker decides the film needs more sex, and chastises Stephen for believing Monica is no longer a sex symbol.
Stephen hires body double Lisa Shane (Sherrie Rose) to film the racy scenes. At her home, when Monica is discouraged by the criticism she reads in the newspaper regarding her comeback, her co-star and lover, Eric Cline (Andrew Stevens), consoles her. After Eric leaves, Monica receives a telephone call from a life insurance company about Eric's policy.
Knowing nothing about the changes, she hangs up. A police detective named Fenich (Richard Lynch) approaches Eric, and warns that he is keeping a close watch on the actor, believing he is guilty of an unnamed crime. Monica is not pleased when she learns that the studio has hired a body double for her.
Stephen insists a nude scene will be good publicity for her return. Later, Monica receives an anonymous telephone call from a man calling himself "a friend," warning that her life is in danger. At the studio, before shooting the love scenes, Monica warns Eric and Lisa not to get carried away.
Crocker compliments Lisa on her performance, and warns her not to get involved with Eric, calling her co-star a "user." Lisa thanks Crocker for his support, calling him "dad." However, she ignores "dad's" advice and begins a flirtation with Eric. Eric asks her out, but she turns him down saying she has to work at a nightclub. Noting Monica's jealousy, Crocker warns Eric to stay away from Lisa.
Eric remembers that Crocker was married to Monica twenty years ago. Sometime later, Eric tells Monica he is going to spend time with his brother. When she asks him point-blank if he is going out with Lisa, he denies it.
Monica warns Eric not to bite the hand that feeds him. Eric telephones a private detective named Coleman, and gives him Lisa's name, then pursues Lisa at the nightclub where she works as a performer. Meanwhile, Coleman opens an envelope filled with pictures of Lisa and a letter reading, "You know what to do." Back at the club, Lisa tells Eric she will not have sex with him because of his relationship with Monica, yet she encourages him to keep trying.
He waits for her in the parking lot, where they are robbed at gunpoint. Eric fights the two men, taking their guns. Afterward, Lisa invites him over for a drink.
Elsewhere, the gunmen count the money Eric paid them to stage the fake attack. Eric tells Lisa his relationship with Monica has become a nightmare, but feels too guilty to leave her after she got him the starring role in the picture. Lisa initiates sex with Eric.
In the morning, Eric worries what to tell Monica. However, when he returns home, Monica is in good cheer. Eric admits he slept with Lisa, but Monica is unfazed, asking only for his discretion.
When Eric hints that his relationship with Lisa is serious, Monica mocks him. Monica later visits Lisa in her dressing room and gives her $10,000 to disappear, insisting that the pay-off was Eric's idea. When Lisa confronts Eric, he stops her from driving off in anger, and takes her to learn the truth from Monica.
As they walk away from Lisa's automobile, it explodes. Eric comforts Lisa, and they report the incident to detective Fenich, believing Monica is to blame. Fenich's apathy infuriates Eric.
Afterward, Fenich tells a co-worker he is certain of Eric's guilt. In time, Eric gives Coleman $10,000, but the private detective insists he is not a hit man. He accepts the money when Eric promises another $10,000 after the job is done.
Late at night, Eric telephones Lisa and asks her to pick him up across town. Lisa realizes she is being followed, and drives erratically to evade her pursuer. When gunshots are fired at her, Lisa loses control and flips her car As she runs to safety, Coleman chases her on foot, and continues shooting.
Lisa is trapped against a fence, and surrenders. Coleman shoots again, but purposely misses. As he turns to leave, Eric appears and shoots him.
Eric telephones police, and Fenich arrives on the scene. He asks Eric how he happened to be there if he was across town, and accuses him of trying to kill Lisa himself. Eric confesses that he followed Lisa, using her as bait to find her attacker.
Fenich does not believe his convoluted story. Sometime later, Monica asks Crocker to help her with a secret plan, and he agrees. Eric takes Lisa with him to confront Monica at her home.
As the women insult each other, Eric points a gun at them. Lisa is stunned, but Monica proclaims that Eric planned to kill them both all along, and reveals her knowledge that Eric paid a private detective to frame Monica by saying she hired him to kill Lisa. Monica accuses Eric of killing Coleman to keep him from talking, and Eric applauds her for figuring out his plan.
He refuses to tell Lisa why he wants her dead, fires his gun at her, and she falls dead. Before killing Monica, he telephones police and reports that he has been shot. He tells Monica he is tired of living in her shadow, ignores her pleading, and pulls the trigger.
Sometime later, Fenich arrives and looks at the body on the gurney. He is surprised to see Eric lying dead under the sheet. An investigator tells Fenich that there was a burglary in progress when Eric arrived, and the intruder shot him.
Fenich enters the house and sees Monica and Lisa sitting unharmed at the dining room table. The women claim to have been on the film set and only arrived home after the robbery took place. Crocker telephones police to confirm their story.
Fenich picks up a bullet casing from a "blank," and asks Monica how she committed Eric's murder. Fenich reveals that Coleman survived his gunshot wound, and after waking from his coma, disclosed that Monica hired him to make it appear that someone was trying to kill Lisa. Fenich was coming to arrest Monica when he received the call about the murder.
However, the women plead their innocence. Here, Fenich presents his theory that Eric did plan to kill them, but that Monica anticipated this, and loaded her gun with blanks, which she knew Eric would use. When Eric shot Lisa, she only pretended to die.
Monica tells Eric she began to suspect him of plotting to kill her when she learned he took out a life insurance policy on her, and after receiving the warning from the anonymous caller. Knowing that Eric loves younger women, Monica recruited her daughter, Lisa Shane, to help set up Eric. Monica wonders how Fenich knew what really happened, and the detective tells her that three years before, in San Francisco, California, Eric received $1 million dollars from insurance claims after his older lover died.
Fenich believed Eric had murdered the woman, but he could not prove it. Monica tells Fenich that the gun went off accidentally when Eric tried to take it from her, and she had not meant to kill him. When Fenich calls himself a "friend" and tells Monica not to worry, she realizes that he was the anonymous caller who warned her about Eric.
Fenich tells the women he will hide the "blank" bullet casing from investigators, and reveals that the woman who died in San Francisco was his sister. Monica embraces her daughter, Lisa..