Tonight's Movie: Marie: A True Story (1985) - A Warner Archive Blu-ray Review

MARIE: A TRUE STORY (1985), also known simply as MARIE, was released on Blu-ray last month by the Warner Archive Collection.

Sissy Spacek plays the title role in this real-life story. As the movie begins, Marie Ragghianti leaves an abusive marriage to Dave (Vincent Irizarry) and takes her three young children to live with her mother (Collin Wilcox Paxton).

Marie juggles college with a job and after graduation asks a former school friend, Eddie Sisk (Jeff Daniels), for a job in the Tennessee governor's office.

Marie is hired to be an extradition officer and ultimately is promoted to be a liaison to the state parole board; Governor Ray Blanton (Don Hood) then appoints her the head of the parole board.

Marie gradually realizes that there are many quid pro quo situations going on with pardons, leading to the release of some people who have no business being out of prison. When Eddie and the governor realize she's not going to play along with the corrupt system, Marie is fired, but she courageously fights back with a wrongful termination lawsuit.

Ultimately Marie is vindicated, with Eddie and Governor Blanton eventually heading for jail.

Spacek is very appealing as the hard-working, determined Marie, and as she's onscreen the vast majority of the movie, she carries the film along and makes it worth watching.

The screenplay by John Briley -- based on a book by Peter Maas, who also wrote SERPICO -- frankly isn't always the most scintillating; I think the same story could have been written with somewhat sharper dialogue and more concisely than the film's 102 minutes. All the right elements are there, the script simply needed a more fine-tuned draft, in my opinion.

A subplot about Marie's young son's mysterious health condition is worrisome and distracting, slowing the movie's pace, and the murder of her friend (Keith Szarabajka) was apparently made up for the film; I couldn't find any information on it via an internet search.

Still, I found the movie engrossing, most particularly when the last third or so of the movie becomes a courtroom drama. This coincides with the most interesting aspect of the movie for me: This was the film debut of one of my favorite character actors, Fred Thompson, also known as Fred Dalton Thompson.

Attorney Thompson, a former Watergate committee counsel, actually represented Marie in real life and then was cast to play himself in the movie. He does a fine job, with his charismatic personality attracting viewer interest.

The director of MARIE, Roger Donaldson, next cast Thompson in NO WAY OUT (1987), which I reviewed last month. Thompson would go on to appear in numerous films including THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER (1990), DAYS OF THUNDER (1990), and SECRETARIAT (2010), not to mention a lengthy run on TV's LAW & ORDER (2002-05).

Thompson also served as U.S. Senator from Tennessee from 1994 to 2003 and unsuccessfully ran for President in 2008. He had quite a life! He passed on in 2015 at the age of 73.

Daniels is appropriately annoying as someone who initially seems to be a good guy but turns out to be anything but. In a relatively small role, Morgan Freeman plays another not-so-good guy on the parole board. The attorney representing the state government in court is John Cullum, later known for TV's NORTHERN EXPOSURE (1990-95).

According to the end credits, famed MGM musical star Jane Powell has a bit role as a "rally singer"; I'm going to have to pop the disc back in when I have the time and see if I can find her!

Another interesting credit is that the movie was produced by Frank Capra Jr., whose father certainly knew about making movies about people crusading against corrupt government systems.

The movie was filmed by Chris Menges.

Parental Advisory: This movie is rated PG-13 for language and brief but intense scenes of violence.

The Warner Archive Blu-ray's picture and sound are both very good. The lone disc extra is the movie's trailer.

While MARIE: A TRUE STORY falls into the "good but not great" category, it's nonetheless enjoyable, the type of mid-range drama we don't see released very often anymore. It certainly makes the viewer wish for more of these types of solid, well-acted movies. I enjoyed this film and believe many of my readers will find it equally worthwhile.

Thanks to the Warner Archive for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray. Warner Archive Blu-rays may be ordered from Movie Zyng, Amazon, and other online retailers.

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