''Unforgivable'' is a 1996 American

made-for-television A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made fo ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by Graeme Campbell and starring

John Ritter Johnathan Southworth Ritter (September 17, 1948 – September 11, 2003) was an American actor. Ritter was a son of the singing cowboy star Tex Ritter and the father of actors Jason and Tyler Ritter. He is known for playing Jack Tripper on the ...

Harley Jane Kozak Harley Jane Kozak (born January 28, 1957) is an American actress and author. She made her film debut in the slasher film ''The House on Sorority Row'' (1982), and had a recurring role as Mary Duvall on the soap opera '' Santa Barbara'' between 1 ...

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and NYPD Blue co-star

James McDaniel James McDaniel Jr. (born March 25, 1958) is an American stage, film and television actor. He is best known for playing Lt. Arthur Fancy on the television show ''NYPD Blue''. He created the role of Paul in the hit Lincoln Center play '' Six Degr ...

. The film premiered on April 30, 1996 on CBS. Though the film received little to no critical acclaim,

was praised for his performance as an abusive husband and graduating from his best known role as the lovable

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on ''

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''.

Plot

Paul Hegstrom is a ferociously violent man, and is a top salesman at a car dealership. Paul's wife of 17 years, Judy, is a homemaker. They have three children, Tammy, Jeff, and Heidi. Judy called Paul at work, after he told her to check in with him, but he was with a client, and her call cost him a sale. Judy sits on the floor in their bedroom, with a bruised and bloody face, amongst glass shards, apologizing to Paul. Paul's light colored button down shirt has visible blood stains at the wrists, as he washes his hands, and fixes a

compress compress is a Unix shell compression program based on the LZW compression algorithm. Compared to more modern compression utilities such as gzip and bzip2, compress performs faster and with less memory usage, at the cost of a significantly lo ...

for Judy, and professes his love for her. The next morning, as the kids get ready for school, it is made clear that the Hegstrom's oldest daughter, a high school aged— Tammy, is fully aware of the abuse that happens and she does not buy in to any cover-up excuses. Paul is also having an affair with Beth French, the owner of a local bar he frequents with his coworkers. Beth tries to break it off with Paul because he won't leave his wife and kids. Paul goes home that evening and starts in on Judy when Tammy comes into the kitchen and confronts him. Tammy begins to call the police, and Paul throws her into a wall and she hits her head. Paul storms out of the house, noticing his other children hiding. He goes to Beth's house and lies to her about leaving Judy. At work, Paul is in a sales slump and snaps when his boss, Tom, tries to discuss it, and the personal problems he's been having lately. Paul's rage continues to escalate when Beth asks about the status of his divorce. At work, Paul has a shouting match in Tom's office over a deal he handled incorrectly, and Paul is fired. Judy is served with divorce papers. Paul gets a job at another car dealership, and quits shortly after, having gotten into argument with his boss. After getting drunk at a bar, Paul goes to Judy's house and is arrested after they refuse to let him in. Beth is tipped off by several people about what occurred that evening, and tries to throw him out of her house, and he beats her. As she tries to get away, she is thrown through a glass shower door, causing her to need several hundred stitches and treatment for broken bones. The DA office is pushing to file attempted murder charges against Paul, but Beth agrees not to file charges against him if he joins and completes a group counseling program for domestic violence offenders. Beth's other condition is that he gets out of her life. At the group session, Paul has trouble relating to the other men in the group, thinking he is not like them, and that his issues are not as serious as theirs. One night, the other men in the group confront Paul about his behavior and he storms out, and he is warned that if he leaves, he cannot come back. Paul destroys his apartment and nearly attempts suicide. Realizing the group is his only chance to salvage what little life he has left, he begs the group to let him back in, and they do. Paul's father was abusive alcoholic and he passed on his abusive behavior to him. A year later, Paul approaches Judy about seeing the kids after not having seen them the whole time. Paul got his life together and got a new job in the car lot. Jeff and Heidi agree to see him, but Tammy refuses. Paul graduates from the program, and Judy, Jeff, and Heidi attend the ceremony, where he gives a speech about breaking the cycle. They continue to spend time together as a family, with the exception of Tammy. It is revealed that Paul and Judy eventually remarried and opened treatment centers for men who batter women in the United States, and, as of the date of the film, Tammy had never fully reconciled with her father.

Cast

as Paul Hegstrom *

as Judy Hegstrom *

as Tammy Hegstrom * Aaron Leigh as Jeff Hegstrom * Elisabeth Lund as Heidi Hegstrom *

as Beth French * Kevin Dunn as Milton "Milt" Stella *

as Spider * Mariangela Pino as Helen Jessup

Legacy

The real life Paul and Judy Hegstrom had been remarried for 34 years, at the time of his passing on April 27, 2017, after being divorced for 7 years.

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, id=0118041, title=Unforgivable 1996 television films 1996 films 1996 crime drama films American crime drama films CBS network films Films about domestic violence American films based on actual events Films directed by Graeme Campbell (director) 1990s English-language films 1990s American films