Movie of the Week: After Bewitched – Elizabeth Montgomery

By Rob Price

 on April 2, 2023

To most people, Elizabeth Montgomery was Samantha Stevens on the ABC sitcom Bewitched, which ran from 1964 to 1972.  Elizabeth was nominated for 5 Emmy and 4 Golden Globe Awards for that portrayal. After the show ended, Montgomery took on dramatic roles mainly in television movies to remove herself from being type cast as the comically loveable Samantha, including a couple of notorious historical characters.  In this article, we will be examining two such films, Mrs. Sundance where she plays Etta Place, the companion to The Sundance Kid, and accused murderess Lizzie Borden in The Legend of Lizzie Borden.

Mrs. Sundance (1974): This is a fictional story based on the real-life person Etta Place (Elizabeth Montgomery), who was a notorious robber along with her romantic partner Harry Longabaugh, a.k.a. The Sundance Kid.  Etta is hiding as a schoolteacher in a small rural community.  When a traveling show comes to town depicting her life with Harry and sees a couple of bounty hunters, she decides to skip town stowing away in a train car. But she isn’t the only stowaway.  Jack Maddox (Robert Foxworth) is also on the run and the two become allies.  As the story unfolds, we find out that Sundance may still be alive, and Etta decides to make the dangerous journey to their hideout, The Hole in the Wall.  But not all is as it seems and not everyone can be trusted.

I was struck by how beautiful and well crafted some of the dialogue was in this movie and how subtle some of the acting choices were.  The deep longing in the characters and the undeniable chemistry between Elizabeth and Robert added to the drama. Even with the well scripted dialogue and the wonderfully subtle acting, this isn’t that exciting of a film.  There is some intrigue and some action, double crosses and redemption, but for the most part, it just wasn’t that interesting, then again, I am not particularly fond of westerns.  An interesting bit of trivia, the chemistry between the two leads was very real and the two became a couple and were together for 20 years before marrying in 1993.  Elizabeth remained with Robert until her death in 1995.

The Legend of Lizzie Borden (1975): This movie is a factual retelling of the murderous scandal that rocked Fall River, Massachusetts in 1892, when Andrew (Fritz Weaver) and Abby Borden (Helen Craig)  were murdered and their daughter, Lizzie (Elizabeth Montgomery) was accused of the deed yet acquitted by the jury at her trial. The story is told in flashbacks as Lizzie is accused, arrested, testifies at the coroner’s inquest and finally put on trial.

Actual dialogue from the trial was used when writing the script with various artistic licenses being taken.  Lizzie is ridiculed by the public at first, because she shows little emotion after the deaths, but after a new paper article paints her in a different light, the public opinion sways more in her direction.  Lizzie is depicted as being somewhat troubled, with hints at possible sexual abuse or even jealousy towards her stepmother.  Her sister Emma (Katherine Helmond) even comments that she was always “different” and her father remarks that she is like two people calm and loving one minute and nasty and degrading the next.  This could possibly hint at mental instability.  Although Lizzie is acquitted, the movie does overtly hint that she was guilty, showing Lizzie imagining how she killed her parents all while the verdict is being read.  The movie ends with her sister asking her one last time if she killed their parents, and Lizzie does not answer, still remaining ambiguous, but leaning heavily towards guilt.

I remember watching this as a kid when it first aired.  It was sort of a big deal to see “Samantha” playing a role like this and she did such a great job.  I wasn’t the only one to think so. William Bast won the Edgar Award for best TV Feature/Miniseries, and the film won two Emmy Awards for best costume design and film Editing and Montgomery was also nominated for an Emmy for her performance.  The film was also nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Made for Television. After her death, a genealogist discovered that Elizabeth Montgomery and Lizzie Borden were related and were sixth cousins once removed.

Elizabeth Montgomery died of cancer in March of 1995.  She had not been feeling well for months but did not see a doctor until it was too late, the cancer had spread throughout her body.  Since nothing could be done to save her, she opted to die at her house with her family. Her passing was just 8 weeks after her diagnosis.  She was known for her charity work with Learning Ally, a nonprofit organization which records educational books on specially formatted CDs as well as in downloadable formats for disabled people.  She was also a champion for women’s rights, AIDS activism, and gay rights and was even the grand marshal, along with bewitched co-star, Dick Sargent, of the 1992 Los Angeles Gay Pride Parade.