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Guilty by Suspicion
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Guilty by Suspicion (1991) More at IMDbPro »

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Guilty by Suspicion (1991) -- US Home Video Trailer from Warner Bros.

Overview

User Rating:
6.4/10   3,432 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 15% in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Director:
Irwin Winkler
Writer (WGA):
Irwin Winkler (written by)
Contact:
View company contact information for Guilty by Suspicion on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
15 March 1991 (USA) more
Genre:
Drama more
Tagline:
All it took was a whisper.
Plot:
David Merrill (Robert De Niro), a fictitious 1950s Hollywood director, returns from filming abroad... more | add synopsis
Awards:
2 wins & 2 nominations more
User Comments:
Interesting but too earnest, safe and middle-of-the-road more

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Robert De Niro ... David Merrill

Annette Bening ... Ruth Merrill
George Wendt ... Bunny Baxter
Patricia Wettig ... Dorothy Nolan
Sam Wanamaker ... Felix Graff

Luke Edwards ... Paulie Merrill

Chris Cooper ... Larry Nolan
Ben Piazza ... Darryl Zanuck

Martin Scorsese ... Joe Lesser
Barry Primus ... Bert Alan
Gailard Sartain ... Chairman Wood
Robin Gammell ... Congressman Tavenner
Brad Sullivan ... Congressman Velde

Tom Sizemore ... Ray Karlin

Roxann Dawson ... Felicia Barron (as Roxann Biggs)
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
La liste noire (France)
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Runtime:
105 min
Country:
France | USA
Language:
English
Color:
Color
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Dolby
Company:
Canal+ more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Martin Scorsese portrays a fictional director called Joe Lesser. This character is clearly based on director Joseph Losey, who left Hollywood in the 1950s rather than face the HUAC examinations. more
Goofs:
Anachronisms: There is a Milwaukee Braves baseball pennant on the wall of Merrill's son's room. This film takes place in 1951 and 1952. The Braves didn't move to Milwaukee from Boston until 1953. more
Quotes:
Ruth Merrill: Uh, I'm seeing Dorothy tonight. Paulie's gonna stay at his friends. I thought I'd take her to one of those places out by Malibu.
David Merrill: Malibu, can you afford that?
Ruth Merrill: Can you believe you said that?
David Merrill: No, I'd never say anything like that.
Ruth Merrill: Wanna go?
David Merrill: Sure, do you mind?
Ruth Merrill: Yeah.
[she leaves]
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Movie Connections:
Featured in "Zomergasten: (#9.2)" (1996) more
Soundtrack:
STRAIGHTEN UP AND FLY RIGHT more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful:-
Interesting but too earnest, safe and middle-of-the-road, 12 April 2007
Author: bob the moo from Birmingham, UK

In 1947 the House Committee on Un-American Activities began an investigation into Communism in Hollywood. Shortly after this director David Merrill returns from filming abroad. It is not long before he is targeted for having attended "a few meetings" a few years ago. The approach is softly, softly with the committee just wanting Merrill to name some more names for them. When he refuses to help, he finds himself gradually cut out of studios and projects, with fewer and fewer people willing to take his calls.

The period of history around which this film is set is an interesting one and one that is worth knowing about as part of the whole "learning from history" ideal. However this is not the same as the film itself being good because unfortunately it is not what I would have liked. It relies too heavily on the informative nature of the recreation of the period rather than developing an interesting script with realistic characters. It doesn't help that the film tries to be all very serious and respectful but does rather fail and ends up coming over all earnest and self important. The script also tries not to really upset anyone who didn't take the moral stance of the fictional Merrill by just focusing on him even though it would have been a lot more interesting if it had had outrage, bitterness and realism at its heart.

Winkler directs without a great deal of style and his courtroom scene is average where it should have been the best scene of the film. De Niro works his material hard and makes for an engaging lead, however it is the lack of depth and complexity in his material that limits his performance. This is more or less true of the rest of the cast which, although starry, doesn't really provide anyone in particular with an opportunity to mark themselves out. Bening, Wendt, Wettig, Wanamaker, Sizemore, Scorsese, Cooper and others are good presences but not much more than that.

Overall then an interesting film in so much as it informs about an important period of history. However it is all very earnest and safe and lost a lot of potential for me. The cast is starry but the material is middle-of-the-road and didn't give anyone the complexity and outrage that the subject deserved.

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What happened at the end? Obvious spoiler question guikrazy
High Noon? texmexmartin
Bunny Baxter? trapeze_lea
Dark set? loves_snow
David's car. AndStayClassy
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