Born Innocent (film)

Born Innocent
"Born Innocent" DVD cover
Genre	Drama
Written by	Book: Creighton Brown Burnham Teleplay: Gerald Di Pego
Directed by	Donald Wrye
Starring	Linda Blair Richard Jaeckel Kim Hunter
Theme music composer	Fred Karlin
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
Production
Executive producer(s)	Robert W. Christiansen Rick Rosenberg
Producer(s)	Bruce Cohn Curtis
Location(s)	Albuquerque, New Mexico Algodones, New Mexico
Cinematography	David M. Walsh
Editor(s)	Maury Winetrobe
Running time	98 minutes
Production company(s)	Tomorrow Entertainment
Distributor	NBC
Release
Original network	NBC
Original release	September 10, 1974

Born Innocent is a 1974 American made-for-television drama film which was first aired under the NBC World Premiere Movie umbrella on September 10, 1974. Highly publicized and controversial, Born Innocent was the highest-rated television movie to air in the United States in 1974. The movie deals with the physical, psychological and sexual abuse of a teenage girl, and included graphic content never before seen on American television at that time.

Christine 'Chris' Parker (Linda Blair) is a 14-year-old runaway who, after getting arrested one too many times, is sentenced to do time in a girls' juvenile detention center, which doubles as a reform school for the girls. It is slowly revealed that Christine Parker comes from an abusive home; her father (Richard Jaeckel) would beat her on a regular basis, which caused Chris to run away many times. Her mother (Kim Hunter) is just as troubled as Chris is; unfeeling, sitting in her recliner, watching television and smoking cigarettes all day, and in complete denial as to what her husband is doing. Only Chris' older brother Tom (Mitch Vogel) is aware of the abuse, but he is powerless to help Chris out, as he has his own family to care about and look after. While the movie had a morality play tone, calling attention to the harsh conditions of juvenile detention centers, it also blames society for Christine's downfall.

Throughout the movie, Chris' social worker Emma Lasko (Allyn Ann McLerie) never realizes that her dysfunctional parents caused her to run away and the juvenile justice system focused all the blame and punishment on Christine for her bad behavior. With the exception of one dedicated counselor, named Barbara Clark (Joanna Miles), the reform school personnel were mostly apathetic and allowed an unhealthy, destructive culture to fester in the school. Despite Barbara's attempts to help Christine talk about her problems, she is powerless as Chris refuses to open up to her or anyone else about her problems at home.