Deathtrap

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Deathtrap

PG,

1982,

1h 55m,

Mystery & Thriller

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75%

20 Reviews

Tomatometer

70%

5,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

75%

Tomatometer

20 Reviews

70%

Popcornmeter

5,000+ Ratings

When once-successful playwright Sidney Bruhl (Michael Caine) sees his latest Broadway effort bomb on its opening night, he tumbles into despair -- until he receives a package from his former student Clifford Anderson (Christopher Reeve). Inside is an unproduced script that's better than anything Sidney has written in years. At the urging of his wife, Myra (Dyan Cannon), Sidney undertakes a plan to lure Clifford to his country home, murder him and then announce the script as his own work.

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Bob Thomas

Associated Press

Oct 22, 2018

Deathtrap, like many intricate stage thrillers, reveals its artifice on the screen but remains crackling good fun.

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Gary Arnold

Washington Post

Apr 28, 2018

Deathtrap seems an unusually skillful and satisfying example of devious entertainment. It offers as much double-crossing amusement as one can reasonably expect from a theatrical murder mystery.

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Bruce McCabe

Boston Globe

Apr 28, 2018

The film is marvelous claptrap, a skillfully wrought -- indeed, over-wrought -- piece of preposterous escapist entertainment.

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Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

May 17, 2025

3.5/4

An entertaining, sharply directed, and vibrantly acted stage-to-screen adaptation, which both embraces the play’s origins yet also feels cinematic.

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David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

Aug 8, 2023

3/4

...a solid adaptation that succeeds mostly as a showcase for the spellbinding work of its two leads.

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Michael Bronski

Gay Community News (Boston)

Sep 15, 2022

Deathtrap is clever but largely unoriginal.

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Anakin S

Mar 24, 2018

What seems an obvious stage play adapted to the screen, has 3 persons entangled in a lucrative semi-professional relationship all wanting to be a literary star in their own right - but who really writes the material when it begins to be acted out in real life?

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Luke P

Oct 7, 2017

Murder-mysteries don't get any better than this. Well-acted with the kind of ingenious script you just don't see very much these days. I had seen this 35 years ago but had totally forgotten the plot twists, so it was a pleasure re-watching.

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Finn W

Mar 8, 2017

Nice mystery/comedy. Gay, unhinged Cristopher Reeve.

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Sidney Lumet

Director

Michael Caine

Sidney Bruhl

Christopher Reeve

Clifford Anderson

Dyan Cannon

Myra Bruhl

Irene Worth

Helga Ten Dorp

Henry Jones

Porter Milgrim

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Synopsis

When once-successful playwright Sidney Bruhl (Michael Caine) sees his latest Broadway effort bomb on its opening night, he tumbles into despair -- until he receives a package from his former student Clifford Anderson (Christopher Reeve). Inside is an unproduced script that's better than anything Sidney has written in years. At the urging of his wife, Myra (Dyan Cannon), Sidney undertakes a plan to lure Clifford to his country home, murder him and then announce the script as his own work.

Director: Sidney Lumet
Producer: Burtt Harris
Screenwriter: Ira Levin, Jay Presson Allen
Distributor: Warner Bros.
Production Co: Warner Bros.
Rating: PG
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 19, 1982, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 1, 2009
Runtime: 1h 55m

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