FIGHT FOR JUSTICE: THE NANCY CONN STORY (THE COURAGE OF NANCY)

US, 1995, 90 minutes, Colour.
Marilu Henner, Doug Savant, Ann Wedgworth.
Directed by Bradford May.

The Courage of Nancy is an American telemovie concerned with crime and with women's issues. It is based on a true story. The setting is Alabama in the early '90s. Marilu Henner portrays Nancy, a mother of teenage children, who goes out for an evening with a close friend. They have been stalked by a mad university student who abducts them, tortures them and leaves them for dead. However, Nancy survives.

The film focuses on aspects of American law, especially from state to state, about sentencing criminals, their pleas and turning them to guilty pleas and the consequences for getting out. It also focuses on criminals being released on their own recognition.

The film shows Nancy's struggle over the years to come to terms with the assault, her relationships with her family, her mother and father and a man who wants to marry her. It also shows the press pursuing Nancy for her story. With the vagaries of the legal system, it becomes clear that Nancy has no option but to tell her story to the media and to gain public recognition. This she does and becomes a crusader for women's rights.

The film is fairly conventional in its style, but its subject-matter is important. The film was directed by Bradford May, who also served as director of photography.

1.The impact of the telemovie? A serious theme for the home audience? The effect on women audiences?

2.The Alabama and Georgia settings? Homes, university? Restaurants? The desert? Prisons, homes, courts? The world of the media?

3.The realism of the film? The impact of Nancy's experience and the audience sharing it? Understanding the criminal and his motivations and erratic behaviour?

4.The title of the film and the focus on Nancy? Audience admiration for her? Her serving as a role model, especially in becoming a crusader?

5.The women's perspective on the characters, the injustice, the assault, the administration of the law?

6.The structure of the film: Nancy and Charlotte left for dead, going back two days, the action catching up and then moving forward over the years? The passing of time?

7.The focus on Mark? Doug Savant and his screen presence? Bumping into the women, literally? The attraction, his stalking them? The photo in his room and the implications about his relationship, the absence of his wife? The pills and the drink? His isolation, madness? Learning about Nancy? Picking them up, the attack in the car park, his cruelty towards them, putting them in the boot, leaving them for dead? The sequence with his girlfriend and reading the newspaper? Nancy's survival and its effect on him? Previous killings?

8.Nancy and Charlotte, their friendship, Nancy's family, the proposal? Their going out? The abduction, the terror, in the car, wanting help? Being put in the boot of the car? The later flashbacks and the possibility of drowning? Charlotte's suffering and death? Nancy and her strong will and survival?

9.The police, support of Nancy, the investigation? The protection - and Mark's continued attacks and the need for continued protection?

10.Nancy and the hospital, the background of her relationship with her family? With her two children? With her mother and father? Mark's attack and trying to kill her in the hospital?

11.Mark, the pursuit, his attempt to kill Nancy in the hospital? His being caught? Going to prison? The interrogations? The deals? In prison and wanting to pay a killer to murder Nancy? In the court, showing the investigators where the other bodies were? His confrontation with Nancy? The legal questions and his being free? His escapes and stalking her again? The decision to go for the shootout and his attempts to kill her? The final court hearing and his loss of freedom? His madness and his relentless obsession with Nancy? His foolishness - and seemingly wanting to be caught?

12.Nancy and her coming home, welcomed by her children? The tension? Especially about her daughter and her boyfriend and the going out?

13.Her breaking the engagement and not going to New York?

14.Her relationship with her mother, father? With the children? The passing of time?

15.Barbara and the pursuit of the press? Nancy refusing to give her the story? The growing tension and the need for publicity? Agreement with Barbara, the talk shows, the effect and the transformation of Nancy in herself?

16.The issues of law, court cases, differences from state to state? The final victory?

17.The build-up to luring Mark? Nancy at work, the stakeout, the police? The mistaken identity? His arrival, the confrontation, the shooting, his finally being arrested?

18.The importance of dramatising these stories and the issues of violence of men against women for the home audience to appreciate, to understand as well as have an emotional response?