An Innocent Man (1989)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Peter Yates

Writer (WGA):

Larry Brothers (written by)

Release Date:

6 October 1989 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Two cops on the take just made the biggest mistake of their lives. They framed An Innocent Man

Plot:

Jimmie Rainwood was minding his own business when two corrupt police officers (getting an address wrong) burst into his house...

Plot Keywords:

Prison | Framed | Police | Corrupt Cop | Drug Dealing

Cast

Tom Selleck	...	Jimmie Rainwood
F. Murray Abraham	...	Virgil Cane
Laila Robins	...	Kate Rainwood
David Rasche	...	Detective Mike Parnell LBPD
Richard Young	...	Detective Danny Scalise LBPD
Badja Djola	...	Detective John Fitzgerald, Internal Affairs LBPD
Todd Graff	...	Robby, Con
M.C. Gainey	...	Malcolm, Con
Peter Van Norden	...	Peter Feldman, Rainwood's Attorney
Bruce A. Young	...	Jingles, Con
James T. Morris	...	Junior
Terry Golden	...	Felix, Con
Dennis Burkley	...	Butcher, Con
Thomas B. Kackert	...	Dove
Vito Peterson	...	Handjob

Also Known As:

Hard Rain (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

113 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Netherlands:16 | Spain:18 | UK:18 | Finland:K-15 (new rating: 2001) | France:U | Singapore:PG (cut) | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 (original rating) | Norway:18 (video rating) | Sweden:15 | USA:R | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

4th Street Viaduct, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Interscope Communications

Trivia:

Many of the film's prison scenes were filmed at the old Hamilton County Jail in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Jail, also known as the "Cincinnati Workhouse", had been permanently closed prior to the location filming of the movie. It had been built during the Civil War to house enemy troops and was still in use by Hamilton county and Cincinnati area police agencies as a jail as late as the 1970s. It was closed due to being "inhumane, cruel and unusual" by modern jail standards.

Goofs:

Continuity: The plexiglass piece used to make the shank is obviously much thicker than the rest of the broken window.

Quotes:

Lt. Freebery, Head Guard at Prison: [at infirmary after Jimmie is beaten by Jingles and his thugs... upon seeing Rainwood in bed] Oh, man. Rainwood, why don't you do yourself and everyone else some good here. Give me their names. I'll make sure they don't bother you anymore.
Jimmie Rainwood: [weakly] I fell.
Lt. Freebery, Head Guard at Prison: You need some help in here. It's pretty obvious.
Jimmie Rainwood: I might be new, but I know how some things work around here.
Lt. Freebery, Head Guard at Prison: [sighs] Fine. You want to be known as a stand-up guy? Fine.
Jimmie Rainwood: I fell.
Lt. Freebery, Head Guard at Prison: When you get out of here, you're going to segregation for 15 days. Maybe that'll jog your memory.
[...]

Movie Connections:

References "MisteRogers' Neighborhood" (1968)

Very compelling

Tom Selleck is absolutely fabulous in this movie! Hollywood usually is very bad with jailhouse movies. They tend to go to extremes when depicting what it's like to suddenly lose your freedom and always neglect to portray the mind-numbing boredom, lack of privacy and constant noise that is for years part of a prisoners daily life. Having spent time in prison myself may make me a bit biased in favor of a movie where a convict actually gets revenge on the cops who set him up-so be it. I can remember only one other movie as good as this that came close to showing the reality of prison life and that was 'Short Eyes' a movie filmed in the Tombs in Manhattan-a place where I was a guest more than once. Check out the wonderful performance of F. Murray Abraham in this flick as the tough old con that give Selleck advice on how to survive in prison. Jailhouse movies made in Hollywood always seem patently phony to me as a rule-like some director's idea of what he thinks jail should be. This one is a huge exception to that rule. I recommend it highly and think you'll like it.