"Strange Bargain" is a movie with a plot that is pretty difficult to believe, though it is still quite enjoyable and worth your time.
Sam Wilson (Jeffrey Lynn) goes to his boss to request a raise. After all, he'd been with the company many years and he and his family were having a hard time making ends meet. But what happens next was right out of left field. Instead of the raise, the boss fires him...telling Wilson that the company was about bankrupt and they couldn't afford to keep him even without the raise! However, the boss asks Sam to join him for a drink later...and that's when things start to get really strange. During this drink, the boss reveals just how bad things are. It seems not only the company is bankrupt, but he is as well and he saw only one way out...suicide! And, that way insurance money would provide for his family...if they could convince the insurance folks it wasn't suicide. If Sam agreed, the boss was going to kill himself and Sam would then come in and get rid of the gun and make it look as if he was murdered. What's next? Well, certainly NOT what you'd expect.
As I have said, the plot is hard to believe. But it also is exquisitely written and worked well. Lynn's 'everyman' performance helped carry the idea over, and the direction was fine. Overall, this is far more than you'd expect from a B-movie.
Sam Wilson (Jeffrey Lynn) goes to his boss to request a raise. After all, he'd been with the company many years and he and his family were having a hard time making ends meet. But what happens next was right out of left field. Instead of the raise, the boss fires him...telling Wilson that the company was about bankrupt and they couldn't afford to keep him even without the raise! However, the boss asks Sam to join him for a drink later...and that's when things start to get really strange. During this drink, the boss reveals just how bad things are. It seems not only the company is bankrupt, but he is as well and he saw only one way out...suicide! And, that way insurance money would provide for his family...if they could convince the insurance folks it wasn't suicide. If Sam agreed, the boss was going to kill himself and Sam would then come in and get rid of the gun and make it look as if he was murdered. What's next? Well, certainly NOT what you'd expect.
As I have said, the plot is hard to believe. But it also is exquisitely written and worked well. Lynn's 'everyman' performance helped carry the idea over, and the direction was fine. Overall, this is far more than you'd expect from a B-movie.