"Deadly Justice" with Richard Crenna (1985)

You never can tell what you will find in the $1.99 bin. Most of the stuff isn’t worth the time to watch, but when you find a film starring Richard Crenna it’s a good bet that it will be worthwhile. In this film from 1985, he plays the very cynical and jaded Police Detective Richard Beck. When confronted with the new Rape Crisis Officer, played by Meredith Baxter Birney, he is slightly annoyed. He is one of those officers who believe most rape victims got “what they deserved.” That is, until he himself is raped by 2 vicious criminals one night while conducting his own “night patrol”.

What follows is almost poetic justice, as he is navigated through the same cynical system of which he has been a part for his entire career. Seeing the pain and destruction of lives his apathetic attitude has caused, he embarks on a personal vendetta to bring the two criminals to justice, while at the same time recovering his self-esteem.

The most important thing about this film is that it took on the issue of male rape almost 30 years ago, way before “Law and Order: SUV”. Outstanding script and direction, with intense performances by both Richard Crenna and Meredith Baxter Birney make this film a keeper.

Wendell Berry: "Manifesto"

Wendell Berry was born on August 5th, 1934, in Kentucky. He is best known as an American man of letters, political activist, and a farmer. He has written countless novels, short stories and poems. He is a recipient of The National Humanities Medal. He has even been quoted on TV's "Law and Order" in the episode starring Robin Williams. In that show, Mr. Williams, acting as his own defense counsel, quotes from the following poem, which made me an instant fan of Mr. Wendell's. I have italized the portion which was quoted, so aptly, in that episode.

Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front

Love the quick profit, the annual raise,
vacation with pay. Want more
of everything ready-made. Be afraid
to know your neighbors and to die.

And you will have a window in your head.
Not even your future will be a mystery
any more. Your mind will be punched in a card
and shut away in a little drawer.

When they want you to buy something
they will call you. When they want you
to die for profit they will let you know.
So, friends, every day do something
that won't compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.

Denounce the government and embrace
the flag. Hope to live in that free
republic for which it stands.
Give your approval to all you cannot
understand. Praise ignorance, for what man
has not encountered he has not destroyed.

Ask the questions that have no answers.
Invest in the millenium. Plant sequoias.
Say that your main crop is the forest
that you did not plant,
that you will not live to harvest.

Say that the leaves are harvested
when they have rotted into the mold.
Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.
Put your faith in the two inches of humus
that will build under the trees
every thousand years.

Listen to carrion -- put your ear
close, and hear the faint chattering
of the songs that are to come.
Expect the end of the world. Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.
So long as women do not go cheap
for power, please women more than men.

Ask yourself: Will this satisfy
a woman satisfied to bear a child?
Will this disturb the sleep
of a woman near to giving birth?

Go with your love to the fields.
Lie down in the shade. Rest your head
in her lap. Swear allegiance
to what is nighest your thoughts.

As soon as the generals and the politicos
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it. Leave it as a sign
to mark the false trail, the way
you didn't go.

Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection.

"Plain Truth" with Mariska Hargitay and Alison Pill

This is "Law and Order" meets "The Waltons", on steroids. There are more false leads here than answers when Katie (Mariska Hargitay) plays a corporate attorney who is fast approaching 40 and wondering why she helps to vindicate Corporations. She wins and saves them great sums, but questions why. What happened to her idealism? So, Katie decides to take a break - but ends up with a murder trial instead.

And when her defendant turns out to be an 18 year old Amish girl(Alison Pill) accused of murdering her own new born child, the plot becomes magnetic. When she refuses to provide the answers that only she can provide to save herself, the race is on for the defense to find the truth.

At first this film seems to be just another re-make of "Witness" with Harrison Ford, but it is much more. It touches upon subjects of real sensitivity; such as religion, education and even our own subjectation to systems that may not be true to our own real values. There is always a price to be paid. Always a compromise with the truth.

As Katie learns, in a surprise twist ending, there is no real difference in the corporate will to survive than our own as individuals. In the end she is left wondering just why she took that time off to begin with?

Written and Directed seamlessly, this movie had me in my seat the entire time. I never hit pause. And that's rare. Just ask Sue! The Cinematography is wonderful, with panoramic views of the Amish countryside. Released in 2004, this is yet another one that seems to have slipped by me.