Manipulative drama about a glamorous model (Margaux Hemingway) who is raped by a geeky but unbalanced musician (Chris Sarandon) - to whom she had been introduced by her younger sister (played by real-life sibling Mariel), whose music teacher he is. While the central courtroom action holds the attention - thanks largely to a commanding performance by Anne Bancroft as Hemingway's lawyer - the film is too often merely glossy, but also dramatically unconvincing: the jury ostensibly takes the musician's side because a) the girl invited assault due to the sensuous nature of her profession and b) she was offering no resistance to her presumed aggressor when her sister arrived at the apartment and inadvertently saw the couple in bed together. What the f***?!; she was clearly tied up - what resistance could she realistically offer?
The second half of the film - involving Sarandon's rape of the sister, which curiously anticipates IRREVERSIBLE (2002) by occurring in a tunnel - is rather contrived: Mariel's character should have known better than to trust Sarandon after what he did to her sister, but Margaux herself foolishly reprises the line of work which had indirectly led to her humiliating experience almost immediately! The climax - in which Sarandon gets his just desserts, with Margaux turning suddenly into a fearless and resourceful vigilante - is, however, a crowd-pleaser in the style of DEATH WISH (1974); incidentally, ubiquitous Italian movie mogul Dino De Laurentiis was behind both films.
It's worth noting how the two Hemingway sisters' lives took wildly different turns (this was the film debut of both): Margaux's career never took off (despite her undeniable good looks and commendable participation here) - while Mariel would soon receive an Oscar nomination for Woody Allen's MANHATTAN (1979) and, interestingly, would herself play a glamorous victim of raging violence when essaying the role of real-life "Playboy" centerfold Dorothy Stratten in Bob Fosse's STAR 80 (1983). With the added pressure of a couple of failed marriages, Margaux took refuge in alcohol and would eventually die of a drug overdose in 1996; chillingly, the Hemingway family had a history of suicides - notably the sisters' grandfather, celebrated author Ernest, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 1961.
The second half of the film - involving Sarandon's rape of the sister, which curiously anticipates IRREVERSIBLE (2002) by occurring in a tunnel - is rather contrived: Mariel's character should have known better than to trust Sarandon after what he did to her sister, but Margaux herself foolishly reprises the line of work which had indirectly led to her humiliating experience almost immediately! The climax - in which Sarandon gets his just desserts, with Margaux turning suddenly into a fearless and resourceful vigilante - is, however, a crowd-pleaser in the style of DEATH WISH (1974); incidentally, ubiquitous Italian movie mogul Dino De Laurentiis was behind both films.
It's worth noting how the two Hemingway sisters' lives took wildly different turns (this was the film debut of both): Margaux's career never took off (despite her undeniable good looks and commendable participation here) - while Mariel would soon receive an Oscar nomination for Woody Allen's MANHATTAN (1979) and, interestingly, would herself play a glamorous victim of raging violence when essaying the role of real-life "Playboy" centerfold Dorothy Stratten in Bob Fosse's STAR 80 (1983). With the added pressure of a couple of failed marriages, Margaux took refuge in alcohol and would eventually die of a drug overdose in 1996; chillingly, the Hemingway family had a history of suicides - notably the sisters' grandfather, celebrated author Ernest, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 1961.