Summer Lightning

Well preformed by everyone. Scary as hell as this great country hasn't yet turned the corner for civility and tolerance. Every group today feels that they are better and more deserving than the other. Leadership is needed but not seen. The film is relevant in 1988 as today 2020.

What do you get when you team up the director of MISSING and Z and the writer of SHOWGIRLS and FLASHDANCE? A political film where the FBI is portrayed as even less honorable than the Klansmen and neo-Nazis they're trying to fight, and the female lead (well played by Debra Winger) is a victim of both sides, valuable to the FBI only because of her sex appeal, and unable to trust anyone except her small stepdaughter. That said, BETRAYED is an interesting, very watchable and disturbingly credible movie with some powerful moments, and the cast (particularly Berenger, Winger and the juveniles) give excellent performances.

"Betrayed" has a gripping start but for a while after that it seems like it's not up to much (maybe because the trailer gives away too much of the plot)....gradually it emerges as a disturbing, thought-provoking and emotionally complex (even the title is ambivalent) political thriller. This may be Joe Eszterhas' weightiest script ever, though it does require major suspension of disbelief at some points. Costa Gavras directs with old-fashioned efficiency (the "hunting" sequence is harrowing), and the two leads, especially Tom Berenger, give their roles more dimensions that you might expect from reading the basic outline of the plot. All in all, it's a flawed but underrated movie. **1/2 out of 4.

I found this movie to be effective as both fiction and non-fiction. Debra Winger and Tom Berenger both give first rate performances. This movie reveals how racism is passed down from one generation to the next. The passage, "the sins of the father are visited on the son" seem particularly relevant. I was surprised that it did not receive a higher user rating. Eventhough I saw it years ago, it remains in my memory as a very powerful and important movie.

I've seen Betrayed for three times now, and each time it just gets better and better. Tom Berenger is excellent as Gary Simmons. He is perfect for the role, that requires in-depth understanding about love and hate. This man loves his family dearly and is extremely loyal to things he believes to be justified, and at the same time he is capable of doing most savage deeds towards other people he think are sub-human. Simmons is so cold and yet such a nice man at the same time it makes my blood freeze in my veins. Also Debra Winger is great as Katie Phillips. She finds herself falling in love with this man and then realizes that everything is not so perfect she thought it was. Her disappointment is almost palpable. I highly recommend this movie to all, who wonder with amazement the dark sides of human nature.

Federal agent Debra Winger goes undercover in rural Texas as a combine operator, infiltrating a group of down-home guys and their families in the hopes of linking them to white supremacy and the murder of a shock-talk radio host. Winger is romanced by the group's ringleader (Tom Berenger), and very quickly seems to cross many lines that aren't covered in the FBI trainee's manual. Berenger takes Winger to a KKK camp-out, to a human hunt (with a black man as the target) and to a bank robbery (to finance their cause), yet Debra's superiors actually request that she get more probing evidence! An exasperating movie, with facetious, halting dialogue leaving whole sequences feeling half-finished--and Winger's character without much personality. Director Costa-Gavras seems intent on underplaying this whole matter, to the point where even shocking moments come off as muted, matter-of-fact occurrences. **1/2 from ****