Apology for Murder (TV 1986)
"Apology" (original title)

For her newest sculpture artist Lily has an unusual idea: During the exhibit she wants to play anonymous apologies. She sets up an answering machine on a special phone line and publicly ... See full summary »

Director:

Robert Bierman

Writer:

Mark Medoff

Stars:

Lesley Ann Warren, Peter Weller, George Loros

2 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Lesley Ann Warren	...	Lily
Peter Weller	...	Rad Hungate
George Loros	...	Frank
John Glover	...	Philip
Jimmie Ray Weeks	...	Claude
Harvey Fierstein	...	The derelict
Charles S. Dutton	...	Asst. District Attorney (as Charles Dutton)
Skye Bassett	...	Anna
Garrett M. Brown	...	Gordon
Ellen Barber	...	Patty Garretson
Reathel Bean	...	Lt. Arnold Goodson
Chris Noth	...	Roy Burnette
Diana Reis	...	Jean
Joe Zaloom	...	Street vendor
Jay Devlin	...	Truck driver

Storyline

For her newest sculpture artist Lily has an unusual idea: During the exhibit she wants to play anonymous apologies. She sets up an answering machine on a special phone line and publicly invites people to call. But soon she gets more dramatic calls than expected: she attracts a psychopath serial killer who uses her project to confess and announce his crimes. At first she doesn't believe he's authentic, but Detective Hungate urges her to give the tapes to analysis. Since both Hungate and the killer seem to develop a crush on her, it quickly becomes personal...

---

Plot Keywords:

artist | detective | one word title | telephone | woman in jeopardy | 

---

Taglines:

An experiment in art leads to an experience in terror...

---

Genres:

Thriller

---

Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Country:

USA Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 July 1986 (USA)

Also Known As:

Apology - Tödliches Geständnis

Filming Locations:

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

ASAP Production, Home Box Office (HBO), Orbis Communications

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Lily: Excuse me! It is not a gimmick! And it is not pretentious.

---

Soundtracks

"Alone In The Night (title song)"
Music by Maurice Jarre
Lyrics by Norman Gimbel
Sung by Bill Champlin

User Reviews

A little ahead of the talk show era...and obsession

This film came out when shows like "Oprah" were just starting. The idea of someone selling their psyche for attention and/or catharsis. Before that, we were in the dark ages, when people kept their psychiatric issues to themselves, would never even think of group therapy or AA, let alone message boards on the internet. That being said, the plot is interesting, even if the acting is stylized, and rather artificial.

Lesley Ann-Warren plays a good neurotic- Peter Weller is passable. Harvey Fierstein has an interesting cameo part, as a homeless person. Some of the street shots are creative and interesting. The art project Warren creates is really not unbelievable; If one has ever seen Yoko Ono's exhibits- you will agree!.

The serial killer is portrayed by Jimmie Ray Weeks; he wears a bow-tie and looks like Wallace Shawn (from Woody Allen's movie "Manhattan"). If you want to see something unusual, this movie will fit the bill. John Glover is also in this film, and he always excels at portraying a psychotic New Yorker (he was also in a TV film with Lynn and Vanessa Redgrave- remake of "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane"-not to be missed!).