An Innocent Man (1989)

Absolutely Brilliant!

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

In my 35 years on earth, I've been to just 2 movies that aroused an actual standing ovation from the audience in the theater: Speed & An Innocent Man. I was only 9 years old when this movie came out, so it's only right to first thank my parents for always allowing me and my brother the privilege to see "R" rated movies at such a young age. There's just something about this movie that stirs up your emotions like none other. While some might call this a "B" movie, to me, the acting is just so real to life and spot on, much more realistic than say for people who are more purists when it comes to the art of movies.There are several stand out performances here. David Rasche to me, should have won an Oscar for his role as one of two the dirty cops. He probably plays my favorite bad guy role of all-time, is just plain masterful every time he comes on the screen. Anybody who can make a bad guy like-able by being so over the top corrupt, you know there's something special going on.Bruce Young as Jingles was another all-time classic character, another charismatic villain with a sparkle of gleam in his eyes. F. Murray Abraham was fantastic, as he delivers one of the best ending lines to a movie of all-time.Honestly everybody who participated in An Innocent Man was on their A game, I can mention every single character here. I can talk about this movie forever, give you a standard IMDb review but I am not going to. I will simply say that if you really haven't seen this movie, you are missing out on something very magical. This is my favorite prison movie ever made, slightly better than Shawshank for how down to earth it was. If it doesn't rattle your emotions you must be some type of surrogate. That, or a spiritual robot....

Here is a good old-fashioned story about a man accused of murder, all because two cops (actually, one of the two cops) don't want to admit their mistake of picking the wrong house. Tom Selleck is ideal to play the innocent man. For some strange reason, I expected not to like it. But I was pleasantly surprised. In fact it's a movie worth buying. Even if the DVD is out of print (and I'm not saying for sure it is), it nevertheless is a movie worth keeping. The movie is simple and straightforward, it doesn't condescend to the viewer, and has decent acting. It's not as dark in tone like most prison movies, however.*** out of ****

Ordinary Joe Tom Selleck is in the right house at the wrong time when two scummy cops invade his home to arrest him for drugs; Selleck is clean, the cops made a mistake, so they rectify their gaffe by planting the goods on him. Next stop: the courtroom (where an ages-old marijuana infraction rears its ugly head), and eventually the Big House. Once Selleck is behind bars, plotting to clear his good name, the picture falls into that timeworn, melodramatic vat of jailhouse clichés. It's a trap for the character as well as the audience. Peter Yates directed, hoping to spare us none of the horrors and humiliations of life in the jug. It's played for the sensational...and yet some viewers actually get caught up in it. Perhaps they're too young to know it has all been done before. *1/2 from ****

I really can't comment on this movie, because I've never seen it all the way through, here is why: Many years ago, when I was a little girl (maybe 10 or 12 years old), they showed this movie on television, and I guess I thought it sounded like a good movie, because I taped it. The next day I watched it (or so I thought) and thought it was really good. So good in fact that I wanted to share it with the rest of my family! So I gave the tape to my parents and big brother and said: "Watch this!" (well I can't remember exactly what I said, but I can imagine it was something like that). I sat down and watched it again with them. But when the movie ended (or should I say; when the tape ended) I didn't get the praise I expected to get for showing them this great movie, you see, the movie didn't quite end where I thought it did, the last scene on MY tape was when the leading character gets out of prison, and I thought that was how the movie ended but in fact I had just run out of tape...! So... I wasn't too popular in my family that day... I had shown them half of a movie...! Ever since that day the movie has haunted my mind... I never saw it again, they never showed it on TV, as far as I noticed ( but then again, as you can tell I wasn't the most observant kid...) I've always wanted to find it and see how it ends and show the end to the rest of my family. I feel like I owe them that. I didn't know the name of the movie, but I remembered that the corrupt police officers mistook a blow dryer for a gun (I believe...) and I remembered that his prison mate was bald (I think...) and the leading character had a mustache (now this I knew for sure!) And since I only know 2 major actors with mustaches (and apparently it wasn't Burt Reynolds, I checked) it had to be Tom Selleck, and it was!!! I've never been more happy...! (that's sad...) and now I'm going to get hold of "An Innocent Man" and show it to my family, I can finally get closure, thank you IMDb!!!