Absence of Malice (1981)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Sydney Pollack

Writer:

Kurt Luedtke (written by)

Release Date:

18 December 1981 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Suppose you picked up this morning's newspaper and your life was a front page headline... And everything they said was accurate... But none of it was true.

Plot:

Michael Colin Gallagher is the son of a long dead Mafia boss who is a simple liquor warehouse owner...

Plot Keywords:

Reporter | Murder | Mafia | Slander | Media

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 3 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Paul Newman	...	Michael Colin Gallagher
Sally Field	...	Megan Carter
Bob Balaban	...	Elliott Rosen
Melinda Dillon	...	Teresa Perrone
Luther Adler	...	Uncle Santos Malderone
Barry Primus	...	Bob Waddell
Josef Sommer	...	McAdam
John Harkins	...	Davidek
Don Hood	...	Dist. Atty. James A. Quinn
Wilford Brimley	...	Asst. U.S. Atty. Gen. James A. Wells
Arnie Ross	...	FBI Agent Eddie Frost
Anna Marie Napoles	...	Nickie
Shelley Spurlock	...	Sarah Wylie
Shawn McAllister	...	Santos Hood 1
Joe Petrullo	...	Santos Hood 2

Runtime:

116 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

South Korea:12 | USA:PG (certificate #26332) | Australia:PG | Argentina:13 | Chile:14 | Finland:K-12 | Norway:12 | Sweden:11 | UK:PG | West Germany:12 | Peru:14 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Coral Gables, Florida, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Paul Newman and director Sydney Pollack were both gourmet chefs and had a running culinary competition throughout filming with Sally Field as the judge. Though a good sport at first, Sally grew tired of eating gourmet night after night, and began begging off her judging duties in favor of hamburgers and omelettes at local diners.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Megan sends Gallagher a copy of the front page of the next morning's daily newspaper at least 12 hours before the edition even went to print. In reality, the front page is never laid out until the last minute before deadline to insure the most current news.

Quotes:

Michael Colin Gallagher: Why aren't you married?
Megan Carter: How do you know I'm not?
Michael Colin Gallagher: I don't see a ring.
Megan Carter: Haven't you heard of women's lib?
Michael Colin Gallagher: Most of them are ugly.
Megan Carter: Is that supposed to be a compliment?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Seinfeld: The Junk Mail (#9.5)" (1997)

Does Anyone Remember Maurice Nadjari?

For a while back in the seventies the hottest political property in New York State was one Maurice Nadjari. He was appointed a special prosecutor and ran up a big string of convictions of various figures on the New York scene.

Then his convictions began being tossed out one by one until a once feared figure became a laughingstock. Turned out he used tactics very similar to those countenanced by Bob Balaban in this film.

Nadjari turned out in the end to be worse than any of the people he was prosecuting. That's the message here, don't idealize some of these prosecutors on a white horse.

Bob Balaban is part of the Justice Department Strike Force looking into the murder of a labor leader in Florida. It's been months and his investigation is yielding bupkis. So he tries some extralegal tactics.

Paul Newman is the son of a reputed mobster, but who's been out of the rackets for years. But Balaban leaks to gullible reporter Sally Field that Newman is the target of his investigation. The idea is for Newman to go undercover and work to get information on his uncle, Luther Adler, who Balaban suspects.

Newman's reputation is smashed and Balaban's actions lead to the death of Melinda Dillon who is a friend of Newman's.

Paul Newman was nominated for Best Actor, but lost to Henry Fonda that year for On Golden Pond. Sally Field was at the height of her career. This film came right around the time she got her two Oscars for Norma Rae and Places in the Heart.

The leads and cast are just fine. This turned out to be the farewell picture of Luther Adler, one of the great character actors in the history of film.

However the two people this film really belongs to are Bob Balaban and Wilford Brimley. Balaban got his career role in this as Elliott Rosen of the Organized Crime Strike Force. He is truly one loathsome little creep. All it's about with him is getting another notch on his belt, another scalp for the lodgepole.

And then there's Wilford Brimley. He's the big honcho from Washington, DC sent down to do damage control when it all blows up in their faces. He gathers all the principals together at the very end of the film, like Nick Charles would, and dispenses the justice accordingly. He's on the screen for about twenty unforgettable minutes.

The office of prosecutor in our system is one of responsibility and should never be entrusted to any lightweights or any overly ambitious folks.