VENGEANCE: THE ACTION OF TONY CIMO

US, 1989, 90 minutes, Colour.
Brad Davis, Roxanne Hart, Brad Dourif, William Conrad.
Directed by Marc Daniels.

Vengeance, The Action of Tony Cimo, is a strong telemovie about a crime in Carolina, the arrest of the culprit, his trial, his being let off on a technicality, his being sentenced to Death Row but not being executed because of government stances on capital punishment. In fact, the film comes down emotionally on the side of capital punishment.

The film focuses on the son of the victims, played with brooding by Brad Davis (Midnight Express). He becomes so consumed with vengeance that he eventually contracts for the murder of the prisoner in jail. At the end, he too is arrested. However, a postscript to the film indicates that he spent only a few years in jail, was let out on parole and that the state changed its legislation on capital punishment. The film is emotional - and is useful to see in the debate about the value of capital punishment. Direction is by Marc Daniels (Squeeze a Flower - in Australia, the Olivier version of The Power and the Glory).

1. The impact of the telemovie? For its audience? Crime, the law, capital punishment?

2. The southern settings, the small town, the homes, the courtrooms, prisons? Musical score?

3. The title, the theme, the focus on revenge, violence, the law and justice?

4. The sketch of the family, the joy together, the meal, the engagement announcement? The parents, their life together, their children? The bonds? The sorrow at their death, the revulsion of the violence? The funeral? The later wedding?

5. The situation: the shop, Tyner and his visits, suspicions, Tony's wife hiding from him? His visits and jokes? The hold-up, his killing the couple?

6. The court, the treatment of the case, its being fair? The testimony and its being heard? The verdict? The bifurcated trial? The second part? The technicality? The appeal? The death sentence?

7. The effect of the experience on Tony Cimo: as head of the family, sense of justice, his reaction to the news, his co-operation with the police, his temptation to violence and yet wanting to abide by the law? The assassin approaching him and his resisting him? Jim Dunn and the legal advice, listening to the court proceedings, giving advice? The trial, reliving the situation, anger, wary about loopholes? Tyner laughing during the court trial? The pushing in the corridor and Tony's anger? Miscarriage of justice? Being eaten up, the warnings from his wife? Approaching the assassin? At work, the contact with the ex-prisoner? Phoning the criminal, wary about the phone being bugged? The shoe, the poison, the explosives? His happiness on the news at Tyner's death? The set-up for his arrest? In jail, parole? His moral stances? The sympathy of the film? Audience sympathies or not?

8. The portrait of the sisters, their home life, the close-knit family? Their grief, angers, presence in the court? The attitudes, the miscarriage? Tony's wife and her taking the stance of justice?

9. Jim Dunn, his friendship, knowledge of the law, giving of advice?

10. The building site, Tony and the ex-convict, the information? The assassin, the phone call, the set-up in the prison, leading Tyner on, the explosives, his death? The callous assassin doing jobs within the prison? The bugged phone?

11. The law, Tyner and his ignorance, his attitudes? The condemnation of his behaviour? The justice of the sentence? His death in prison?

12. The information about the parole, the changing of the law? The stances of the film, emotionally, on capital punishment?