Settle the Score (1989) (TV)

Director:

Edwin Sherin

Writer (WGA):

Steve Sohmer (written by)

Release Date:

30 October 1989 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

In this suspenseful drama, a Chicago policewoman remains haunted by the memory of the man who raped her two decades before and decides to return to her hometown to find him. |

Plot Keywords:

Policewoman | Beautiful Woman | Rape | Murder | Revenge

Cast

Jaclyn Smith	...	Katherine Whately
Jeffrey DeMunn	...	Dr. Josh Longcrest
Louise Latham	...	Helen Whately
Howard Duff	...	Cy Whately
Amy Wright	...	Becky
Richard Masur	...	Lincoln Whately
Frederick Coffin	...	Tucker
Robert King	...	Capt. Clark
Monica Miller	...	Young Kate
Donald Hotton	...	Doc Stevens
Dave Adams	...	Hank
Joseph Gordon-Levitt	...	Justin
Bob Larkin	...	Farmer
Lenore Harris	...	Waitress

Also Known As:

Blood Knot (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16

Company:

Figaro International

Full Circle

(Some Spoilers) Somewhat average thriller with Jaclyn Smith,Kathy Wathely,coming back to her family in the small rural farming town of Devlin for rest and rehabilitation. Kathy being a policewomen back in Chicago has just gone through a traumatic experience in shooting and killing a wanted rapist as he attacked her and her partner in a back ally.

The shooting was found to be justifiable by a police review board but deep in her heart Kathy knew otherwise. It wasn't an act of self defense it was an execution. This killer instinct that Kathy has stems from her being attacked raped and left for dead by an unseen attacker when he was a teenager back home in Devlin. Kathy has been following a number of murders in the Devlin area, while she was in Chicago, and deduced that the killer is the same person who raped and tired to murder her back some fifteen years ago.

Back in Devlin Kathy is treated like an outcast by not only the townspeople but her own family members as well because she had an, unfounded, reputation of being loose with the young men there before she moved to Chicago and became a policewoman. The fact is that Kathy never was with a man since her terrible, and almost fatal, experience in Devlin when she was a young girl. Kathy with the help of the local family doctor and friend Josh Longcrest, Jeffery Demunn,unearths the clue to who the serial killer is. It turns out that his mode of operations in the killings fit exactly what happened to her confirming Kathy's darkest suspicions; they also confirm that he's also someone that was close to her back then as well as now,very very close.

Slow moving but still interesting drama/thriller with Jaclyn Smith a bit too glamorous to be a hard nosed tough as nails cop with a killer instinct that would put her a notch or two above SF police inspector "Dirty Harry" Calahand.

Miss. Smith did come across quite convincing in her acting as a rape victim who was ostracized by her family and friends more for being a victim then the rapist/killer who assaulted her. It was also kept secret who the rapist was by Kathy's own mom Mrs. Helen Wathely, Louise Latham, who made up the story that her injuries, as a result of her being raped and beaten, was a fall off her pet horse Lulubelle.

You couldn't help feeling sympathy for Kathy not because of her ordeal some fifteen years ago but how she was treated by everyone in Devlin with he exception of Josh and her brother Linc, Richard Masur, who showed at least kindness and understanding for what she went through. Kathy's dad Mr. Cy Whately, Howard Duff, was so revolted by her just being in the Whately home that you, as well as Kathy, wondered if he had something to do with her being rape and his dislike of Kathy had more to do with that then her supposedly carousing around with all types of men, which was just a vicious rumor with no validity at all.

It turned that Kathy's mom knew who the rapist, and serial killer, was and her keeping it under-wraps and at the same time allowing him to continuing his murderous rampage set up the shocking ending that destroyed whatever justification that she still had left in keeping it secret.