Born Innocent (1974)

Very well executed

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

From my favorite movies..

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

This films is far better than I expected. For a low budget film I found the acting to be above average. The story-line is depressing about a young teen girl with no one really caring about her and a history of running away from home. My local library in Westchester County, New York has it available to rent so I did not have to purchase it or bother with Netflix. Check your on-line library system to see if they carry it on DVD. About the rape scene it is not very graphic but is on the shocking side. It's about a bunch of girls holding down a teen and using a toilet plunger to penetrate her- that's it. If you have grade school kids you may not want them to see this title. There is a fair share of other violence mixed in too. I viewed this solely to see Linda Blair. She is only age 15 when this was shot and released in 1974.

This movie was really sad. This might sound strange, but I would have made it where Moco become Chris's very close friend, like a mother to her, and have her protect Chris from the evils in the institution and the outside world. Moco looks like a very powerful character and would probably send Mr Parker flying across the room when he tried to lay a finger on Chris.That said, One scene I remember is when Blair escapes from the center, she encounters her brother at an airport(?). He gives some stupid, cornball lecture of how he has to live his own life, and then turns her over to the authorities that send her back to the prison! Gah! I swear, I wanted to reach into the screen and beat that piece of $h## of a "brother" to a pulp for his evil act. I swear, part of me wants to see Chris (or better yet, Moco!) go after his ass. Yes, the movie is really that well done, especially if it can raise such blood boiling emotions in me which is very rare for a movie!Bth: To her brother: STOP SNITCHING!

"BORN INNOCENT" remains one of the more "controversial" TV movies of the 1970s.Setting the path for Linda Blair's future in trashy,women-behind-bars,skin-flicks.This is a shame because Born Innocent is a realistic and straight-forward expose'of life in "reformatories" and the people who try to make a difference there! The well-known story concerns a 14-year-old girl,branded an "incorrigible"runaway,sent to the state school for girls after being relinquished by her parents.At the "school" we meet girls with a variety of problems and behaviors-most of whom seem simply unloved aqnd unwanted!Of course we learn otherwise but the question still remains:Can having loving parents and a "normal" life in middle-class suburbia really solve everyone's problems?Are some people just not capable of functioning within the structure of a family and becomming productive in society? I think the most couragious step that the filmakers have taken is to show the school's "inmates" as both criminals and yet still "kids" who crave acceptance from each other and yes,the adults around them!This is especially evident in the scenes in which Chris Parker(the central character) befriends those same girls who "raped" her earlier in the story!Or when Moco(the tough lesbian) actually cries when Janet(Chris' friend) loses her baby during her stint in isolation(as punishment for fighting with Moco!) By the movies' end nothing has really been resolved!After injuring their housemother during a protest riot Chris joins her friends at the school and has undoubtedly become the new "leader".We the viewers are left to wonder:Will Chris ever get out and lead a productive life?Will any of these girls "make it" out "there"? It would be interesting to have made a "follow-up" sequel-something like "Born Innocent-25 years later!" Well...maybe not!!!

Linda Blair giving a post Exorcist turn as a troubled teen who has the bad habit of bolting every time her father belts her. Funny, seventies, almost exploitation movie. Best quote: Teacher" What do girls want to do with your lives" Girl "I want to get high!" Classic.