La fleur ensanglantée

Blood&Orchids is loosely, very loosely based on the notorious Thalia Massie rape case and the subsequent trials that came out of it. The film takes a hard look at the racism that prevailed among the white colonizers.

Madeline Stowe lying naked on a side road and all beaten up is found by four Hawaiian youths and brought to a hospital. In a case of no good deed goes unpunished the four kids are arrested and held for rape.

Stowe is the daughter of the powerful sugar plantation owner Jane Alexander who with her partner Richard Dysart are a pair of big movers and shakers in Hawaii. They try and manipulate the justice system in their favor. Stowe is also married to navy captain William Russ and she was out stepping on him, having an affair with another officer.

The Hawaiian kids prove to be a convenient scapegoat for many people, but when they are not convicted Russ in open court has snuck a pistol in and shoots one of the four kids.

Sparing no expense Alexander and Dysart bring over to Hawaii noted criminal defense attorney Jose Ferrer to defend Russ. Ferrer's character is based on Clarence Darrow who in his last big case got a big fee for defending Thalia Massie's husband who did the same thing in real life.

Kris Kristofferson stars as a Hawaiian homicide cop who can't stand the stink of corruption and has been looking to unravel the frame up of the Hawaiian kids. He also falls for Ferrer's much younger wife Sean Young.

When I wrote my review of the film Hawaii I said then and say again Hawaii was sadly caught between the westward expanding America and the eastward expanding Japan. The white planters are a privileged class that enjoy their privileges to the max and we sure see that here.

This is a fine made for TV films that should have gotten a theatrical release.