The Burning Bed (1984)

An abused battered wife has had enough of husband beating up on her. Everywhere she turns for help, there's not much anyone will do. After he rapes her one night, she sets the bed on fire with him in it asleep.

Director:

Robert Greenwald

Writers:

Rose Leiman Goldemberg (teleplay), Faith McNulty (book)

Stars:

Farrah Fawcett, Paul Le Mat, Richard Masur

Won 1 Golden Globe. Another 2 wins & 17 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Farrah Fawcett	...	Francine Hughes
Paul Le Mat	...	Mickey Hughes (as Paul LeMat)
Richard Masur	...	Aryon Greydanus
Grace Zabriskie	...	Flossie Hughes
Penelope Milford	...	Gaby
Christa Denton	...	Christy age 12
James T. Callahan	...	Berlin Hughes (as James Callahan)
Gary Grubbs	...	District Attorney
David Friedman	...	Jimmy age 10
David Andrews	...	Wimpy Hughes
James Hampton	...	Police Witness
Virgil Frye	...	Virg
Dixie K. Wade	...	Hazel Moran
Heather Rich	...	Christy age 6
Justin Gocke	...	Jimmy Age 4

Storyline

After years of beatings and terror, Francine Hughes set fire to her abuser's bed while he slept. Her confession and subsequent murder trial held the nation enthralled. A dramatic story of a woman pushed over the edge.

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Plot Keywords:

fire | court | lawyer | jury | verdict | 

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Taglines:

He didn't know how to stop it... she did.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 October 1984 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Burning Bed

Filming Locations:

Lansing, Michigan, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Tisch/Avnet Productions Inc.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

4:3

Did You Know?

Trivia

Francine and Mickey Hughes were married when they were 16 and 18-years old, respectively.

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Goofs

Near the end of the film, we see Francine get beaten brutally in the face. But when she is arrested a day later, there are hardly any bruises on her face at all.

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Quotes

Hazel Moran: If you make a hard bed, you have to lay in it.

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Connections

Referenced in One Hit Wonderland: Beds Are Burning (2016)

User Reviews

Critique the movie, not the events.

Some people seem to be judging this movie based on what happened more so than the quality of the movie. The movie, we must remember, is based on a true story (that took place in a completely different time and place than we know now). The events in the film are real, though certainly dramatized. So, the fact that the police don't help the woman and her family does not support her and how unrealistic it all seems only adds to the impact of the story since it is true. I won't say this is a perfect movie, and certainly it is skewed to make the wife seem completely right and the husband completely wrong (because it plays better for a TV audience to not have ambiguities); but, I don't think it's fair to judge the film based on things that really happened. To look at the events in this movie and not believe they happened is to miss the entire point of the movie. The people in this woman's life pretended not to see things and chose not to believe her. But these things do happen, whether we chose to acknowledge them or not.