'' Defenseless'' is a 1991

legal thriller The legal thriller genre is a type of crime fiction genre that focuses on the proceedings of the Criminal investigation, investigation, with particular reference to the impacts on courtroom proceedings and the lives of characters. The courtroom ...

film directed by

Martin Campbell Martin Campbell (born 24 October 1943) is a New Zealand film and television director based in the United Kingdom. He is known for having directed '' The Mask of Zorro'' as well as the James Bond films '' GoldenEye'' and '' Casino Royale''. He ...

and produced by Renée Missel and David Bombek.

Plot

Lawyer Thelma 'T.K.' Knudsen Katwuller represents Steven Seldes - who is accused of involvement in making underage porn movies, though he claims innocence - and he is also her lover. When T.K. meets Steven's wife Ellie things turn awkward, as the two women had been college roommates. When T.K. subsequently confronts Steven at his office, a fight ensues in which she injures him with a letter opener. When T.K. returns later on, she finds Steven dead with multiple stab wounds. Upon finding Ellie's sweater at the crime scene, the police arrest her for the murder and T.K. agrees to defend her.

Cast

Barbara Hershey Barbara Lynn Herzstein, better known as Barbara Hershey (born February 5, 1948), is an American actress. In a career spanning more than 50 years, she has played a variety of roles on television and in cinema in several genres, including weste ...

as Thelma "T.K." Katwuller *

Sam Shepard Samuel Shepard Rogers III (November 5, 1943 – July 27, 2017) was an American actor, playwright, author, screenwriter, and director whose career spanned half a century. He won 10 Obie Awards for writing and directing, the most by any write ...

as Detective Beutel * J.T. Walsh as Steven Seldes *

Mary Beth Hurt Mary Beth Hurt (''née'' Supringer; born September 25, 1946) is an American actress of stage and screen. She is a three-time Tony Award-nominated actress. Notable films in which Hurt has appeared include '' Interiors'' (1978), ''The World Accord ...

as Ellie Seldes *

Sheree North Sheree North (born Dawn Shirley Crang; January 17, 1932 – November 5, 2005) was an American actress, dancer, and singer, known for being one of 20th Century-Fox's intended successors to Marilyn Monroe. Early life North was born Dawn Shirley ...

as Mrs. Bodeck * George P. Wilbur as Sherman Bodeck

Home media

''Defenseless'' was released on VHS by Live Home Video and around the same time in Canada by Cineplex Odeon. A TV edit of the film was released on DVD in 2002 by

Platinum Disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

. A widescreen unedited DVD was released in Japan by

Universal Studios Home Entertainment Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (formerly Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Video, MCA/Universal Home Video, MCA Home Video, MCA Videodisc and MCA Videocassette, Inc.) is the home video distribution division of Am ...

, under license from

StudioCanal StudioCanal S.A.S. (formerly known as Le Studio Canal+, Canal Plus, Canal+ Distribution, Canal+ D.A., Canal+ Production, and Canal+ Image and also known as StudioCanal International) is a French film production and distribution company that owns ...

, in 2007.

External links

* * * 1991 films Films directed by Martin Campbell 1991 thriller films Films about lawyers Films about murder American courtroom films 1990s English-language films 1990s American films {{1990s-thriller-film-stub