Tv Review: 'my Little Assassin'
By N.F. Mendoza
Monday, October 11 1999
Monday, October 11 1999
Published on AllBusiness.com
"My Little Assassin" engages its audience so much that the viewer wants to know more about the real woman whose story is depicted in this compelling Lifetime telefilm inspired by actual events. Beautiful, elegant Gabrielle Anwar, much like a contemporary Audrey Hepburn, plays her challenging role with sensitive credibility.
Anwar is Marita Lorenz, daughter of a German luxury liner captain and CIA operative mother (Jill Clayburgh). At 19, Marita is adrift, not interested in the secretarial course her parents are strongly encouraging her to pursue. It's 1959. While on a cruise on her father's ship, she meets Dr. Fidel Castro (a sexy Joe Mantegna), leader of the revolution.
Marita is drawn back to Cuba, where she becomes Castro's lover and devotee. She also becomes pregnant. When her baby nearly due, she suddenly collapses and awakes in a New York hospital where her mother and two FBI agents inform her she was given an abortion and left for dead.
Fanatical agent Stewart Allen (Scott Paulin) pressures her to train to assassinate Castro. She's placed under the tutelage of grim Frank Sturgis (Robert Davi) and sent to Cuba. But she hears Castro's words "No one can kill Fidel" echo in her ears, and she returns home. Years later, she learns part of what actually happened.
Anwar is excellent as the young idealist caught up in the frenzy and enthusiasm of the revolution.
Director Jack Bender weaves Howard Korder's screenplay into a compassionate portrait. Despite the brutality of his regime, despite the (probably true) rumors of other lovers, Marita's passion for Castro and his distracted affection for her are always believable, as are the situations and setting.
Real-life husband and wife Ada Maris and Tony Plana play a Castro associate and brother. Davi, in his thankless role as Sturgis (who was later convicted in the Watergate burglary), does a frighteningly good job, as does the intense Paulin.
MY LITTLE ASSASSIN
Lifetime
Gleneage Prods. in association with
Hearst Entertainment
Executive producers: Chad Hoffman, Robert Schwartz
Director: Jack Bender
Writer: Howard Korder
Co-producer: Crystal Zevon, Ramey Ward
Producer UPM: Sascha Schneider
Casting: Junie Lowry-Goldstein, Libby Goldstein
Costumes: Amy Stofsky
Music: David Schwartz
Production coordinator: Lisa Martley
Prop maker: Nick Stewart, Daniel L. Parker, Grey Lay
Editor: Mark Melnick, J. Randolph Harrison
Make-up: Lisa Rocco, Cheryl Anne Markowitz
Hairstylist: Janet Moore, Susan Kelber
Cast: Joe Mantegna, Gabrielle Anwar, Jill Clayburgh, Robert Davi, Tony Plana, John Verea, Ada Maris, Reiner Schone, Scott Paulin
Airdate: Monday, Oct. 11, 9-11 p.m.
Anwar is Marita Lorenz, daughter of a German luxury liner captain and CIA operative mother (Jill Clayburgh). At 19, Marita is adrift, not interested in the secretarial course her parents are strongly encouraging her to pursue. It's 1959. While on a cruise on her father's ship, she meets Dr. Fidel Castro (a sexy Joe Mantegna), leader of the revolution.
Marita is drawn back to Cuba, where she becomes Castro's lover and devotee. She also becomes pregnant. When her baby nearly due, she suddenly collapses and awakes in a New York hospital where her mother and two FBI agents inform her she was given an abortion and left for dead.
Fanatical agent Stewart Allen (Scott Paulin) pressures her to train to assassinate Castro. She's placed under the tutelage of grim Frank Sturgis (Robert Davi) and sent to Cuba. But she hears Castro's words "No one can kill Fidel" echo in her ears, and she returns home. Years later, she learns part of what actually happened.
Anwar is excellent as the young idealist caught up in the frenzy and enthusiasm of the revolution.
Director Jack Bender weaves Howard Korder's screenplay into a compassionate portrait. Despite the brutality of his regime, despite the (probably true) rumors of other lovers, Marita's passion for Castro and his distracted affection for her are always believable, as are the situations and setting.
Real-life husband and wife Ada Maris and Tony Plana play a Castro associate and brother. Davi, in his thankless role as Sturgis (who was later convicted in the Watergate burglary), does a frighteningly good job, as does the intense Paulin.
MY LITTLE ASSASSIN
Lifetime
Gleneage Prods. in association with
Hearst Entertainment
Executive producers: Chad Hoffman, Robert Schwartz
Director: Jack Bender
Writer: Howard Korder
Co-producer: Crystal Zevon, Ramey Ward
Producer UPM: Sascha Schneider
Casting: Junie Lowry-Goldstein, Libby Goldstein
Costumes: Amy Stofsky
Music: David Schwartz
Production coordinator: Lisa Martley
Prop maker: Nick Stewart, Daniel L. Parker, Grey Lay
Editor: Mark Melnick, J. Randolph Harrison
Make-up: Lisa Rocco, Cheryl Anne Markowitz
Hairstylist: Janet Moore, Susan Kelber
Cast: Joe Mantegna, Gabrielle Anwar, Jill Clayburgh, Robert Davi, Tony Plana, John Verea, Ada Maris, Reiner Schone, Scott Paulin
Airdate: Monday, Oct. 11, 9-11 p.m.
