The Rape of Richard Beck

1985 "He had to learn the truth - the hard way."
6.6| 1h40m| NR| en
Details

The tables turn for cynical police officer Richard Beck when he's viciously attacked by two homicidal crooks. Having never been empathetic toward the victims he's dealt with on a daily basis, Beck must now confront the tough system he was a part of. As he struggles to regain his status at work, he also must make sure those responsible for his attack are prosecuted.

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Reviews

Scanialara You won't be disappointed!
Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.
Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional
Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.
Angela Lee (angilee-1) I saw this movie when it first came out on television. At the time, and still today, male rape is rarely spoken about. It is under reported even more than crimes against women. I found this little gem at Big Lots in Huntington Beach California for only $1.50...It does not come in the fancy book style DVD package, but in a little cardboard holder. Crenna's picture is on the cover, under the title Deadly Justice. Hearst owns the rights. It is in the video section. Richard Crenna was always one of my favorite actors and he had a lot of guts to take on this subject matter. Meredith Baxter has a small but important part as the rape counselor. At the end Beck becomes a speaker to graduating police cadets about how rape can happen to anyone, even a man, even a cop. Great movie!!!
Politicon This movie truly is remarkable. I know the title might sound a little off-putting to some but if you stick with it you're in for a real cinematic pleasure.It tells the story of Richard Beck, a no nonsense police officer in America. Throughout the early stages of the film, we see him reacting to various sexual assaults in a light manner. He doesn't think it's possible that someone could actually feel stress, humiliation or even shame at being anally sexually abused. However, eventually some young hoods take his anal-virginity leading to Richard Beck feeling at constant unease around other men.It's such an eye opener that Beck really was raped that made him an enlightened human being. Thank god this man was raped, for otherwise he would be stuck in his old ways and we can now all sleep easy knowing that he knows that rape is wrong.
Noirdame79 After a few years of fruitlessly trying to find this film, I finally won the jackpot when I found it on DVD (with the title "Deadly Justice") and at a decent price!!! I had read Video Movie guides and all of the reviews for this movie were very positive and encouraging. I knew that with the late, great Richard Crenna on board (truly deserving the Emmy he won for this performance, and he was the king of TV movies) this was a must-see.For the time, this film was quite daring (with the exception of such movies as "Deliverance") and very realistically acted. Crenna is fantastic as the chauvinistic, inconsiderate, hardened cop who believes that sexual assault victims "bring it on themselves". His attitude does not serve him well when he is re-assigned to the Sex Crimes Unit in his precinct. He cracks offensive jokes after trying to remove a nude rape victim from a phone booth who is incoherent with fear. He undergoes a transformation and an attitude adjustment after he is beaten and brutally attacked by two criminal sadists. Thankfully, because this movie was made for TV in the mid-80s, we are not exposed to the graphic details of the rape, nor are any given later on in the statements that Richard Beck makes. But, truthfully, we don't need to be shown. We know what he's gone through, as he experiences everything that rape victims face - and perhaps, because he is both a straight male and a cop - even more. He realizes that people look at him differently, especially his partners and most notably, his father. His dad cannot understand why Beck didn't do more to stop the attack, and Richard realizes, after going through the denial phase, that what happened to him was not his fault, despite what people say. He flashbacks to the assault, alienates his girlfriend, and has to answer embarrassing questions (as all sexual assault victims who report the crime do), like, has he ever had homosexual relations before? His ordeal transforms him into a more aware and sensitive individual who sees that the medieval attitudes toward rape need to change. What I thought was a nice touch was his rescuing a woman from a rapist, his ex-wife and children being the most supportive of him, going over his partner's objections of identifying his attackers, and finally, speaking to the cadets in the Police Academy, spreading awareness, concern and knowledge.It was also great to see two 80s TV moms in the same film (Meredith Birney of "Family Ties" and Joanna Kerns of "Growing Pains"). Pat Hingle was great as Beck's father, and Frances Lee McCain was compassionate as Beck's ex-wife. But the biggest honors go to Crenna, for his realistic and excellent portrayal. His talent and presence is, and will continue to be greatly missed, but his impact will live on. I highly recommend this film. You may never look at sexual assault the same way again. RIP Richard.
Theo Robertson This TVM features rape as the dramatic centre point but there`s a difference in that the victim is a middle aged streetwise cop who is MALE . The crime itself is thankfully understated ( This is a TVM after all ) and the teleplay revolves around the victim Richard Beck struggling to come to terms with his rape as he finds sympathy in short supply Casting Richard Crenna as Beck is a double edged sword . Crenna is best known as playing supporting roles usually as good guys and he gives a very good performance here . Unfortunately he does come over as being far too nice to be entirely convincing as a tough streetwise cop . I couldn`t help notice that the script also seems to play up to the nice guy character of Beck . We the audience are supposed to empathise with the victim but if they`d made Beck a rather more hard edged or just plain nasty and cynical character we`d have still felt sorry for him . Considering the theme is one of rape I can`t feeling the producers have made a mistake in making Beck too likable . Were they frightened that if we saw Beck give someone a few slaps now and again we would have thought he deserved to be raped in some way ? I can`t help thinking everything would have worked a bit better if there had been more in the way of " Rape victims deserved it " from a sneering cynical arrogant pre rape Richard Beck which would have made a few scenes work even better , scenes like where his police chief says " Get out of here punk " when Beck goes to pieces at the ID parade or when Beck desparately explains to his unsympathetic relative that " There was nothing I could do , they had a gun to my head " As it is THE RAPE OF RICHARD BECK is a very good TVM but probably tries a little too hard to make us empathise with the rape victim which isn`t necessary because no one deserves to be raped