Guilty by Suspicion (1991)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Irwin Winkler

Writer (WGA):

Irwin Winkler (written by)

Release Date:

15 March 1991 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

All it took was a whisper.

Plot:

David Merrill (Robert De Niro), a fictitious 1950s Hollywood director, returns from filming abroad...

Plot Keywords:

1950s | Hearings | Blacklist | Political | House Unamerican Activities Committee

Awards:

2 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

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)

Also Known As:

La liste noire (France)

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

France | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:L | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Australia:M | Finland:S | Germany:12 | Spain:T | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | USA:PG-13 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Canal+

Trivia:

'Robert de Niro''s climactic courtroom speech is an almost verbatim lift of a speech made by lawyer Joseph Welch in a McCarthy hearing in the 1950s.

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.

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]

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Zomergasten: (#9.2)" (1996)

Soundtrack:

IT NEVER ENTERED MY MIND

Good intentions but it doesn't work

Movie about the House Committee on Un-American Activities and their attack on supposed communism in Hollywood. It takes place in 1951 and director David Merrill (Robert DeNiro) returns from France to find Hollywood and his friends living in terror of being called to testify in front of the committee. If you didn't name names your career was officially over and you were (unofficially) suspected of being a communist. Merrill refuses to name anybody and his life becomes a nightmare. It also affects his ex-wife Ruth (Annette Bening) and friend Bunny Baxter (George Wendt).

This movie has good intentions and it's great that anybody made a film dealing with the horrendous witch hunts in the 1950s--but this film just doesn't work. It's simplistic to a ridiculous degree--EVERYTHING is dumbed down so anyone can get it. Also the plot is obvious (I was always one step ahead of this) and the movie is overlong. However the movie looks just great and the music is wonderful. Acting really helps this one--DeNiro is a little subdued but still good; Bening is given the thankless ex-wife role but pulls it off; Wendt overdoes it at times but is basically pretty good and Patricia Wettig (as a friend who cracks under the strain) is WAY over the top to an embarrassing degree. Also it's amusing to see Martin Scorses in a small role as a director. Ultimately the film is too bland to really work--but the courtroom sequence at the end does provide real fireworks. Worth seeing if you know nothing about what happened in Hollywood back then. I can only give it a 5.