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'A Case of Rape' is a 1974 television movie. It premiered on NBC on February 20, 1974.

Contents

Plot

Awards

External links

Plot

This gripping film tells the story of a wife and mother who is raped twice by the same man and her ordeals dealing with the actual rape and her subsequent dealing with the police and the trial. Elizabeth Montgomery plays victim Ellen Harrod and Ronny Cox portrays her husband, David.
From the onset of the film, it appears that the cards are clearly placed against Ellen Harrod. When we first meet her, she appears to have a happy, solid marriage with David. However, we see that his frequent absences for work are beginning to take a toll on her. She occupies her time in the evening with night-school classes she takes with her neighbor and best friend Marge Bracken (portrayed by Patricia Smith). It is at one of these classes where she is unknowingly introduced to rapist Larry Retzliff, a visitor at the school, by Marge.
Ellen and Marge accept a ride home from Larry, who, feigning concern, clearly has other plans. Once Ellen is in her apartment, and David is away, Larry arrives claiming car trouble and asks to use the phone. Ellen agrees, and after she checks on her daughter Kim, is raped by Larry. Unable to reach David by phone, and emotionally unable to report the crime, Ellen decides to put the attack behind her, and literally tries through three showers to wash away the rape.
When David returns, she is still unable to get his attention long enough to tell him about the attack. Having had an anonymous blood test, Ellen makes a serious effort to submerge the attack and resume her life. This attempt comes to a crashing halt four days after the initial attack in a parking garage when Retzliff -- who has been waiting for Ellen behind the front seat of her car -- rapes her again, this time beating her so viciously that there is literally no question that a brutal attack has taken place.
The treatment that Ellen then receives from the police, the doctors, and the investigating detectives (portrayed by Ken Swofford and Jonathan Lippe) is unfathomable. She is almost treated like a pariah. While her attorney Leonard Alexander (portrayed by William Daniels) appears to have her best interest at heart, he clearly has his reservations: one of his quotes during the film is, "Never try a rape case unless your victim is a 90-year-old nun with at least four stab wounds."
Defending Retzliff, the smarmy rapist, unbelievably, is female attorney Muriel Dyer (Rosemary Murphy) -- a woman so arrogant, melodramatic, and unscrupulous that the viewer is left hating her almost as much as the criminal himself. Mrs. Dyer's accusatory cross-examination of Ellen -- as well as her argumentative interrogation of the one witness who saw the second rape -- clearly shows to what lengths she will go do defend her client, guilty as he is.
The film was broadcast on February 20, 1974, over the NBC Television Network, which had some reservation about showing the second rape. As reported by the A&E Biography of Elizabeth Montgomery, the actress believed so strongly in the story that she threated to leave the project if the scene was cut. Montgomery prevailed, and the film was shown in its entirety along with warnings of the mature subject matter.

Awards

Montgomery -- who had become a household name with her performance in "Bewitched", received an Emmy nomination for her portrayal. Her portrayal of the victim introduced television audiences to an entirely different facet of her talent as an actress.

External links