CONVICTED
US, 1986, 94 minutes, Colour.
Lindsay Wagner, John Larroquette, Carrol O'Connor.
Directed by David Lowell Rich.
Convicted is a moving telemovie in the tradition of Hitchcock's The Wrong Man, where Henry Fonda played a man accused of robbery who went through trial and jail and then was found not to be the guilty man.
This film, set in Johnson City, Tennessee, shows an ordinary policeman who is arrested on suspicion of being a serial rapist. The evidence is against him, he is convicted in two trials and spends five years in prison. He experiences emotional and mental collapse. The pressure on his wife and family is extraordinary. Ultimately, the real rapist is arrested and confesses. The man is released.
The film is well written and persuasive - and has excellent performances from three stars who made their name in television series: Lindsay Wagner as the wife, John Larroquette as the convicted man, Carroll O'Connor as the single-minded lawyer who believes that he is guilty and defeats him in two trials.
The film has an atmosphere of realism and shows both sides of the picture - the point of view of the law as well as of the family. The audience shares emotionally with the convicted man and his family. Persuasive and moving.
1.The impact of this movie? Emotional? Convictions?
2.Tennessee locations, Johnson City? Homes, the town? Prison? Musical score?
3.The treatment of the theme for the wide home audience? emotions, issues?
4.The ordinary city life, homes, work, styles? The interruption to this ordinariness? The impact of the theme of the wrong man?
5.Doug and Martha, their children, pleasant family, their background, Doug's illness, his delivering the mail, his van?
6.The sequences of the rapes: the rapist stalking his victims, surveillance of the homes, the attack? The effect on the women? The police? The trials and the subjection of the women to the interrogations? Their not wanting to go through it again? The line-ups and identifying the rapist? The ambiguities of photos and wrong identification? The endurance for the women? The arrest of the true rapist and the admitting of mistakes? The pressure of the law and the system?
7.Doug, at home, his relationship with Martha, fishing with the children, the mail, cleaning the van, his illness and medication? Suspicions? The arrest, the line-ups? Bail and the protest of the law and the press? Circumstances? Martha and the children, the family, her presence in the court, the evidence? May and his strong attitudes and stances, the law? The appeals to the jury? Their decision? The second trial and its legal binding? Doug having to remain in prison? His grief, medication, prison routines, the visits, his self-pity, the shower sequence, the attack in the laundry and his injury, suggesting a divorce and giving back the ring, Martha giving him continued hope?
8.Martha and her strength, experience, coping, presence at the trial, her understanding of the law, the appeal to May? The lawyer, the appeals? The verdict of the second trial? The visits to prison, taking the children? The house, deciding to sell? Going to work, making a friend, being accepted? Going to the new church? The discussions with Shelley and her bitterness about God? The money and the welfare stamps? The humiliation? Perpetual hopes, the passing of the years, the other attacks of the rapist? His arrest, her personal appeal to May? The vindication?
9.The portrait of the children, their age, the five years, coping? Shelley and her negative attitudes, the attitudes of the others? Her disbelief in God's goodness, her mother trying to help her to understand that they must not lose hope - otherwise no hope for Doug? The visits, the hurt, the Christmas tree and the celebrations, the happy ending and the meal?
10.May and his tough stances, his belief, skill? Treatment of the case, negative attitudes towards Doug? The note from prison? His attitude later, the rapist striking again, the arrest? Martha's appeal for him to do the right thing? Sending his assistant to Washington for the identification of the fingerprint? Tracking down Mrs Delaney, the sympathetic interview, his getting the vindication, the press conference? The postscript about his not running for office again?
11.The police and their work, suspicions, treatment of suspects? The defence lawyer and his sympathy, understanding? The role of the juries?
12.The rapist, his admissions, the long confession, going to the homes again, confirming detail?
13.Doug's family, his brothers, their support and lack of support, his brother and the humiliation, wanting to move?
14.The theme of suffering, unjustly? The pattern of the Book of Job? The wrong man? The end, the even attitudes of Doug and Martha, especially towards May? The postscript about legislation and compensation?
