The thriller is crackling in Bruce Beresford's 1999 Ashley Judd/Tommy Lee Jones starrer, "Double Jeopardy"

SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIE – I love a great, crackling, pulse-pounding thriller. A movie like “Three Days of the Condor” or “The Parallax View” keeps me on the edge of my seat. Movies like “The Fugitive” or “Silence of the Lambs” keep you watching because they feature our favorite actors in enormously challenging situations. I was reminded how much I love thrillers the other day when I revisited director Bruce Beresford’s 1999 thriller “Double Jeopardy.” And it was well worth a visit. Set in the northwest, gorgeous Ashley Judd – fairly early in her burgeoning career – plays seemingly happy wife Grace Parsons who is married to wealthy businessman Nick Parsons (Bruce Greenwood) and is blessed with a son, Matty (Benjamin Weir). Nick smokes cigars, collects expensive art and talks big business, but there’s a dark side to him. Grace loves the sea and Nick buys her a yacht – however, on their maiden voyage off the Pacific coast, Grace wakes up covered in blood and no Nick. Before you can spell justice, she’s in prison for murdering her husband – her son staying with her best friend, Angie (Annabeth Gish). Enter Tommy Lee Jones – in terrific world-weary form here – as a parole officer charged with keeping a close eye on Grace when she’s released. The terrific script by David Weisberg and Douglas Cook is a slow build as Grace begins to see clues that indicate that all is not as it seems. Judd is just terrific as a mother determined to get her son back and solve a perplexing crime. Jones, in a role similar to his Oscar-winning one in “The Fugitive,” plays world-weary so well. And Bruce Greenwood who has played some enormously sympathetic parts in “Star Trek” and “National Treasure” (as the President), plays an unexpected character (no spoilers here). Interesting that Ashley Judd's role was originally going to Jodie Foster who suddenly became pregnant and unavailable. So check this one out wherever you can find it. Also, please join me today on Spotify for my latest podcast interview with director William Malone (“House on Haunted Hill”) who spends the hour discussing the classic science fiction film “Forbidden Planet” and Robby the Robot. More on that later.