Born Innocent

It was something I never forgot. I can't believe this was shown on national television. It made me scared of people even more. I thought it was a broom not a plunger. I can remember being severely affected by watching it. I really don't know what else to say about it here. It should if had a warning on it. I do think when movie should be required viewing for every high school student today and they should be educated in such matters to learn compassion and see that there are reasons why some people are the way they are and learn empathy about that. And that we as a society can and should do better.

This film will always be one of the most controversial in the history of film. It is still hard for me to watch it and it is still a very brutal film to look at. You really do see how the juvenile justice system instead of rehabilitating kids eventually makes them even more hardened and eventually they will graduate to even more serious crimes. This film definitely drives that point home like no other in the history of television.

Born Innocent (1974) is a made for T.V. movie that I caught on the old Black and white many years ago. A sad film about a young girl (Linda Blair) and all the trouble she went through while she was in reform school. Her parents seem oblivious to her problems when a social worker tries to find out about her family life. I am disappointed that this movie is not availible for viewing anywhere. A shame because it's a great made for television film.

Strongly recommended.

This was New Mexico, but I have seen many such facilities during my time as a foster caseworker over nine years in Texas. The only thing that was outside my knowledge was the isolation. I cannot imagine that any facility has a solitary confinement room.

The terrible tragedy of young women depicted in this film was real. Abuse and neglect by parents who cannot and will not take the time to raise their children properly and are surprised when they rebel.

Christine never had a chance. She was kicked out by an abusive father and a mother who could not defend her. She was probably getting beaten herself. She was thrown in with too many others who had problems of their own that were not being addressed.

After abuse at home and in the system, she hardened just like prisoners do and was forever lost.

15-year-old Oscar nominee and Golden Globe winner Linda Blair was magnificent in this realistic film.

Disturbing, controversial NBC TV-movie, one of the most popular television-made dramas from the 1970s (regularly shown right into the '80s) has young Linda Blair fresh off "The Exorcist" and well-cast as a teen runaway facing hard time in a girls reform school. Gritty, documentary-like production filmed on a low-budget in New Mexico has (intentionally?) fuzzy sound and photography which may put some viewers off. The performances by the troubled girls, including Blair, are natural and compelling; Joanna Miles (a Carrie Snodgress look-alike) is sympathetic as a well-meaning teacher; Allyn Ann McLerie does a bravura dramatic turn in a clichéd part as a hardened housemother. The film's downbeat theme can be disheartening and difficult as an entertainment, but there are sensitive and moving sequences, and Fred Karlin contributes an evocative score. The sequence with Blair being raped by a group of girls using a toilet-brush handle caused so much controversy after its initial airing that the scene was dropped for the repeat (intact on DVD). Blair followed this up with a handful of other television stunners, and gained confidence as an actress with each one.