Disturbing, controversial NBC TV-movie, one of the most popular television-made dramas from the 1970s (regularly shown right into the '80s) has young Linda Blair fresh off "The Exorcist" and well-cast as a teen runaway facing hard time in a girls reform school. Gritty, documentary-like production filmed on a low-budget in New Mexico has (intentionally?) fuzzy sound and photography which may put some viewers off. The performances by the troubled girls, including Blair, are natural and compelling; Joanna Miles (a Carrie Snodgress look-alike) is sympathetic as a well-meaning teacher; Allyn Ann McLerie does a bravura dramatic turn in a clichéd part as a hardened housemother. The film's downbeat theme can be disheartening and difficult as an entertainment, but there are sensitive and moving sequences, and Fred Karlin contributes an evocative score. The sequence with Blair being raped by a group of girls using a toilet-brush handle caused so much controversy after its initial airing that the scene was dropped for the repeat (intact on DVD). Blair followed this up with a handful of other television stunners, and gained confidence as an actress with each one.
33 Reviews
Childhood movie Number 3.
Captain_Couth3 December 2003
Born Innocent (1974) is a made for T.V. movie that I caught on the old Black and white many years ago. A sad film about a young girl (Linda Blair) and all the trouble she went through while she was in reform school. Her parents seem oblivious to her problems when a social worker tries to find out about her family life. I am disappointed that this movie is not availible for viewing anywhere. A shame because it's a great made for television film.
Strongly recommended.
Strongly recommended.
I felt like I was watching a documentary
lastliberal13 February 2008
This was New Mexico, but I have seen many such facilities during my time as a foster caseworker over nine years in Texas. The only thing that was outside my knowledge was the isolation. I cannot imagine that any facility has a solitary confinement room.
The terrible tragedy of young women depicted in this film was real. Abuse and neglect by parents who cannot and will not take the time to raise their children properly and are surprised when they rebel.
Christine never had a chance. She was kicked out by an abusive father and a mother who could not defend her. She was probably getting beaten herself. She was thrown in with too many others who had problems of their own that were not being addressed.
After abuse at home and in the system, she hardened just like prisoners do and was forever lost.
15-year-old Oscar nominee and Golden Globe winner Linda Blair was magnificent in this realistic film.
The terrible tragedy of young women depicted in this film was real. Abuse and neglect by parents who cannot and will not take the time to raise their children properly and are surprised when they rebel.
Christine never had a chance. She was kicked out by an abusive father and a mother who could not defend her. She was probably getting beaten herself. She was thrown in with too many others who had problems of their own that were not being addressed.
After abuse at home and in the system, she hardened just like prisoners do and was forever lost.
15-year-old Oscar nominee and Golden Globe winner Linda Blair was magnificent in this realistic film.
She was "Born Innocent" but didn't stay that way for long!!!
tamstrat16 June 2005
Warning: Spoilers
I saw this movie when it was originally shown on TV in 1974. It was controversial and shocking to say the least!!!! I was 13 years old and had never seen anything like that on TV before and the rape scene in the shower was all me and my friends talked about for days afterward. The storyline is fairly simple, Linda Blair, as "Chris Parker" gets in some minor scrapes with the law and is sent to a girl's reform school. There she goes from being "Born Innocent" to a swaggering thug over a period of time. The apathy of her parents was sad and the earnest counselor at the reform school tries to save her without much success. I have not seen the movie since the original airing but from what I am reading here the rape scene is deleted or radically edited. That is a shame because that scene, graphic as it was, really set the tone of the movie and let the viewer understand why Chris no longer remains "innocent". I wish I could get my hands on an unedited copy of this movie that made such an impression on me at the age of 13.
Not bad at all.
punishmentpark28 November 2015
Warning: Spoilers
This made for TV drama wasn't bad at all. I had expected something more like a typical after school special or perhaps even a exploitation flick, but the story lines are worked out fairly well, there is hardly any (gratuitous) violence or nudity and it stays away from any kind of simplistic message in the end.
The acting isn't great, but good enough for a small TV production like this. For Linda Blair, being 14 when the film was shot, some scenes must have been pretty heavy stuff to do - and in the IMDb trivia that is confirmed. This is supposedly her first film after her iconic performance in the horror classic 'The exorcist' (1973), and that film couldn't have been easy for her to do, either.
