The Burning Bed

TV Movie
1984
Not Rated
1h 35m

IMDb RATING

7.2/10

3.6K

YOUR RATING

Farrah Fawcett, Christa Denton, Elizabeth Lyn Fraser, and David Friedman in The Burning Bed (1984)

Biography Crime Drama

An abused battered wife has had enough of her 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 fir... Read allAn abused battered wife has had enough of her 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.An abused battered wife has had enough of her 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
- Faith McNulty
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.2/10

3.6K

YOUR RATING

Director
- Robert Greenwald
Writers
- Rose Leiman Goldemberg
- Faith McNulty
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 8 Primetime Emmys
- 3 wins & 17 nominations total

Trivia
Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, member of R&B group TLC watched this movie as a child with her sister. She was motivated to set her abusive father on fire in retaliation for abusing her mother on a daily basis as child. In the height of her fame, Lisa made national news for burning her boyfriend NFL star Andre Rison's house after setting stuffed teddy bears on fire in a bathtub.

Goofs
When Mickey pounds the kitchen windows to threaten Francine, he repeats "I'm going to break the door with your face" at two different points, with the same inflections each time, revealing the line as recorded dialogue.

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

Connections
Featured in The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson: Farrah Fawcett/Ryan O'Neal/Pete Fountain (1984)

Soundtracks
Tell Him
Written by Bert Berns
Performed by The Exciters(uncredited)

User reviews54

Review

Featured review

Excellent

I grew up in Dansville and was very familiar with what happened there with Francine and the Hughes house. As a teenager, I couldn't really comprehend the psychological damage that was being done to her on top of the domestic violence. As an adult, and as a wife and mother myself now, it's shattering to watch again. To watch and know that it didn't even seem to cause an eyelash to twitch to some of the people she confided in. They knew. They accepted. They complied. I cannot imagine all of the pain beyond the physical that this woman suffered during those horrific years of her life. I was glad to know that she moved far away from the toxicity she had found herself in and was able to restart and reclaim her life and the lives of her children.

As for the film, Farrah Fawcett is simply brilliant. The directing is of a caliber that literally makes you feel as though you're in Francine's shoes. Sure, it's been associated with starting the Lifetime Movie of the Week trend but it is a Gold Standard that they wish they could live up to.