Mrs. Soffel (1984)
Kate Soffel is married to a prison warden in Pittsburgh, and is the mother of their four children. Ed Biddle is a convicted murderer awaiting execution on death row with his brother Jack. When Kate meets Eddie through her Bible readings to the prisoners, she is drawn to him, and they pursue a clandestine relationship. She agrees to help the brothers escape, and begins a treacherous journey with them to freedom in Canada.
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Continuing my plan to watch every Mel Gibson movie in order, 8 come to his second American movie of 1984 Mrs Sofel.Plot In A Paragraph: Kate Soffel (Diane Keaton) develops a friendship with Ed Biddle (Mel Gibson) a convict sentenced to death for murder, when she reads the bible to him. A movie like this won't have hurt Gibson with female audiences, even though it failed to make a dent at the box office. The movie almost seems like a showcase for Gibson at times, as with the exception of Keaton, nobody else (including Matthew Modine and Edward Herman) are giving anything to allow them to shine despite both being central to the plot. It's a sad movie, but despite being "a true story" it takes a lot of believing!! How much of it was true and how much was dramatised I have no idea, but I'd say give it a watch and form your own opinions. In my worthless opinion, I'd say it's worth watching once. Mrs Sofel didn't break the top 100 grossing movies of the year.
It's been years since I've seen this film -- I remember it as being really beautiful but really annoying.But to the earlier poster who thought Mel Gibson's American accent was such an achievement: you are aware, right, that he was born in the US and lived here till he was 12 (till his father won on Jeopardy! and took the family to Australia?)
Mel Gibson's performance in "Mrs. Soffel" is superb in any event, but viewed in the context that it is the first time he played an American character on film, that his brother was played by American actor Matthew Modine, and that the film was based on a true story of two men from Pittsburgh, it is an even greater achievement.
Mrs Soffel is based on a true story. It goes about a woman who falls in love with a prisonner who will executed soon. She helps him to escape with his brother... Mel Gibson and Diane Keaton give very thouching performances and it is a little bit like 'Romeo and Juliette'. I loved it very much and Gibson & Keaton are just wonderful. I hope that Keaton & Gibson will make other great masterpieces ... Rating: 8/10 or *** out of ****