As a cinematic experience, 'Born innocent' hardly has anything to offer (personally, I do appreciate the particular time and place, though - '70s America), but the film does focus on many aspects of the troubled youth in America, for instance, her family life, her life inside among the other delinquents and also how the counselors look at things. This makes for a complete story that will make you think.
A small 7 out of 10.
The acting isn't great, but good enough for a small TV production like this. For Linda Blair, being 14 when the film was shot, some scenes must have been pretty heavy stuff to do - and in the IMDb trivia that is confirmed. This is supposedly her first film after her iconic performance in the horror classic 'The exorcist' (1973), and that film couldn't have been easy for her to do, either.
As a cinematic experience, 'Born innocent' hardly has anything to offer (personally, I do appreciate the particular time and place, though - '70s America), but the film does focus on many aspects of the troubled youth in America, for instance, her family life, her life inside among the other delinquents and also how the counselors look at things. This makes for a complete story that will make you think.
A small 7 out of 10.
Congratulations. The baby is dead.
BandSAboutMovies9 June 2019
Warning: Spoilers
For years, Bill Van Ryn from Groovy Doom has told me how disturbing this made for TV movie is and I kept thinking, someday, I'll do an entire week of Linda Blair movies and make sure to include it. Now I'm hitting myself for waiting so long.
Blair plays a runaway who ends up trapped between her abusive family, an uncaring system and even more horrifying children, with only one care worker on her side. Highly publicized and incredibly controversial due to its graphic content, Born Innocent was the highest-rated television movie to air in the United States in 1974.
Christine "Chris" Parker (Blair) is fourteen and has been arrested so many times that she's ended up in reform school. Her abusive home may be the cause, as her father (Richard Jaeckel, Chosen Survivors) beat her so much that she ran away from home, with her mother (Kim Hunter, Dr. Zire from Planet of the Apes) watches on, unfeeling and unable to stop it from happening. Only her older brother knows the truth, but he has his own life now.
The system blames Christine for her behavior and only a counselor named Barbara (Joanna Miles, The Dark Secret of Harvest Home) tries to save her from the apathetic system that allows for a destructive system within the reform school, including a gang that brutally assaults Chris in a scene involving a toilet plunger that was censored from future broadcasts.
After a pregnant girl miscarries due to staff abuse, Chris starts a riot. As the film closes, Barbara realizes that she has lost her, as Chris has gone from a smart and innocent girl with morals to someone who is manipulative and feels no remorse. Once an adult, she'll basically go from this system to the prison system with no hope for being saved.
As stated before, the original cut of Born Innocent contains a scene where Blair's character is attacked in the shower by several girls. This controversial scene led to the Family Viewing Hour, which became briefly mandatory for the networks in the late 1970s.
Born Innocent was criticized by the National Organization for Women, the New York Rape Coalition, and numerous gay and lesbian rights organizations for its depiction of female-on-female sexual abuse. In fact, the Lesbian Feminist Liberation considered the movie propaganda against lesbians, claiming that "Men rape, women don't." There was even a lawsuit over a copycat crime that was eventually dismissed.
Whew - this is one downbeat, brutal slice of 1970's dread.
Blair plays a runaway who ends up trapped between her abusive family, an uncaring system and even more horrifying children, with only one care worker on her side. Highly publicized and incredibly controversial due to its graphic content, Born Innocent was the highest-rated television movie to air in the United States in 1974.
Christine "Chris" Parker (Blair) is fourteen and has been arrested so many times that she's ended up in reform school. Her abusive home may be the cause, as her father (Richard Jaeckel, Chosen Survivors) beat her so much that she ran away from home, with her mother (Kim Hunter, Dr. Zire from Planet of the Apes) watches on, unfeeling and unable to stop it from happening. Only her older brother knows the truth, but he has his own life now.
The system blames Christine for her behavior and only a counselor named Barbara (Joanna Miles, The Dark Secret of Harvest Home) tries to save her from the apathetic system that allows for a destructive system within the reform school, including a gang that brutally assaults Chris in a scene involving a toilet plunger that was censored from future broadcasts.
After a pregnant girl miscarries due to staff abuse, Chris starts a riot. As the film closes, Barbara realizes that she has lost her, as Chris has gone from a smart and innocent girl with morals to someone who is manipulative and feels no remorse. Once an adult, she'll basically go from this system to the prison system with no hope for being saved.
As stated before, the original cut of Born Innocent contains a scene where Blair's character is attacked in the shower by several girls. This controversial scene led to the Family Viewing Hour, which became briefly mandatory for the networks in the late 1970s.
