The Reckless Moment

After discovering the dead body of her teenage daughter's lover, a housewife takes desperate measures to protect her family from scandal.

Cast

James Mason

as Martin Donnelly

Joan Bennett

as Lucia Harper

Geraldine Brooks

as Bea Harper

Henry O'Neill

as Tom Harper

Shepperd Strudwick

as Ted Darby

David Bair

as David Harper

Roy Roberts

as Nagel

Jessie Arnold

as Old Lady (uncredited)

Al Bain

as Man (uncredited)

Jack Baker

as Man (uncredited)

Reviews

CinemaSerf

What is it about folks in movies who find dead bodies? Rather than just call the police and rely on them to adequately do their jobs, they always find themselves embroiled in silly, self-inflicted plots that almost always cause far more trouble... Here is another such example. Joan Bennett is "Lucia...

Similar Movies

In the Valley of Elah

A career officer and his wife work with a police detective to uncover the truth behind their son's disappearance following his return from a tour of duty in Iraq.

⭐ 6.8

Matchstick Men

A phobic con artist and his protege are on the verge of pulling off a lucrative swindle when the con artist's teenage daughter arrives unexpectedly.

⭐ 7.0

Lonesome Jim

After failing to find success as a writer in New York City, Jim slinks back to his family's home in the Midwest to lick his wounds. But his visit is quickly complicated when his angst spreads to his brother, Tim, who promptly decides to drive his car straight into a tree. Under the shadow of his sibling's injurious actions, Jim strikes up an unlikely friendship with Anika, whose centered small-town wisdom gradually rubs off on him.

⭐ 6.0

My Magic

A single dad looks to give up drinking and his bartender job in order to impress his son and find work as a magician.

⭐ 5.0

Bringing Down the House

Uptight lawyer Peter Sanderson wants to dive back into dating after his divorce and has a hard time meeting the right women. He tries online dating and lucks out when he starts chatting with a fellow lawyer. The two agree to meet in the flesh, but the woman he meets — an escaped African-American convict named Charlene — is not what he expected. Peter is freaked out, but Charlene tries to convince him to take her case and prove her innocence. Along the way, she wreaks havoc on his middle-class life as he gets a lesson in learning to lighten up.

⭐ 6.0

Crazy/Beautiful

At Pacific Palisades High, a poor Latino falls hard for a troubled girl from the affluent neighborhood.

⭐ 6.6

What a Girl Wants

An American girl, Daphne, heads to Europe in search of the father she's never met. But instead of finding a British version of her bohemian mother, she learns the love of her mom's life is an uptight politician. The only problem now is that her long-lost dad is engaged to a fiercely territorial social climber with a daughter who makes Daphne's life miserable.

⭐ 6.3

If the Father and the Son

After Clown Teddy lost his son, he lost his gift for laughter. He opened a joke shop and lives above the shop. His landlady has had a foster son since birth, and Teddy decides to raise the child, who always believed that Teddy was his father. When the mother suddenly appears five years later and wants her son, Teddy decides to run away with the child and goes back onstage with his son. Will the family catch up with them, or will the mother never get her son back?

⭐ 6.2

The Hitch-Hiker

Roy and Gilbert's fishing trip takes a terrifying turn when the hitchhiker they pick up turns out to be a sociopath on the run from the law. He's killed before, and he lets the two know that as soon as they're no longer useful, he'll kill again. The two friends plot an escape, but the hitchhiker's peculiar physical affliction, an eye that never closes even when he sleeps, makes it impossible for them to tell when they can make a break for it.

⭐ 6.8

Blonde Ice

A golddigging femme fatale leaves a trail of men behind her, rich and poor, alive and dead.

⭐ 5.7

Strange Illusion

An adolescent believes that his widowed mother's suitor may have murdered his father.

⭐ 5.4

Johnny Eager

A charming racketeer seduces the DA's stepdaughter for revenge, then falls in love.

⭐ 6.1

Crossroads

After eight years apart, three childhood friends - Lucy, Kit, and Mimi - rediscover their friendship on a cross-country trip. With barely a plan, practically no money but plenty of dreams, the girls catch a lift with Mimi's handsome friend Ben in his convertible. Along the way they not only gather experiences that will change their lives, but they also discover how important it is to hold onto their hearts' desires.

⭐ 5.2

The Glass Key

A crooked politician finds himself being accused of murder by a gangster from whom he refused help during a re-election campaign.

⭐ 6.6

The Woman in the Window

A seductive woman gets an innocent professor mixed up in murder.

⭐ 7.4

The Temp

A series of mysterious accidents at a food company lead a manager to suspect his impressive new temporary secretary.

⭐ 4.7

Two Weeks

In this bittersweet comedy, four adult siblings gather at their dying mother's house in North Carolina for what they expect to be a quick, last goodbye. Instead, they find themselves trapped — together — for two weeks.

⭐ 6.0

Advise & Consent

Proposed by the President of the United States to fill the post of Secretary of State, Robert Leffingwell appears before a Senate committee, chaired by the idealistic Senator Brig Anderson, which must decide whether he is the right person for the job.

⭐ 7.2

The Set-Up

Expecting the usual loss, a boxing manager takes bribes from a betting gangster without telling his fighter.

⭐ 7.3