Rusty Sabich is a deputy prosecutor engaged in an obsessive affair with a coworker who is murdered. Soon after, he's accused of the crime. And his fight to clear his name becomes a whirlpool of lies and hidden passions.
Harrison Ford Brian Dennehy Raúl Juliá Bonnie Bedelia Paul Winfield Greta Scacchi John Spencer Joe Grifasi Tom Mardirosian Anna Maria Horsford Sab Shimono Bradley Whitford Christine Estabrook Michael Tolan Madison Arnold Ron Frazier Jesse Bradford Joseph Mazzello Tucker Smallwood Leland Gantt Teodorina Bello David Wohl John M. Bennett Bo Rucker Peter Appel John Ottavino Robert Katims Joseph Carberry John Seitz Show All…
Presunto innocente, Acima de Qualquer Suspeita, Måske uskyldig, Presunto inocente, 推定無罪, 推定无罪, Misstänkt för mord, Se presume inocente, Aus Mangel an Beweisen, Måske Uskyldig, Présumé innocent, Презумпция невиновности, 无罪的罪人, Недоказана кривица, Ártatlanságra ítélve, בחזקת חף מפשע, Podezření, Presumível Inocente, Şüphe Altında, Αθώος Μέχρι Αποδείξεως του Εναντίου, Uznany za Niewinnego, Невинен до доказване на противното, 의혹, Pripažintas nekaltu, Kunnes toisin todistetaan, بیگناه, 無罪的罪人, Презумпція невинності, Presumpte innocent, แหกกฎบริสุทธิ์
USAR
Westwood, California
Norway15
USAR
Ireland18
UK15
France
Denmark15
PortugalM/12
Italy
Italy
AustraliaM
Germany16
Mexico
Austria16
USAR
Australia
Austria
Denmark
France
Germany
Ireland
Italy
Mexico
Norway
Portugal
UK
USA
You could watch this, Frantic, and The Fugitive as a trilogy of "Harrison Ford navigates a slick conspiracy to clear his name."
Ford is great as always, at once confident and charming but also vulnerable, hesitant and quietly outraged. John Spencer (RIP) is excellent as the dirtbag detective who helps Ford clear his name. The real MVP is Bonnie Bedelia, who exists on the edges of the film but plays a vitally important role in the proceedings. And to that point, director Alan Pakula uses his mastery of space and staging to help reveal, bit by bit, who knows what about the truth of the matter.
A classic women=evil legal thriller. Part of a run of movies in the late 80s-early 90s whose main juice came from the idea that if you're a man cheating on his wife, you are DOOMED, not so much by your own choices and actions, but because women are fucking crazy! Harrison Ford rocking the worst hair he's ever had in a movie.
"I did it."
A catalog of moral compromise, even if it insists on that a bit too explicitly (Raul Julia gravely intoning "Was justice done?" might be pushing it). Also fairly unpleasant that it tries to lump female sexual promiscuity and jealousy in that category (perhaps even positing it as a root cause). nevertheless pretty gripping, especially once you know the outcome, which Pakula constantly teases at just on the edges of the frame with a stray look from someone in the background or a character just out of focus.
Discussed further on Episode 2 of The Suspense is Killing Us.
from IMDB trivia: “Harrison Ford's hair was cut in such a way as to make him look ‘wimpier’ than his previous macho leading man characters.”
Have you ever seen a film and thought it was being directed by a particular person, only to discover that person is involved in that project in another capacity? The same thing happened to me here, as I thought Pollack or Lumet was in charge, but turned out I was partly right as Pollack is a producer in here. It's a small detail, but I found it amusing. And in many ways, you can recognize Pollack's unique sensibility in the tone of this movie.
As for the film goes, Paluka does an outstanding job of managing the suspense and keeping us informed as the truth regarding this heinous crime emerges. The story is so unpredictable, you're left wondering what will…
Me halfway through the movie: it’d be hilarious if [Redacted] was the killer, that’d be a hilariously bad ending.
Me when [Redacted] gets revealed as the killer:
😐
Paul Winfield's speech as the judge is so funny. It's Billy Madison "may God have mercy on your soul" level scorched earth. Wouldn't be surprised if those guys' wives left them on the way home. Doubt they can still vote. He stopped just short of giving them the death penalty for daring to prosecute an innocent man. I think every trial should end like for one side that no matter the crime.
Presumed Innoncet. 1990. Directed by Alan J. Pakula.
Somber toned courtroom drama directed by Alan J. Pakula that keeps you in suspense until the last few minutes. A lawyer (Harrison Ford) is investigating the death of a fellow lawyer. In doing so, he finds himself caught in a web of corrupt justice. It has the feel of Hitchcock’s premise of the “wrong person” from the minute it starts. Brian Dennehy, Raul Julia, Greta Scacchi and Bonnie Bedelia round out the supporting cast. Basically, this is who killed Greta Scacchi (Carolyn Polhemus)? It wanted to be Basic Instinct but missed by a long shot. However, Harrison Ford and Greta Scacchi give brilliant performances.
Investigating the murder of a fellow lawyer, prosecutor Rusty Sabich (Harrison Ford) finds himself implicated and put on trial after their secret affair is uncovered, in Alan Pakula’s legal thriller co-starring Brian Dennehy, Raul Julia and Greta Scaachi.
Pakula reunited with cinematographer Gordon Willis from his earlier Paranoia Trilogy: while a lot more low-key than those movies, there’s a sense of never quite knowing what (or who) to trust that still shines through here. It’s all set up as a compelling cat and mouse game, and the film constantly test your relationship with these characters, a moral ambiguity running through that makes sure you never quite know what’s going to happen next.
Coming from source material written by an actual…
