Technically well-made but ordinary, unremarkable little mystery thriller. The script tries for ambiguity and succeeds most of the way, but ultimately goes for the predictable resolution. Martin Campbell's direction shows care and knowledge of the genre, but lacks style and seems mostly by-the-numbers. Barbara Hershey, although somewhat aging, still shines, and Walsh, Hurt and the actor who plays the brutal, deranged father offer excellent supporting work. But Sam Shepard just looks bored and disinterested. (**)
Defenseless
1991
Action / Mystery / Thriller
Defenseless
1991
Action / Mystery / Thriller
Keywords: murderinfidelityjealousylawyersecret
Plot summary
The lawyer Thelma "T.K." Knudsen Katwuller is having a love affair with her client, Steven Seldes, accused of making under-age porn movies through the Blue Screen Production. When T.K. meets her old college friend Ellie Seldes, she finds that she is Steven's wife and Ellie invites T.K. to have dinner with her family at her home. T.K. decides to break-up with Steven and he asks her to meet him in his office. While waiting for Steven, T.K. finds that he owns the Blue Screen Production and had lied to her. The next morning, Ellie is arrested and accused of murdering her husband and Ellie hires T.K. to defend her. Detective Beutel feels that something is missing in the case.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Top cast
Tech specs
720p.WEB 1080p.WEBMovie Reviews
Nothing special, either way.
Barbara Hershey & Sam Shepard were Great!
This films opening scene takes place with a young girl cheerleader entering the mens locker room which turns out to be a porno film being produced. The story gets very complicated with murder and romance and the web of mystery keeps you spellbound through out the entire picture. Barbara Hershey(Thelma T.K. Knudsen),"Lantana",'01, is a lawyer who falls in love with a married man and gets deeply involved with his family and finds out that her best friend is married to him. There is a fight and the ice cubes seem to fly all over the place, besides blood in the mens bathroom which becomes a complete mess. There is even a fight in an elevator shaft and Sam Shepard (Detective Beutel),"Blind Horizon,",'04, comes to Thelma's assistance. Beutel is madly in love with Thelma but suspects her of not telling the truth about what is going on and feels she is becoming a number one suspect. This is a very enjoyable film worth viewing.
DVD version of this film has been cut
Not a bad little thriller. Sure, there are some plot holes. But the production values are decent, nothing to complain about with the direction or photography. The cast did a pretty decent job with mediocre material. I rented the DVD and found that some scenes had been cut. One of the previous commentators mentioned a scene that was not in my version. Plus, there were two brief topless scenes by Kelley Overbey that were not in this version. I like gratuitous nudity as much as the next guy, but these cuts hurt the film. One wasn't totally necessary, but definitely falls into the category of character development. The other scene was major plot exposition, and the film suffered badly for its loss. IMDb doesn't have an age for Miss Overbey, and I wonder if she may not have been eighteen at the time. That's the only reason I can think of for cutting this film into incoherence for the DVD release. Too bad.