Fact-based story about a Tennessee letter carrier who was falsely convicted of a rape. However, his legal problems continue even after the real rapist confesses.
Acting
Larroquette's desperate everyman against O'Connor's bulldog lawyer.
Writing
Fact-based script that trusts bureaucratic horror over melodrama.
Director
David Lowell Rich
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Based on the real case of Douglas Forbes, whose ordeal helped expose Tennessee's flawed eyewitness procedures in the 1980s. The actual legal battle lasted four years; the film compresses it to 97 minutes.
This aired on CBS in 1986, part of a wave of 'wrongful conviction' TV movies that preceded the Innocence Project's founding in 1992 — exploitation or early awareness-raising? Depends who you ask.
US
