A Case of Rape

Brave television movie which makes today's Lifetime/exposé-styled films look positively harlequin. Elizabeth Montgomery is a wife and mother who is raped while her husband is out of town. At first, she is unable to report the attack to the police, her neighbor or her spouse because everyone is too busy and distracted to notice how much pain she's in--that is, until she's raped a second time by the same creep. Director Boris Sagal and writer Robert E. Thompson (working from a story by Louis Randolph, who also served as a producer), carefully go for the gut, not holding back and yet commendably handling this story without sensationalism. In speaking about the injustices that plague victims, and the degradation one must endure just to stand up for one's self, the team nimbly avoids the typical TV-movie preachiness and has created an 'ordinary' heroine in an overwhelming situation--someone we can identify with. Montgomery is very good here, no longer the nose-twitching cutie from "Bewitched" but still maintaining her charisma.

Harrowing drama of a married woman (Elizabeth Montgomery) who is raped twice by the same man. She is treated like a piece of meat in the hospital (the scene where someone photographs her bruises is unbelievable) and, in court, they act like she deserved it.

I saw this on TV when I was 12 and have never forgotten it. Before this there was never any talk (on TV at least) about this subject. Also, back then, rape was considered an act of lust (!!!!). This haunted me for days after the initial showing. What really got to me was the uncompromising, realistic ending--TV, at that time, always had pat, happy endings. Not this one. Montgomery was absolutely superb in her role and the rapes were presented tastefully. This movie was a HUGE hit in its first two showings. I believe it was instrumental in changing the publics perception of how rape is a disgusting act of violence and how it can destroy a woman's life.

This isn't available in any form that I know of, and that's a shame. It's now 30 years old and deserves a release on DVD. If you can see it, do so. A definite must-see.

A few months before this film came out, a very similar film called Cry Rape was broadcast on C.B.S.. However, while that film has long since been forgotten, this film is still remembered as being one of the most groundbreaking films to ever grace the small screen. This is one of those films that come out that helped to make a difference. Before this film was released, few people knew how rape victims were really treated and the indignities that they suffered. This film showed that and more. Elizabeth Montgomery proved that she could do more than just play everyone's favorite witch Samantha Stephens. She took a chance with a very taboo subject and helped to make this one of the most acclaimed films of the early 1970's.

That's the subtle message of this remarkably restrained made-for-TV docudrama, which features the "Bewitched" star as a sort of real-world Samantha Stephens - Ellen Harrod, a stylish California housewife with an adorable blonde daughter and an affable mope for a husband (in this film played by Ronny Cox as opposed to Dicks Sargent or York), but no magic powers. Ellen is, however, just as smart and self-possessed as Samantha, and her lack of histrionics makes all the abuse she endures in this movie -- two sexual assaults, a callous medical establishment and an actively hostile legal system -- even more disturbing. Liz Montgomery almost always played superior to type. In "Bewitched," both she and the audience were in on the central joke of the premise, which was that she was light-years above Darren's league and could have turned him into a ferret if she wanted (not that it would have made much difference) . In "A Case of Rape," she plays a victim who steadfastly refuses to act like a victim, but is so disgusted by everyone's willful blindness to her ordeal that she finally gets up and screams about it.

In her early scenes of playfully sparring with Cox and dabbling with painting, Liz establishes Ellen as sexy, sharp-witted, and creative, the kind of woman whom it was all too easy to stereotype as a bored housewife secretly bored by her life and seek excitement in infidelity. Which is exactly how doctors and cops treat Ellen after her assailant tricks his way into her home one night, sexually assaults her while her daughter is sleeping, and attacks her again in the parking lot of her apartment complex a couple of days later. The rest of the movie is calculated outrage, but since public attitudes toward rape weren't all that progressive in 1974, such plot devices as the cynical prosecutor who treats Ellen's case like a mundane chore and Cox's pitifully inadequate attempts to be supportive ("he did this to both of us!") were probably necessary, and the filmmakers are to be commended for not sensationalizing the subject matter with cat-and-mouse chase scenes or hysterical breakdowns. Still, it's a rough couple of hours. Liz is so isolated in this movie that she doesn't even get sympathy from her best friend, a frumpy neighbor who, in one sickening scene, hints that she wants Liz to share every titillating detail of the assault. Less secure human beings would explode or sob at such ill treatment. Liz, being Liz, drops a cool bon mot, thanks her for the coffee, and leaves. She's a great advocate for the dignity of sexual assault survivors, and that alone makes "A Case of Rape" worth watching.

Magnificent performances by the entire cast punctuate a true story more horrifying than any horror film. All the nuances of a married woman's indignities and insults suffered after being raped are underplayed for maximum effect. Montgomery gives the performance of a lifetime, and Cox is a revelation as the feckless husband. Harris and Daniels as the attorneys provide contrast with colourful performances, and Potts' chilling rapist is the catalyst for all. A must-see for every woman in America.