FALSE WITNESS
US, 1989, 96 minutes, Colour.
Phylicia Rashad, Philip Michael Thomas, George Grizzard.
Directed by Arthur Seidelman.
False Witness is quite an effective legal drama. Phylicia Rashad, Bill Cosby's wife in the series, must be one of the most glamorous investigators and potential district attorneys on film. However, she has a strong screen presence and carries the film. Paul Michael Thomas, of Miami Vice, is a lawyer who gets tangled in emotions, jealousy and obstructing the law. George Grizzard is the local DA.
The film has a New Orleans setting, focuses on one of those controversial talk-show hosts of the '80s and her attack and rape. An effective investigation, the intervention and exploitation of the media, false suspects and the victim herself. The film makes its points about women as sex objects, harassment of women in the workforce, a sensitivity to women's issues, relationships. The film has something of a mystery - and is ultimately well-resolved. Interesting entertainment.
1.Entertaining thriller? Crime investigation? Police work? The law? The media? Issues of male aggression, violence and rape? The place of men and women as equals in professions?
2.The American city, the precincts, the apartments? Offices? The world of investigation, of media? Musical score?
3.The title? The focus? References?
4.The prologue to the movie with the television host? The parallel with talk-shows of the '80s? Outspoken, sexual issues, frankness? Her viewers and listeners? The choice of the murderer because of her views? Jogging, the viciousness of the attack? The hospital, physical trauma, psychological trauma? The hospital working for her recovery? Police and legal interrogations? Her identification of the killer? The false identification? The agent and his taking over? Pressures behind the scenes? The irony of the truth? The effect on her, her friendship with the district attorney? Reshaping her life? Her views, the right to propound her views, the consequences for her life?
5.The district attorney, her relationship with Bobby? Their rivalry in work? The district attorney and his political ambitions? Her promotion? Her promoting her assistant rather than Bobby? Her taking on of the case, handling the media? The pursuit of inquiry? The clash with Bobby and his own investigations? Her disappointment in him? Her relationship with the victim? With the doctor, the visit to the doctor's mother? The album? Gradual revelation of the truth, the support of the mother? Her winning the case? The attack on Bobby and her sadness? Her achievement?
6.Bobby, skills, ambitious? His relationship with the DA? Professional and personal? With the TV interviewer? The deals? The witness and the alleged attacker? His engineering the evidence? Bringing the alleged attacker to the courts? The attack on him? His being rejected by the DA?
7.The media reporter, her relationship with Bobby, personal, professional? Her pursuing his line?
8.The DA, his political ambitions, his decisions, letting his assistant move at her own pace? His precautions? His trying to win at whatever cost?
9.The alleged attacker, his past, identification, the victim identifying him? The wrong man?
10.The doctor, his reputation, his clients? The DA's suspicions? Tracking him down, associating him with the area? The shoes? The album, the victim's face? The visit with his mother? Her finally giving in about her son? His madness, violence, aggressiveness?
11.The DA and her assistant, research? The background in the convent? The skills, promotion?
12.The credibility of the plot? The TV personality and her vulnerability? The madness of the attacker? The work of the police? The district attorney's office? The media?
