Defenseless

Technically well-made but ordinary, unremarkable little mystery thriller. The script tries for ambiguity and succeeds most of the way, but ultimately goes for the predictable resolution. Martin Campbell's direction shows care and knowledge of the genre, but lacks style and seems mostly by-the-numbers. Barbara Hershey, although somewhat aging, still shines, and Walsh, Hurt and the actor who plays the brutal, deranged father offer excellent supporting work. But Sam Shepard just looks bored and disinterested. (**)

**SPOILERS** Extremely complicated and convoluted murder drama that keeps getting more and more confusing as it moves along. Barbara Hershey is an overly hysterical defense attorney Thelma T.K Knudsen Katwuller,which shows you never to trust anyone with more then two names,involved in the murder of her lover Steven Seldes, J.T. Walsh, but first ends up defending the deceased wife Ellie, Mary Beth Hunt, a long time and collage friend of T.K.

T.K is actually Steven's attorney in a case where a piece of property that he owns that's involved in producing kiddie porn flicks. The father of a 14 year old girl Cindy (Christine Elise) Sherman Bodeck, George P. Wilber, has been driven into a psychotic fit on finding out about his daughter being in porno flicks, that was filmed at a warehouse that Steven owns. Bodek is involved in a number of brutal beating of the film company's employees,who were involved with his daughter. One of Bodeck's victims is one of Cindy's adult co-star someone named Weinstein, Jay O. Sanders, who end's up hospitalized with his most precious and useful possession, that he needs to be a success with women in and out of the porno business, badly damaged.

T.K herself has been having an affair with the ruggedly handsome Steven not knowing that he's married to Ellie. Later going to see him about business at his office T.K finds a stack of porno magazines hidden in his, Stevens, drawer she goes bananas. T.K attacks the startled Steven and slashes him with a envelope knife breaking his nose and then taking off into the night, leaving him badly bleeding and in a somewhat state of shock. Later when she recovered, and realizing that she left her car keys in Steven's office, T.K goes back only to find Steven slumped in the mens bathroom stall dead with 18 stab wounds on his face and chest.

It turns out that all the evidence in Steven's murder points to his wife, not T.K, and she's soon arrested for his murder which makes you wonder what you've been seeing! It's not until very late in the movie that all the facts are somehow fit together. This after a number of major suspects in Stevens' death, besides T.K, are eliminated one way or another as suspects.

The movie then starts to focuses in on Steven's strange and kinky sex life mostly with young under-aged girls that he gleefully video taped that included his 15 year-old daughter Jenna, Kellie Overby. It becomes evident that Jenna's mother, and Steven's wife, Ellie had a good reason to do in the no good lousy pervert. All this lead to her then being found innocent in his murder by a court of law which made the the reason for her being AGAIN arrested, which Ellie later was, and tried for his murder a moot point; one can't be tried twice for the same crime!

There's also in the movie Det. Beutel, Sam Shepard, the cool as a cucumber cop who's so detached from the movie that he seems to be totally unaware of what's happening. Even after he's almost killed by a crazed and out of control Sherman Bodeck who end's up jumping to his death down an elevator shaft.

The evidence, in the movie, connecting the killer to his victim was very hard to swallow but that being the only reason for his death you had to accept it no matter how illogical it was! In fact it was that very same evidence of motive and difference in size between the killer and victim that found the person on trial for Steven's murder innocent! Which in the end was what proved him, or her, to be guilty! Go and figure that one out.

The lawyer Thelma "T. K." Knudsen Katwuller (Barbara Hershey) is having a love affair with her client Steven Seldes (J. T. Walsh) that is accused of making under-age porn movies through the Blue Screen Production. When T. K. meets her old college friend Ellie Seldes (Mary Beth Hurt), she finds that she is Steven's wife and Ellie invites T. K. to have dinner with her family at her home. T. K. Decides to break-up with Steven and he asks her to meet him in his office. While waiting for Steven, T. K. finds that he owns the Blue Screen Production and had lied to her. When Steven arrives in the office, T. K. fights with him and stabs him in self- protection. On the next morning, Ellie is arrested is accused of murdering her husband and Ellie hires T. K. to defend her. T. K. Believes that the killer is the violent father of a teenager the made a porn movie produced by Steven, but Detective Beutel (Sam Shepard) feels that something is missing in the case.

"Defenseless" is one of my favorite thrillers from the early 90's. I have just watched it today on DVD, maybe for the third or fourth time, and I still like this underrated film. The plot has many twists, and Barbara Hershey and Sam Shepard are in the top of their careers. The 27 year-old Kellie Overbey is convincing in the role of an abused teenager. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Sem Defesa" ("Defenseless")

Note: On 08 September 2024, I saw this film again.

Not a bad little thriller. Sure, there are some plot holes. But the production values are decent, nothing to complain about with the direction or photography. The cast did a pretty decent job with mediocre material. I rented the DVD and found that some scenes had been cut. One of the previous commentators mentioned a scene that was not in my version. Plus, there were two brief topless scenes by Kelley Overbey that were not in this version. I like gratuitous nudity as much as the next guy, but these cuts hurt the film. One wasn't totally necessary, but definitely falls into the category of character development. The other scene was major plot exposition, and the film suffered badly for its loss. IMDb doesn't have an age for Miss Overbey, and I wonder if she may not have been eighteen at the time. That's the only reason I can think of for cutting this film into incoherence for the DVD release. Too bad.

Defenseless (1991) was directed by Martin Campbell and it was okay at best.

Positives for Defenseless (1991): The performances from the cast with Barbara Hershey, Sam Shepard, J. T. Walsh, Mary Beth Hurt, Sheree North and George P. Wilbur are great. The movie is directed very well by Campbell. The movie's slow-pace works for the story being told. That's all I got to say for the movie's positives.

Negatives for Defenseless (1991): The movie's story wasn't really that interesting and the execution was very mid. While the pacing is good for the sores being told, it was a little too slow for me. I also felt that the ending was a little anti-climactic.

Overall, Defenseless (1991) is another okay enough directorial effort by Martin Campbell.