Jaclyn Smith solves a series of murders in In the Arms of a Killer.

Knowing as we do that Jaclyn Smith’s hair has been solving crimes since the mid-1970s, it was mildly surprising to see her as a rookie detective in 1992’s In the Arms of a Killer. Smith’s Maria Quinn looks close to 50 and exudes a soft-focus sophistication that puts her at odds with Vincent Cusack, her flashily besuited, cigar-chomping new partner. Cusack, a gruff motormouth played with panache by John Spencer, is immediately suspicious.

After confirming his hunch that she’s from a privileged background, he cuts to the chase: “Nobody gives anybody anything. What’s your juice, Quinn?” She answers, “I was married to a cop who was killed on the job. The brass gives me anything I want.” It’s one of our first indications we aren’t in for gritty realism, despite the film’s Sidney Lumet aspirations.

Jaclyn Smith and John Spencer catch a murder case in In the Arms of a Killer.

“So, what do you want?” Cusack probes. “Give meaning to your husband’s death? That is why you became a cop? C’mon, Quinn, women like you ain’t cops. Women like you spend their lives buying antiques, having their hair done. You ain’t no cop, look in the mirror. What’s the real story here, Quinn?” We never receive a satisfactory answer. The role, and Smith’s performance, lack even the depth of her vintage Epris commercials (discussed here at the bottom of an unrelated review).

A title in search of a film, In the Arms of a Killer (which was made-for-TV) is arrestingly similar (hey-oh!) to 1989’s Prime Target, also by writer-director Robert L. Collins. Both feature heroines closer to retirement age than not as they sort through messy, meaningless conspiracies with mounting death tolls in a male-dominated, dangerously insular profession. Killer takes a strange detour, though, with the introduction of a suspect who becomes Quinn’s paramour.

Jaclyn Smith and John Spencer in scenes from In the Arms of a Killer.

Quinn’s romance with Dr. Brian Venible (Michael Nouri), a guarded but debonair surgeon, starts off soapily. They meet at the scene of an accidental overdose Cusack suspects was no accident, and he has ties to a subsequent victim. Maria waits at the hospital to question him, and before long they’re attending the opera together. At his tastefully appointed apartment, they occasionally have sex so slowly it almost looks like stop-motion animation.

This being a thriller, Venible is not all he seems. Collins subverts expectations by making his secret less dangerous to others than himself. As his character’s mother (special guest star Nina Foch) explains to Quinn, Venible has schizophrenia: “Think of it as an air conditioner. You turn it on, you hear the noise, and then after a while you don’t hear the noise anymore. It’s there, below the surface, like Brian’s voices.”

Michael Nouri plays a surgeon accused of murder in In the Arms of a Killer.

In typical TV movie style (see: Nancy McKeon and Valerie Harper’s Strange Voices), this is a simplistic and sensationalized portrayal of a complex illness. It also lends the proceedings a light Larry Cohen vibe that distinguishes it from more limpid police procedurals. There’s nothing particularly believable about Venible, or about his romance with Quinn, but it hearkens back to wisdom shared by Cusack.

“There’s certain things you learn as a cop, Quinn,” he tells the rookie on their first joint assignment. “You learn love doesn’t last, death is forever, and you only get your name in the paper when you shoot the wrong guy.” Spencer, with his forehead wrinkles, three-piece suits, and ever-loosening neckties, provides In the Arms of a Killer with its only real character. His craggy veteran is as one-dimensional as Smith’s newbie, but he elevates In the Arms of a Killer into something watchable.

Streaming and DVD availability

In the Arms of a Killer is currently streaming on Amazon with a ScreenPix subscription. It’s also available on the free, ad-supported platform Tubi and sometimes circulates on YouTube. You can find a list of all Jaclyn Smith films currently streaming on Amazon here. Many are free.

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases.

… But wait, there’s more!

Jaclyn Smith and John Spencer spend a lot of time bathed in red.

In the Arms of a Killer writer-director Robert L. Collins borrows so liberally from his own Prime Target that I thought about including a series of illustrative side-by-side photos. That seemed like a lot of work for something of interest to perhaps five people worldwide, so we’ll keep screenshots to a minimum in this section.

Besides the middle-aged women protagonists and the NYPD/corruption angles, both lead characters are meant to be cultured. In Prime Target, Angie Dickinson’s character dates a judge and spends her lunch break trying to score tickets to Les Misérables. In Killer, Maria dumps a professor to pursue love with a surgeon and is a Metropolitan Opera season-ticket holder.

Angie Dickinson and Mills Watson in Prime Target

Each film contains references to sleeping with the commissioner (Dickinson’s character once did, while Smith’s character states she did not). Shots lit with red are used to dramatic effect in both—especially in Killer. Each actress gets at least one pink or purple background and each has a scene at her precinct desk in the middle of the night. Knishes are mentioned in both films.

Finally, Prime Target and Killer end not with a bang but with a whole lot of chatter. Smith and Dickinson don’t need guns to elicit detailed confessions; they get what they’re after by talking and (more importantly) listening.