Search - Guilty by Suspicion on DVD

MPAA Rating: PG-13 Content Advisory: Mild Violence, Adult Situations, Not For Children, Adult Language, Profanity Movie Release: 1991 DVD Release: 11/10/1998 Format: DVD - Pan and Scan Audio Tracks: English Subtitles: English SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 45 mins Studio: Warner Home Video Total Copies: 16 Genres: Drama, Period Film, Political Drama, Showbiz Drama

The directorial debut of producer Irwin Winkler, Guilty by Suspicion is a sobering account of one movie executive's woes in dealing with the political fallout from the McCarthy Era Hollywood blacklist. Robert De Niro stars as David Merrill, a film director in the 1950s whose obsession with his burgeoning career has estranged him from his wife Ruth (Annette Bening) and their son. When he returns from a trip to Paris, Merrill is surprised when told by his boss, Darryl F. Zanuck (Ben Piazza) that he's been summoned to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee, which is investigating Communist ties to Hollywood. Although Merrill once attended a meeting years before, he's not a Communist, and he refuses to help the committee wreck the career of his friend Bunny Baxter (George Wendt). Merrill becomes blacklisted, unable to find work even in menial positions or under assumed names as the editor of a B-movie or the director of a low-budget Western. Reconciled with his family, Merrill caves in and agrees to testify, but as he prepares to "name names," his conscience plagues him. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Robert De Niro - David Merrill
Annette Bening - Ruth Merrill
George Wendt - Bunny Baxter
Patricia Wettig - Dorothy Nolan
Sam Wanamaker - Felix Graff

Irwin Winkler's Guilty by Suspicion makes a decent DVD, the most appealing element of which is its price. Part of the Warner Home Video low-price line, it does boast 28 well-selected chapters but otherwise no other special features. The movie itself is a well-intentioned but deeply flawed, fictionalized look at the beginnings of the Hollywood blacklist, filled with anachronisms in the performances as well as the plot details; it also drops too many names for its own good and is sloppily executed. But the DVD looks and sounds great in this release, with beautifully expansive stereo sound. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide