Paul Newman is one of my favorite actors of all-time, and I have always really liked Sally Field. That is what makes it hard for me to understand why I haven’t made the effort to watch this movie until now, almost 30 years after it was released. In my defense, I was 10 when it originally came out. Granted that doesn’t explain why it took nearly 30 years, but it at least explains away part of the time.
It really is a very good movie though. It is the story of a female reporter named Megan Carter (Sally Field), who is tricked by a prosecutor who can’t solve a murder case, into running a story about an investigation into local business man Michael Gallagher (Paul Newman) who has mob ties. The fake story was the prosecutors attempt to get Gallagher to help him solve the murder of a union leader in the Miami area.
Carter and Gallagher get, “involved” with one another along the way. Carter prints another story that leads to Gallagher’s lifelong friends self-demise. This sends Gallagher into revenge mode. The revenge he tries to get is on the prosecutors and not Carter.
Wilford Brimley’s character of Attorney General Wells steals the show. He comes in and wraps everything up with a nice tidy bow.
The actual ending of the movie could have been better in my opinion. I just wasn’t happy with that ending. I don’t want to say how everything turned out to avoid spoilers as best as I can.
The film is definitely worth seeing. You can get it on demand below from Amazon.com, or purchase the DVD.
Here is the original movie trailer for Absence of Malice.
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