Before Farrah Fawcett starred in the wife-abuse television film "The Burning Bed", unintentionally spawning a new genre for TV movies--glamorous actresses going gritty with serious material--another "Charlie's Angels" star, Cheryl Ladd, went dramatic; here, she's the abuser. A suburban wife and mother finds she can't control a streak of inner-rage against her little girl, sending off signals to her husband (Robert Ulrich) but not getting any answers. This glossy production means well, but it promises a lot more than it delivers. Ladd, herself a proponent against child abuse in real-life, does mediocre work and Carmen Culver's tame script is disappointingly flat (especially when compared to another TV-movie, "Mary Jane Harper Cried Last Night" from 1977). Ladd was definitely not the forerunner for domestic unrest: she is coiffed, manicured, and flatteringly photographed. Perhaps she was making a point--that even upscale wives and mothers can easily spin out of control--but it doesn't lend this scenario any backbone when the lead actress looks like a million dollars.

Betina Morgan (Cheryl Ladd) appears to have a great life--a new home in the suburbs, a cute kid and a handsome husband. However, beneath the surface, she's a woman who is on the verge of cracking up. She is worried that she'll cause serious harm to her daughter but her husband isn't the least bit supportive and discourages her from getting professional help. This combined with her need for the 'perfect life' and her daughter being a bit of a brat make her very high risk to abuse the child....and Betina knows she needs help. However, she seeks help without telling her husband and is scared to tell him. And, once she does tell him, he seems to often try to undermine her in her efforts...indicating that their marital problems are incredibly serious. Will she get the help she needs or will her child end up seriously injured...or worse? And, the more you watch the film, the more it looks like it might just become 'or worse'.

This is a made for TV movie that is meant to entertain and teach the home viewers about the dangers of stress, marital discord and child abuse. And, as you watch and hear all the stress in Betina's life, you can understand much of the problem...you, too, would feel stressed in this environment! My summary was NOT intended to encourage child abuse...but with this sort of stress, ANY person could become violent unless they get help and it's easy to empathize with Betina and her many, many problems. The script did a great job in setting all this up in the film. The only big mistake I saw was the scene with the social worker (Eileen Brennan) where the social worker grabbed Betina and forced her to face her fears--this was very unprofessional and dangerous (she might have gotten herself decked). Otherwise, a very well made little film that has stood the test of time.

By the way, I saw this on YouTube and, oddly, the voices are a tiny bit higher pitched than they should be. If you aren't familiar with Ladd and Urich you might not notice that they just don't sound quite right.

This movie came out quite awhile ago but it's still relevant today. Cheryl Ladd, Robert Urich and a very little girl Nicole Eggert are the perfect and gorgeous family... at least they LOOK like they are to everyone in their town. But behind closed doors, things couldn't be more different. There were parts of the movie that were difficult to watch but they were necessary to the storyline.