Le viol de Richard Beck

Yours truly has endless respect for films that are several decades old already, but still feel very relevant and impactful today! Not seldomly, such films deal with horrendous - but sadly daily routine - social topics, like rape and its traumatizing aftermath.

The strength of this "The Rape of Richard Beck", a powerful 80s TV-movie directed by Karen Arthur, lies in the simple fact that it turns the tables around. Richard Beck, a most courageous performance by Crenna, is a typically chauvinist and macho copper. He goes on so-called "safaris" just for kicks when he's off-duty, he makes deals with wanted rapists in order to catch other criminals, he proudly shares his heroic stories at the bar, and he doesn't show any care or compassion for female victims of horrible sex-crimes. When he falls victim to sexual abuse during one of his nightly ventures, Beck himself gets confronted with the shame, exposure, pain, humiliation, and fear that thousands of women every year must undergo.

Partially because it's a made-for-television film, but mostly because director Karen Arthur approaches the sensitive subject matter very well, "The Rape of Richard Beck" is a slow-brooding drama gradually nesting itself if your brain. It takes quite a long before the titular rape takes place, but this length is effectively used to draw a very accurate and sadly truthful portrait of how sex-offenses are perceived and dealt with in our society. A frustrated female officer correctly states at one point that sexual assault is less high on the department's priority list than crossing the street during a red light; - and she's pretty much right. I caught myself mumbling things like: "Does it hurt, Richard? In so many more ways than just physically, Richard? Welcome to the agonizing world of thousands of women". If something like that happens, you know you are watching a forceful film.

"The Rape of Richard Beck" will soon be forty years old. Unfortunately, though, not so much has changed. Women and girls still fall victim to loathsome sex-related crimes, and "thanks" to the new digital technologies and social media, they are now even stalked and harassed via their mobile phones and email accounts. Films like this one should be made mandatory viewing in schools and reforming institutes, followed by group discussions.

This bold and thought-provoking TV movie centers on a bigoted and sexist police officer (the late Richard Crenna) who has always believed that rape victims "ask for it", but finds himself re-thinking his belief after he is sexually assaulted himself. This was definitely new territory where TV movies were concerned but it was done with care and taste. Crenna's gutsy performance won him an Emmy Award in a disturbing film that raised quite a few eyebrows. I was impressed with the filming of the actual assault scene. A scene that could have been cheap and exploitative was done with style without compromising the integrity of what was going on in the scene. A serious adult movie experience for those who like a component of challenge in their entertainment.

To help drive home the moral(s) "it can happen to you" and or "don't judge a person until you've walked a mile in their shoes".

The Rape Of Richard Beck should never have been a made for TV film, it was truly worthy of theatrical release. Had it been on the big screen there might have been an Oscar instead of an Emmy that sat on Richard Crenna's fireplace mantel.

The big screen's loss was the small screen's gain. Richard Crenna in the title role is a hard-nosed cop who has little patience for the victims of sex crimes, especially after he was reassigned to sex crimes after pulling a real cowboy performance in apprehending a suspect. Maybe he's seen too many Clint Eastwood films and emulates his style, but there's nothing wrong calling for backup.

Afterward he's still looking to score big and follows two really suspicious characters into Seattle's underground where they get the drop on him. The two are a really vicious pair of inbreds and male rape is probably an ordinary thing in their family. They both assault and rape him and make the mistake of leaving him alive. Probably they don't want a cop killing on the resume, at least they're bright enough to appreciate those consequences.

The story centers around Crenna who has to readjust his thinking and come to grips with the fact that cops can be victims too. Crenna is now going through victim trauma, rape trauma something he'd been dismissive of with women before.

Other roles to note are George Dzundza as his partner, Pat Hingle as his father and a former cop as well, Meredith Baxter as the rape counselor who previously had not been getting along with Crenna. Most of all the role to note besides Crenna's is that of Frances McCain as Crenna's ex-wife who has an interesting relationship with her former husband.

This one is highly recommended, especially for those considering a career in law enforcement.

This TVM features rape as the dramatic centre point but there`s a difference in that the victim is a middle aged streetwise cop who is MALE . The crime itself is thankfully understated ( This is a TVM after all ) and the teleplay revolves around the victim Richard Beck struggling to come to terms with his rape as he finds sympathy in short supply

Casting Richard Crenna as Beck is a double edged sword . Crenna is best known as playing supporting roles usually as good guys and he gives a very good performance here . Unfortunately he does come over as being far too nice to be entirely convincing as a tough streetwise cop . I couldn`t help notice that the script also seems to play up to the nice guy character of Beck . We the audience are supposed to empathise with the victim but if they`d made Beck a rather more hard edged or just plain nasty and cynical character we`d have still felt sorry for him . Considering the theme is one of rape I can`t feeling the producers have made a mistake in making Beck too likable . Were they frightened that if we saw Beck give someone a few slaps now and again we would have thought he deserved to be raped in some way ?

I can`t help thinking everything would have worked a bit better if there had been more in the way of " Rape victims deserved it " from a sneering cynical arrogant pre rape Richard Beck which would have made a few scenes work even better , scenes like where his police chief says " Get out of here punk " when Beck goes to pieces at the ID parade or when Beck desparately explains to his unsympathetic relative that " There was nothing I could do , they had a gun to my head "

As it is THE RAPE OF RICHARD BECK is a very good TVM but probably tries a little too hard to make us empathise with the rape victim which isn`t necessary because no one deserves to be raped