Villainess Review: Tina Walcott (Catch Me If You Can)

While I was on Tubi a few months prior, I stumbled on to this film, which was shown under the title, Deadly Game, but was actually titled, Catch Me If You Can. After a long while, I gave this a watch, and this was quite the thrilling comedy, which centered on two characters: one, detective Norm Gannon, and two, 12-year-old Nathan Thomas. How do these two characters intertwine? Well...witnessing a murder would definitely do it.

It's Nathan who sees someone gunned down, and Norm is tasked with finding Nathan, which doesn't really set to well with the grizzled detective. He only has his colleague, Tina Walcott, as a true support system, and once the two characters finally meet, well, it's quite combustible. Verbal potshots and a game of one-upsmanship are what we see from these two throughout the entire film, and it's quite one-sided for the most part. Nathan appears to be one step ahead of Norm, which even included Nathan actually appearing at the home of his ex-wife, Trish Gannon.

The film establishes that the whole case is connected to one known criminal: Jean Benoit, who is a notorious money launderer and a counterfeiter (and is played by the Greatest American Hero himself, William Katt). The progression also reveals that Benoit has a cop on his payroll, and also, we know that Benoit has plagued Norm in the past--with Nathan wanting to know what happened. Norm does find Nathan at an arcade, but unfortunately, so did Benoit's men, leading to a shootout. Norm managed to head to Nathan's house, and after Nathan calls Norm and reminded him about how he was found at the arcade, it led Norm to learn about the sinister mole.

One question, though--who was the cop on Benoit's payroll? Norm's main suspect was Murdoch, a fellow detective, and he voiced his suspicions to Tina, who appeared to agree with Norm's assessment. We later see Norm discover a stack of money in Murdoch's desk, and it leads to Murdoch being taken away, while Tina congratulated Norm on a successful case. Nathan later calls Norm again, this time from Benoit's hideout, and as for Norm, he reveals what happened: he and his partner were pursuing Benoit, only to find one of his henchmen. Norm was held at knifepoint by the henchman, who ordered Norm's partner, Bobby, to put down his gun. Bobby does, and the henchman kills him with said weapon.

After this, Nathan gives Norm his location, where Norm thanks him for helping him finger Murdoch as the inside cop. However, Nathan reminded him that while overhearing Benoit's accountant, he stated that the corrupt cop was being paid $5000, and it was being wired. The money found on Murdoch: only $2000, in cash. Nathan suspects that Norm's been had, though Norm states that only he and Tina knew about Murdoch. The pair later hear the sound of a gun clicking, and it doesn't take a genius to figure out who's holding that gun.

So yes, Tina is the true evil mole herself, because of course she is. She held the pair at gunpoint and ordered them to enter the warehouse, where Benoit plans to kill Norm in a huge fire that would burn down the counterfeit money, while Nathan would be eliminated elsewhere. Nathan panics and hugs Tina while pleading for his life, though it was a ruse to gain the key to the handcuffs that were placed on Norm. Benoit takes Nathan while Tina heads elsewhere, but Norm managed to escape and (with Nathan's help) locate both Nathan and Benoit. We see Benoit holding Nathan hostage, while Norm raises his gun, similar to the scene that saw his partner killed. Similar to Bobby, Norm puts down his gun and kicks it away, but this time, he charged at Benoit, which sent both of them over. We later see a banged up Norm watching the news: Benoit has been arrested, with Tina also behind him in handcuffs.

Catch Me If You Can aired on TV on December 11, 1998, and the film featured Catherine Oxenberg as the evil Tina Walcott, who was quite devious and fiendish. She's the main reason why I watched this, as the trailer did reveal Tina's heel persona as a corrupt cop, and Oxenberg playing a villainess is just beautiful. Tina is introduced as quite a friendly person to Norm, basically the only one who isn't really messing with him at the precinct, but as the saying goes, "Beware the nice ones." Once Tina's reveal comes, we see her transformed into a cold and stoic villainess who is willing to resort to any and all fiendish means to cover her corruption. She gave Benoit's goons information on Nathan's location, she planted the money on Murdoch to cover her evil role, and she was willing to allow Norm and Nathan to be killed for an illicit payday. Oxenberg acted out Tina's warmth very well throughout the film, but the climax saw Oxenberg portray Tina's villainous persona to perfection, especially her cold expression.

Catherine Oxenberg is best known for originating the role of Amanda Carrington in 54 episodes of the original Dynasty series, and she played the late Princess Diana in two telefilms. She also appeared in a pair of films with then-husband Casper Van Dien, one of them being 2014's Sleeping Beauty, and on TV, Oxenberg also appeared in episodes of The Love Boat and Baywatch.

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Check out Tina Walcott's profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki!