Hoo: Presumed Innocent

            The 1990 film Presumed Innocent starring Harrison Ford is a courtroom drama revolving around the innocence of Rozat "Rusty" Sabich. In the film Rusty is accused of the rape and murder of his colleague, Carolyn Polhemus. Rusty is a married man who once had an affair with the late Polhemus. She dumped him when he showed little ambition, meaning that he would not be able to help her career. This obviously makes the situation way more complicated. Rusty could definitely have a motive for killing Polhemus, considering he probably would not want his wife to find out about the affair. Also, Rusty was still obsessed with Polhemus so this could have been a crime of passion. Adding to the mystery is the fact that the audience is not informed of his innocence until the end of the film. As Pfeiffer states “The vulnerability of his character allows Ford to make mistakes and show weaknesses that would be unthinkable for make of the characters he had portrayed in the past. While we want to believe he is innocent of his lover’s murder and that he has truly rehabilitated himself as a family man, there is some doubt among the audience that he may not be quite what he seems” (Pfeiffer 187).      

            One scene that portrays this ambiguity is when he is called into his superior’s office. At this point he tells Rusty that his fingerprints were on a glass left at the scene of the crime. This causes the audience to question whether Rusty is in fact innocent. He was at her apartment the night of the murder and at this point is not looking very good for his case. He then reacts with anger to his peer that thinks he was the murderer.  

             Another scene that exhibits how the audience may think that Rusty is guilty is when Polhemus tells him that she is seeing someone else and wants to end their affair. He reacts very poorly to this. He reacts to the break up with great anger. He furiously grabs her arm as she attempts to leave her office.

          

             A third scene that exhibits his uncertainty of his innocence is when he and his attorney pay a visit to Raymond Horgan. His attorney then asks what he will testify. Rusty then calls him out on inconsistencies and then Raymond questions why his pints were at the crime scene. Rusty then asks how he thinks he could do such a thing. His face shows that he is clearly in a state of rage. In this frame Rusty is the dominant and his attorney, the subsidiary contrast. Rusty is angry and wants to react to Raymond’s betrayal, His attorney, the voice of reason, is contrasting with a calm demeanor. Rusty is only partially lit while his attorney is fully lit contrasting good versus evil, Rusty being evil.