A Case of Rape

A Case of Rape
Elizabeth Montgomery in court
Directed by	Boris Sagal
Written by	Louis Rudolph Robert E. Thompson
Starring	Elizabeth Montgomery Ronny Cox
Release date(s)	1974
Country	United States
Language	English

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

Plot

Ellen appears to have a happy marriage to David, although his frequent work-related absences are beginning to take a toll on her. While taking night school classes with her neighbor and best friend, Marge Bracken, she is introduced to Larry Retzliff.

Ellen and Marge accept a ride home from Retzliff the same night while David is away. Once Ellen is in her apartment, Retzliff arrives claiming car trouble and asks to use the phone. When Ellen lets him in, he overpowers and rapes her. Unable to reach David by phone, and emotionally unable to report the crime, Ellen decides to put the attack behind her, and tries through three showers to literally 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 forget 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 viciously.

After reporting the attack, the treatment that Ellen receives from the police, doctors, and detectives is anything but sympathetic. While her attorney, Leonard Alexander, appears to have her best interests at heart, he clearly has his reservations: he is once heard commenting "Never try a rape case unless your victim is a 90-year-old nun with at least four stab wounds."

Defending Retzliff is ruthless attorney Muriel Dyer, who bullies witnesses and Ellen herself on the stand, ultimately winning Retzliff an acquittal. Some time after the trial, he attempts to rape someone else. While trying to escape from the police, he is shot and wounded, and ends up pleading guilty to the rape and sentenced to prison.

Ellen and David's marriage is strained by the events of the film, and they ultimately get a divorce.

Cast

• Elizabeth Montgomery as Ellen Harrod
• Ronny Cox as David Harrod
• Cliff Potts as Larry Retzliff
• William Daniels as Leonard Alexander
• Rosemary Murphy as Muriel Dyer
• Ken Swofford as Detective Riley
• Jonathan Lippe as Detective Parker
• Patricia Smith as Marge Bracken

Broadcast

The film was broadcast on February 20, 1974, over the NBC Television Network, which had some reservation about showing the second rape scene. As reported by the A&E series Biography, Montgomery believed so strongly in the story that she threatened 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 during her eight-year tenure on Bewitched, received an Emmy nomination for her performance.

External links

• A Case of Rape at the Internet Movie Database