The Rape of Richard Beck (1985)

Richard Beck is a NYPD cop with some old school views regarding women, especially concerning sexual assault. Victims sometimes bring things on themselves, a lack of understanding as to why victims often have trouble identifying & prosecuting attackers (as compared to victims of other crimes), and of course a categorization of assaults as more or less important dependent on the circumstances (a date rape maybe more a misunderstanding in Beck's view, not the same as the serial attacker who grabs you off the street or invades your home). Those attitudes, however are put to the test when he himself is assaulted.Richard Crenna won an Emmy for his outstanding performance as the chauvinist cop turned victim in this film. We see Beck early on as more of a low rent Dirty Harry type, a good guy who isn't always bound by conventional rules, such as when he's about to go off duty but stops three street thugs from hassling a homeless man (and decides to teach one of them a lesson about being bullied). We also see him risk his life to save a hostage in pursuit of murder suspect, then take the armed killer down and into custody. We see Beck off duty, clearly in love with his ex wife, unhappy they aren't together but reluctantly letting her life on her own (and date someone new who seems to be spending significant time with his two kids). Becks as a father seems interested in his daughter's musical pursuits and enjoys taking his son fishing on weekends, often with his dad, a retired cop in his own right. It's all designed to show Richard Beck as a decent human being at heart, not a one dimensional male chauvinist jerk with no compassion or concern for others. Crenna does a marvelous job straddling the line between the outdated and misunderstood misogynist and the more normal cop and dad, a drama movie version of Archie Bunker, who's attitudes on race left a lot to be desired but at heart wasn't an uncaring or unsympathetic man who deeply loved his wife and daughter.All of this makes Beck's transformation to a more enlightened man believable after he is assaulted while pursuing (foolishly without back up) two felons. We see Beck faced with same life or death situation many female rape victims face, the shock and disbelief following the attack, as well as the invasive and almost dehumanizing post assault investigation conducted by medical personnel, none of which is like anything victims of other types of crimes endure, a fact that until now has eluded Beck's conscious. Of course, it would be silly if Beck "saw the light" right away, and he doesn't, as we watch him withdraw from work and family unable to process what has happened, which isn't uncommon in sex assault victims regardless of gender or any pre conceived stereotypical attitudes. Beck also deals with the questions surrounding many victims related to whether or not their behavior caused the assault, made worse here for dramatic effect because of Beck's reputation as a rogue in the field and the way he has rubbed some higher ups in the Department and DA's office the wrong way through the years, a classic case of "prosecuting the victim".The supporting cast is strong, particularly Francis Lee McCain as Beck's ex wife, who plays a key role in helping him regain his dignity and re connect with his kids after his self imposed post assault exile. Meredith Baxter plays a rape counselor who in the past who crossed paths with Beck, but despite their differences she offers him support in the end, as well as a lead in possible serial rape case that Beck agrees to follow up on which involves a suspect he let walk on a bench warrant when trading information on another case (maybe not the best choice he could have made). Some of the individual scenes are gut wrenching, including the actual assault, Beck's initial rape exam in the hospital, his being brought to tears as the DA questions whether he was at fault for the assault, and great scene where Beck, trying to get his life back to normal, resumes his weekend fishing trips with his son and father, only to have his dad turn on him, humiliating him in front of his child, furious his son the cop would even engage such criminals without back up and unable to understand how his son could "let" an assault like this happen (you start to see where some of Beck's preconceived opinions have come from). Crenna is outstanding start to finish, despite some very challenging material, and deservedly won an Emmy Award For Best Leading Actor for this film (this was a busy time for him as he also received two Golden Globe nominations, one for this film and one for his role in the Matt Dillon film "Flamingo Kid"). This is one TV movie that stands the test of time and remains compelling no matter when it's viewed.

I remember seeing this as a little me back in the 1980's.If I remember correctly Beck was underground someplace and is cornered by 2 guys or whatever. One of the guys says to him "I just broke up with my girlfriend" and I think his partner says "yeah he just broke up with his girlfriend-why don't you help him out" or something to that affect. Then due to the magic of television- the camera pulls out as the viewers see a struggle ensue-then the picture fades to back leaving me as a young viewer to wonder-what was happening? As a grown-up I know what was happening- he was getting violated against his will by other men. That one sequence has had a profound place in my mind ever since- It is fatefully stored in my mind with all the other bits and pieces of stuff I would rather forget...I am so glad this is available in some form again, I must revisit this movie again with older-eyes!

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!!!

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