Movie · 1981 · Drama, Romance · 1h 56m · PG · English
Curator score: 4.3/10 (27.2K ratings)
In America can a man be guilty until proven innocent?
Overview
Megan Carter is a reporter duped into running an untrue story on Michael Gallagher, a suspected racketeer. He has an alibi for the time his crime was allegedly committed—but it involves an innocent party. When he tells Carter the truth and the newspaper runs it, tragedy follows, forcing Carter to face up to the responsibilities of her job when she is confronted by Gallagher.
Ratings
Curator score: 4.3/10
IMDb: 6.9/10
Letterboxd: 3.35/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 82%
Metacritic: 64
TMDB: 6.6/10
Director
Sydney Pollack
Production
Mirage Enterprises, Columbia Pictures
Cast
Sally Field, Paul Newman, Bob Balaban, Melinda Dillon, Luther Adler, Barry Primus, Josef Sommer, John Harkins, Don Hood, Wilford Brimley, Arnie Ross, Barbara Keegan, Barry Hober, Phanie Napoli, Shelley Spurlock, Shawn McAllister, Joe Petrullo, William Kerwin, Oswaldo Calvo, Sharon Anderson
Curator Review
Verdict
A polished, adult newsroom thriller with strong performances and a sharp premise about the ethics of reporting, but it’s uneven in tone and can feel dated in its gender politics and melodramatic plotting. Worth it if you like 1970s/early-80s journalism dramas and star-driven moral dilemmas; less so if you want a tightly engineered thriller or a modern sensibility.
Best for
fans of newsroom and media-ethics dramas
viewers who like star vehicles with grown-up dialogue
people interested in wrong-man stories and legal pressure-cooker plots
Sydney Pollack admirers
Skip if
you’re sensitive to dated sexism or paternalistic character writing
you want a fast, procedural thriller
you prefer a more cynical or harder-edged media satire
you need a fully satisfying romantic subplot
Overview
Absence of Malice is the kind of early-80s studio drama that wants to be both a thriller and a cautionary tale. It has a strong hook: a reporter publishes a damaging story, and the fallout exposes how easily “truth” can be manufactured, weaponized, and defended. The movie’s best asset is its cast, especially Paul Newman’s cool, controlled presence and Sally Field’s anxious energy, which give the film more texture than the script always earns.
Worth noting
The problem is that the movie’s moral argument is a little too tidy, and its treatment of Field’s character can feel condescending even by the standards of the era. It’s often compelling, but not always incisive; the plotting stretches, the romance feels awkwardly grafted on, and the final act leans hard on speeches and institutional hand-wringing. Still, there’s enough craft and tension here to make it a worthwhile watch for viewers drawn to journalistic ethics and character-driven suspense.
Bottom line
If you come to it as a companion piece to the great newsroom films, it lands as a lesser but still interesting entry: less propulsive than the classics, more melodramatic than it first appears, and very much of its moment. The result is a respectable, watchable film that’s more fascinating than fully satisfying.
Top Letterboxd reviews
📀 Cammmalot 📀 (3.5★) · 152 likes
Cinematic Time Capsule1981 Marathon - Film #103
”It’s 1981… People will understand.”“Are you crazy?”
Even by 1981 standards this movie is pretty sexist. Sally Field puts in a strong performance, but she’s stuck playing a pretty naive and unlikable reporter who proceeds to make every wrong decision in the book. In fact, it’s such a paradigm of wrong, that this film’s been used in journalism and public administration courses to illustrate professional errors.
The good news is that… more
matt lynch (3★) · 151 likes
Interesting and in many ways quite accidentally dated; I'm not sure how stoked I am to see a story of journalistic ineptitude (certainly timely) represented by a naive girl reporter. It's more than a little sexist even setting aside her truly monumental -- almost implausibly so -- ethical lapses. And in the end she gets a stern talking-to from a grumpy old man. Did we, in 1981, need a relative corrective to the alleged reporter/cowboys of ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN?… more Interesting and in many ways quite accidentally dated; I'm not sure how stoked I am to see a story of journalistic ineptitude (certainly timely) represented by a naive girl reporter. It's more than a little sexist even setting aside her truly monumental -- almost implausibly so -- ethical lapses. And in the end she gets a stern talking-to from a grumpy old man. Did we, in 1981, need a relative corrective to the alleged reporter/cowboys of ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN?… more
Patrick Willems · 148 likes
“and Wilford Brimley”
Rafael "Mister Movie" Jovine (3.5★) · 122 likes
Action! - Lumet/Pollack: The Fight of the Century
A film that doesn't know what it wants to be, or at least someone failed to inform composer Dave Grusin what type of music he should be producing. Seriously, from Wikipedia's description of it as a neo-noir thriller drama to many of the reviews at the time that likened it to All The President's Men, yet on more than one occasion, you have music that seems more fitting for a romantic comedy… more
Hellasguy315 (4★) · 106 likes
Apart from the fact that he was a philanthropist and race car driver and has a Rolex informally named to him and an all around great actor, isn't Paul Newman the coolest guy to come out of Hollywood?