I've never heard or seen what the late Margaux Hemingway thought of her decision to star in this classic Dino Delaurentis "anything for a buck" hack fest, but I'd guess it's regret.
If you subtract the horribly slapped together courtroom denouement, tighten up the sometimes hackneyed, over-melodramatic, cliché-ridden script, you're left with a harsh examination of rape and the judicial realities (circa 1976 anyway) of the crime's aftermath.
Providing the movie was of a slightly higher grade (it's really not THAT bad a film if you look at it strictly in a technical sense), an established actress who was put through the paces Margaux is here would probably garner an Oscar nomination (think Jodie Foster's performance as a hard-edged working-class girl in "The Accused" --- was that any less graphic and sleazy?). Unfortunately, it's much easier to beat up (no pun intended) on a model with no acting experience.
Frankly, I've never thought Margaux's delivery here was bad --- it's natural, and her exchanges with her sister Mariel are believable and touching. Chris Sarandon, though suitably hateful, brings a creepy realism to his wacko music teacher/rapist role, and Anne Bancroft is solid as usual.
The biggest problem I've had with this film is it's unequivocal equation of electronic/avant-garde music with a deviant, unbalanced mind. Given that postulate, behind every sex offender therein lies a complete catalog of Tangerine Dream, John Cage, and Hawkwind.
If you subtract the horribly slapped together courtroom denouement, tighten up the sometimes hackneyed, over-melodramatic, cliché-ridden script, you're left with a harsh examination of rape and the judicial realities (circa 1976 anyway) of the crime's aftermath.
Providing the movie was of a slightly higher grade (it's really not THAT bad a film if you look at it strictly in a technical sense), an established actress who was put through the paces Margaux is here would probably garner an Oscar nomination (think Jodie Foster's performance as a hard-edged working-class girl in "The Accused" --- was that any less graphic and sleazy?). Unfortunately, it's much easier to beat up (no pun intended) on a model with no acting experience.
Frankly, I've never thought Margaux's delivery here was bad --- it's natural, and her exchanges with her sister Mariel are believable and touching. Chris Sarandon, though suitably hateful, brings a creepy realism to his wacko music teacher/rapist role, and Anne Bancroft is solid as usual.
The biggest problem I've had with this film is it's unequivocal equation of electronic/avant-garde music with a deviant, unbalanced mind. Given that postulate, behind every sex offender therein lies a complete catalog of Tangerine Dream, John Cage, and Hawkwind.