A Case of Rape

Infobox Film
name = A Case of Rape


image_size =
caption = Elizabeth Montgomery in court
director = Boris Sagal
producer =
writer = Louis Rudolph
Robert E. Thompson
narrator =
starring = Elizabeth Montgomery
Ronny Cox
music =
cinematography =
editing =
distributor =
released = 1974
runtime =
country = United States
language = English
imdb_id = 0071286

A Case of Rape is a 1974 television movie. It premiered on NBC on February 20, 1974.

Plot

The film tells the story of a wife and mother who is raped twice by the same man and her ordeals dealing with the actual rape and her subsequent dealing with the police and the trial. Elizabeth Montgomery plays victim Ellen Harrod and Ronny Cox portrays her husband, David.

In the onset of the film, Ellen appears to have a happy marriage to David, although his frequent work-related absences are beginning to take a toll on her. While taking night-school classes with her neighbor and best friend, Marge Bracken, she is introduced to Larry Retzliff.

Ellen and Marge accept a ride home from Retzliff the same night while David is away. Once Ellen is in her apartment Retzliff arrives claiming car trouble and asks to use the phone. Ellen agrees, and after she checks on her daughter Kim, Retzliff rapes her. Unable to reach David by phone, and emotionally unable to report the crime, Ellen decides to put the attack behind her, and literally tries through three showers to wash away the rape.

When David returns, she is still unable to get his attention long enough to tell him about the attack. Having had an anonymous blood test, Ellen makes a serious effort to forget the attack and resume her life. This attempt comes to a crashing halt four days after the initial attack in a parking garage when Retzliff, who has been waiting for Ellen behind the front seat of her car, rapes her again, this time beating her viciously.

After reporting the attack, the treatment that Ellen receives from the police, doctors, and detectives (Ken Swofford and Jonathan Lippe) is anything but sympathetic. While her attorney Leonard Alexander (William Daniels) appears to have her best interests at heart, he clearly has his reservations: he is once heard commenting "Never try a rape case unless your victim is a 90-year-old nun with at least four stab wounds."

Defending Retzliff is female attorney Muriel Dyer (Rosemary Murphy). Dyer's accusatory cross-examination of Ellen, as well as her argumentative interrogation of the one witness who saw the second rape, show to what lengths she will go do defend her client. Retzliff is found not guilty. Some time after the trial, he attempts to rape someone else. While trying to escape from this attempt, he is shot and wounded, and ends up pleading guilty to the rape and sentenced to prison. Ellen and David's marriage is strained by the events of the film, and they divorce.

Broadcast

The film was broadcast on February 20, 1974, over the NBC Television Network, which had some reservation about showing the second rape scene. As reported by the A&E Biography of Montgomery, the actress believed so strongly in the story that she threatened to leave the project if the scene was cut. Montgomery prevailed, and the film was shown in its entirety along with warnings of the mature subject matter.

Awards

Montgomery -- who had become a household name during her eight-year tenure on "Bewitched", received an Emmy nomination for her portrayal. Her portrayal of the victim introduced television audiences to an entirely different facet of her talent as an actress.

External links