A Dangerous Woman (1993 film)

A Dangerous Woman
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Stephen Gyllenhaal
Produced by	Naomi Foner Kathleen Kennedy
Screenplay by	Naomi Foner
Based on	A Dangerous Woman by Mary McGarry Morris
Starring	Debra Winger Barbara Hershey Gabriel Byrne David Strathairn Chloe Webb John Terry Laurie Metcalf
Music by	Carter Burwell
Cinematography	Robert Elswit
Edited by	Angelo Corrao Harvey Rosenstock
Production company	Amblin Entertainment Rollercoaster Productions
Distributed by	Gramercy Pictures (USA) Island World (International)
Release dates	December 3, 1993 (1993-12-03)
Running time	102 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$1,497,222

A Dangerous Woman is a 1993 American romantic drama film directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal. The screenplay was written by his wife Naomi Foner, loosely based on the award-winning novel of the same name by Mary McGarry Morris. The feature was co-produced by Amblin Entertainment and Gramercy Pictures. It stars Debra Winger, Barbara Hershey, Gabriel Byrne and Gyllenhaal. It included Gyllenhaal and Foner's two children, Jake and Maggie, who later developed acting careers.

Debra Winger was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for her performance and also won Best Actress at the Tokyo International Film Festival.^[1]

The film has never been released on Region 1 DVD. The film was once released on video in the United Kingdom by First Independent Films.

Plot

Martha Horgan (Winger) struggles to have a normal life in spite of being mentally challenged. She is fired from a job at the local dry-cleaner after accusations of stealing from the cash register. She believes the theft was done by the boyfriend of her work colleague Birdie (Chloe Webb).

Depressed, Horgan returns to the home of Aunt Frances (Hershey) and discovers that a handyman (Gabriel Byrne) has been hired to fix the porch of the main house. Aunt Frances plans to host a gala event for a local politician. Irate over her husband's affair with Frances, the politician's wife (Laurie Metcalf) had driven into the porch and damaged it.

Mackey, the handyman, is kind to Martha. He defends her from Birdie's boyfriend Getso (David Strathairn), a bully who insults her, and smashes the windshield on Getso's van. Martha becomes increasingly fond of Mackey as time goes on. Mack recognizes Martha's feelings but does not take advantage of her.

One night Mack returns drunk to Martha's home, lets himself in and proceeds to have sex with the eager Martha on her sofa. He later sleeps with Martha's aunt, who is also drunk, despondent following the gala. Her lover politician had reconciled with his wife and left with her at the end of the evening.

Mack plans to leave as soon as he finishes the porch job, feeling guilty about being unfaithful to Martha, but Martha urges him stay and tries to seduce him. He resists at first, then succumbs, then finally rejects her and throws her out. Despondent, Martha seeks her only friend, Birdie, for comfort; she goes alone to Birdie's home. There she finds Getso, who taunts and threatens her. Feeling cornered, Martha stabs Getso repeatedly with a sandwich knife. Martha stays and tries to comfort Getso as he dies from his wounds.

Frances and Mack seek Martha at the police station where they are informed that she is pregnant and will likely be charged with murder and spend the rest of her life in jail. They find Martha overwhelmed with guilt over what she is done and resigned to her fate. Frances, already suspicious of Getso, informs Martha that she is pregnant and that all she has to do is tell the police Getso raped her and she will be released. Martha refuses because it would be a lie but doesn't reveal that Mack is the father of her child. Later, Mack again urges her to lie to save her life, but Martha instead insists that Mack must take care of their child.

A final scene set in the near future reveals that Martha was remanded to a care facility where she is allowed to have day visits. Frances, Mack, and her child are shown taking her away for just such a visit.

Cast

Critical reception

Janet Maslin of The New York Times praised the film, especially Winger's acting and Gyllenhaal's direction. But, she found the film overall more akin to melodrama than drama:

References

External links

• A Dangerous Woman at the Internet Movie Database
• A Dangerous Woman at AllMovie
• A Dangerous Woman at Box Office Mojo
• A Dangerous Woman at Rotten Tomatoes
• Original New York Times Review