Michael D. Miller
Prof. Mary McCay
22 April 2014
Presumed Innocent
Rusty Sabich’s (Harrison Ford) innocence is
undermined on several occasions in the film, Presumed Innocent. The scene in the film when Rusty Sabich has just
been confronted in Raymond Horgan’s (Brian Dennehy) office and the evidence is
laid out that the primary suspect in the case is Rusty. Rusty exits the office
and walks down the hallway followed closely by Tommy Molto (Joe Grifasi) who
accuses him of murdering Carolyn Polhemus (Greta Scacchi). Rusty responds by
backing Molto against the wall and pointing his finger in his chest as he
emphasizes, “Yeah, you’re right. You’re always right.”
The visual elements of
the scene are two characters in a tight frame in a medium proxemics. The
closeness of the two characters suggests that the topic of the conversation is
accusatory. The character Sabich (Ford)
is taller that Molto (Grafisi) and Sabich is violating his body space
physically and by pointing his finger in his chest. The two characters are
observed in the foreground which leads the viewer to believe that the
conversation is crucial to the story plot and confrontation with high emotions.
The low key lighting and shadows on the two characters suggests that the
confrontation is dark in nature, possibly secrets to hide or doubt. The
background is a cold dimly lit office area that could be interpreted as a cold
and callous environment, all serious business is conducted in this space.
The telephone call log
from her home reflects a telephone call made from Rusty’s home on the night of
the murder, which we later learn was made by his wife Barbara Sabich (Bonnie
Bedelia). Rusty further complicates the matter when he tells Det. Lipranzer
(John Spencer) not to worry about the telephone records. Rusty explains to
Lipranzer that he had called her a number of times during the month prior to
her murder. The prosecution could certainly take this information and make it
look a lot worse than it really was. A grown man coming to grips with rejection
and obsession with a woman he had an affair with. Lipranzer tried to console
Rusty and that the phone calls could easily be explained away as work related.
Rusty knew better and he would rather avoid the embarrassment altogether rather
than lie to protect his good name.
During the case
preparation, Sabich and his attorney interview Rusty’s former boss and District
Attorney, Raymond Horgan (Brian Dennehy). When asked about the events leading
up to Rusty’s involvement in the murder investigation of Carolyn Polhemus
(Greta Scacchi) by Alejandro “Sandy” Stern (Raul Julia), Horgan said that he
would testify that Rusty insisted on taking on the case as opposed to what
really happened when the case was forced upon him by Horgan. Rusty becoming
visibly upset and feels betrayed by the obvious lie that Horgan was preparing
to tell that could prove detrimental to Rusty’s future.
The scene when Rusty
meets with Det. Lipranzer (John Spencer) on the ferry. During their
conversation, Det. Lipranzer reveals the glass that was taken as evidence from
Polhemus’ residence and dusted for fingerprints. The glass had been signed back
into evidence by Molto. He said that he was prepared to give it to anyone who
asked, but no one ever asked so he threw it into his desk drawer.
Det. Lipranzer: How ya doin'?
Christmas Present.
[takes out
glass which was key piece of evidence that went missing during the trial]
Rusty Sabich: You're
sticking your neck out pretty far on this one, Lip.
Det. Lipranzer: It was them
that fucked up. Remember when they came around and gathered all the evidence?
The glass wasn't there, I took it down to Dickerman. The next day, I get a
call. The test is done, I can come pick up my glass. But when I went down
there, Molto had signed 'returned to evidence.' I guess they figured I'd put it
back. Only, I got no place to put it since it ain't my Goddamned case anymore.
So I tossed the thing in my drawer. I figure sooner or later someone's gotta
ask me about it. No one ever did.
Rusty Sabich: You think I
killed her.
Det. Lipranzer: The lady was
bad news.
Rusty Sabich: So that makes
it okay that I killed her.
Det. Lipranzer: Did ya?
Rusty Sabich: Oh, pal.
[sighs, tosses
glass into the water]
Det. Lipranzer gives
Rusty the glass and he tosses it into the river. When he is asked about whether
or not he killed Polhemus, Rusty neither confirms nor denies the accusation. Earlier
in the film, it was Rusty’s job to get the glass fingerprinted and to determine
the breadth and scope of the search for potential respondents in the
fingerprint database. Rusty decided to narrow the scope to “just felons” which
further casts doubt in the minds of the viewer as to innocence. The audience is
still uncertain as to whether Rusty is guilty or innocent of the murder. The
suspense has built during the trial, but once the trial was over, the audience
is searching for some sort of resolution to who murder Carolyn Polhemus. The
revelation was still yet to come.
The final scenes of
the film reveal that Rusty was actually sleeping with Carolyn’s killer. Rusty
is working on the fence in his yard and pulls out a hammer/pry bar from his
toolbox. He soon notices that there is hair and blood on the end of the hammer.
He returns to the basement to wash the hair and blood off when his wife,
Barbara Sabich (Bonnie Bedelia) is seen standing at the bottom of the stair, “I
fooled them. I fooled them all.” Those words echoed through Rusty’s soul.
Upstairs Barbara explains that she was depressed and wanted to die, until she
began to dream of “destroying the destroyer.” Barbara was relying on Rusty to
discover that it was she who had committed the murder and that his feelings of guilt
would move him to cover up her crime. Barbara said that she never intended for
Rusty to have to suffer the way that he did. Rusty not only felt that he had
caused his wife to murder his former lover, but could not put his wife, the
mother of his son in prison for something that was the root cause of.
Therefore, officially the murder went unsolved but personally, Rusty has
compromised his principles of justice in order to protect his wife and live
with his guilt of driving her to murder.
Works Cited
28
April 2014. (Picture)
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Presumed_Innocent_(film) Web. 28 April 2014
Pfeiffer, L. and
Michael Lewis. The Films of Harrison
Ford. Third Edition. New
York:
Citadel Press. 2002. Print.
I find it very interesting that I chose to blog about the exact same scenes as you. I think that that is a strong testimony to the significance of these three scenes to the trajectory Rusty Sabich. I like what you said about Sabich invading Molto’s personal space during their confrontation. Violating personal space is a commonly used phrase, but I didn’t find it cliché at all in the way you used it, it seemed like the perfect explanation of what he did. Illustrating the fact that Molto’s personal space was violated depicts how the audience feels Sabich is being out of line in response to his accusation, painting him as menacing in nature.
ReplyDeleteI also thought it was very clever of you to point out that “Sabich had been sleeping with the murder all along.” I thought this was a clever line because the film largely focused on the fact that Sabich had also slept with the murder victim. This is slightly sick to think about, but it’s definitely something deep to think about. What does this aspect of the film mean in terms of thematic message? I think the entire movie portrays a dark image of the competitive nature of seeking one’s attraction.