The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery is a 2000 American crime drama television film based on the 1953 novel by Rex Stout. Set in 1950s Manhattan, it stars Maury Chaykin as the heavyweight detective genius Nero Wolfe, and Timothy Hutton as Wolfe's assistant, Archie Goodwin, narrator of the Nero Wolfe stories. Veteran screenwriter Paul Monash adapted the novel, and Bill Duke directed. When it first aired on A&E on March 5, 2000, The Golden Spiders was seen in 3.2 million homes, making it the fourth-most-watched A&E original movie ever. Its success led to the A&E original series A Nero Wolfe Mystery (2001–2002).

Plot

After Wolfe reacts petulantly to a change made in one of his favorite meals, his assistant Archie Goodwin decides to prank him by allowing a boy from the neighborhood, Pete Drossos, into the house to consult with Wolfe on what Pete believes is a case. Pete claims that a woman wearing distinctive golden spider-shaped earrings asked him to get a police officer while he was cleaning the windshield of the car she was driving at a stoplight, and he believes that her male passenger was holding her hostage. The next night, the pair are shocked when NYPD Sgt. Purley Stebbins informs them that Pete has been killed by a hit-and-run driver, as well as INS agent Matthew Birch. Soon after, Pete's mother brings Wolfe $4.30 that Pete has saved and asks him to find Pete's killer. Angered by Wolfe's reluctance to get involved, Archie uses the money to place an advert in the newspapers asking for the woman driving the car to contact Wolfe. Wealthy widow Laura Fromm arrives at Wolfe's office wearing the golden spider earrings and asking to hire his services. Wolfe suspects that Fromm knows who the driver is, but she refuses to reveal it; the next day, Fromm is also murdered in an apparent hit-and-run. Angered that two people who came to him for help are now dead, Wolfe decides to solve the murders. Wolfe identifies a charitable organization that Mrs Fromm supported as a likely link between the deaths. Archie begins to investigate various individuals connected to the charity: Fromm's secretary, Jean Estey, director Angela White, public relations manager Paul Kuffner, and the wife of the charity's attorney, Dennis Horan. It is revealed that the charity is part of a blackmail ring targeting desperate refugees who are in America illegally. Horan attempts to distance himself from the other men, but when they learn this, the others identify him as a key ringleader of the blackmail scheme, along with Matthew Birch. Birch, however, took orders from an unknown woman. Gathering the principal suspects in his office, Wolfe reveals the identity of the murderer — Jean Estey. Estey was a key figure with the blackmail ring, but Fromm had overheard the code words she used with her confederates — "said the spider to the fly" — and had begun to suspect her, giving her the earrings to try and provoke a response. It is implied that Birch captured Estey to 'handle her' because she was taking too large of a share of the profits, prompting her to panic and try to contact Pete for help. After killing Birch, Estey realized that Pete could identify her and so killed him, too. Her third homicide was of Mrs. Fromm after the dinner at Horan's, feeling pressured after she had cut a $10,000 check to Nero Wolfe to investigate. Estey is identified by the tailor who sold her the men's clothing she used as a disguise and is arrested. The case ends with Archie giving half the fee Wolfe has earned to Pete's mother.

Production

In a 2002 interview in Scarlet Street magazine, executive producer Michael Jaffe explained why the novel The Golden Spiders was selected to introduce contemporary audiences to Nero Wolfe: Saul Rubinek, who would take the role of Lon Cohen in the subsequent series, was cast as Saul Panzer in the pilot. Prior to the original film's broadcast, Rubinek was asked what made him want to do the project: The Golden Spiders is an A&E Networks production in association with Jaffe/Braunstein Films. Shot in Toronto, the film features production design by Lindsey Hermer-Bell and cinematography by Michael Fash. The adaptation of Rex Stout's novel is the final credit of Paul Monash, a veteran screenwriter and film producer. "I have no need to work on things I don't care to," Monash told an interviewer about his work on The Golden Spiders. "This, I wanted to do."

Cast

Reception

A&E initially planned that The Golden Spiders would be the first in a series of two-hour mystery movies featuring Nero Wolfe. The high ratings (3.2 million households) garnered by the film, along with the critical praise accorded Chaykin as Wolfe and Hutton as Archie, prompted A&E to order a weekly one-hour drama series — A Nero Wolfe Mystery — into production.

Reviews and commentary

Home video releases

A&E Home Video

The Golden Spiders, the feature-length pilot for the series A Nero Wolfe Mystery, is included on two of A&E's DVD box sets —Nero Wolfe: The Complete Classic Whodunit Series and Nero Wolfe: The Complete Second Season. The film was also released independently on VHS and DVD.

FremantleMedia Enterprises

The Golden Spiders was distributed by Pearson Television International. The film saw its first international DVD release in August 2008, when it was included in "Nero Wolfe – Collection One", offered for sale in Australia by FremantleMedia Enterprises.