Born Innocent was criticized by the National Organization for Women, the New York Rape Coalition, and numerous gay and lesbian rights organizations for its depiction of female-on-female sexual abuse. In fact, the Lesbian Feminist Liberation considered the movie propaganda against lesbians, claiming that "Men rape, women don't." There was even a lawsuit over a copycat crime that was eventually dismissed.
Whew - this is one downbeat, brutal slice of 1970's dread.
The overall effect is very sobering.
Hey_Sweden2 August 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Hot off her breakthrough performance in "The Exorcist", child actress Linda Blair got promoted to star in this memorable TV movie basically dealing with the *loss* of innocence. Chris Parker (Blair) is a kid who repeatedly runs away from her dysfunctional, abusive home, having to deal with a jerk father (Richard Jaeckel) and weak mother (Kim Hunter). Her repeated attempts to run away result in her getting locked up in a detention center for girls. Unfortunately, it appears that there is no safe haven for this poor girl. At the center, she must deal with hostile fellow inmates, and a lack of truly understanding adult figures. Joanna Miles as counselor Barbara Clark is the only one who really reaches out to her.
The inevitable end result is that a lot of these girls have the potential to become very hardened individuals who come to rely on nobody else but themselves. And the deck is completely stacked against Chris. Even her brother Tom (Mitch Vogel) turns her away because he has his hands full starting a family. In general, this absorbing melodrama remains interesting enough to watch, with Blair succeeding at making Chris a sympathetic character. And she's surrounded by solid actors: Janit Baldwin and Nora Heflin as antagonists, Sandra Ego as the pregnant Janet, Allyn Ann McLerie as the all-business supervisor at the center, and Tina Andrews as the likeable Josie. Jaeckel certainly has you hating his character in record time.
The film is troubling at times, as it's clearly meant to be. What made it notorious back in its day was a key rape sequence, excised from subsequent TV airings, but viewable on the DVD. And the finale, involving a riot, is highly uncomfortable - although the viewer is aware that something like this was bound to happen at some point.
Even if hampered by some of the restrictions of prime time, network TV, this does have the general feel of an old-fashioned women-in-prison story.
Seven out of 10.
The inevitable end result is that a lot of these girls have the potential to become very hardened individuals who come to rely on nobody else but themselves. And the deck is completely stacked against Chris. Even her brother Tom (Mitch Vogel) turns her away because he has his hands full starting a family. In general, this absorbing melodrama remains interesting enough to watch, with Blair succeeding at making Chris a sympathetic character. And she's surrounded by solid actors: Janit Baldwin and Nora Heflin as antagonists, Sandra Ego as the pregnant Janet, Allyn Ann McLerie as the all-business supervisor at the center, and Tina Andrews as the likeable Josie. Jaeckel certainly has you hating his character in record time.
The film is troubling at times, as it's clearly meant to be. What made it notorious back in its day was a key rape sequence, excised from subsequent TV airings, but viewable on the DVD. And the finale, involving a riot, is highly uncomfortable - although the viewer is aware that something like this was bound to happen at some point.
Even if hampered by some of the restrictions of prime time, network TV, this does have the general feel of an old-fashioned women-in-prison story.
Seven out of 10.
Dysfunction Overload
StrictlyConfidential27 March 2020
And, the question that is repeatedly raised in this decidedly bleak and grim Made-For-TV "Chick Flick" is - "How do you help those who are beyond being helped?"
1974's "Born Innocent" is, without question, the end to the innocence where a 16-year-old Linda Blair (straight out of her role as Regan in "The Exorcist") plays 14-year-old Chris Parker, a chronic "reform school" runaway who is more than familiar with the indifference of the justice system.
To be sure - "Born Innocent" is one of those less-than-uplifting stories that definitely lays the whole business of "harsh realities" on the viewer really, really thick.
1974's "Born Innocent" is, without question, the end to the innocence where a 16-year-old Linda Blair (straight out of her role as Regan in "The Exorcist") plays 14-year-old Chris Parker, a chronic "reform school" runaway who is more than familiar with the indifference of the justice system.
To be sure - "Born Innocent" is one of those less-than-uplifting stories that definitely lays the whole business of "harsh realities" on the viewer really, really thick.
Haunting and Heartbreaking....
babeth_jr18 February 2006
I was 13 years old when I first saw this movie on TV in 1974 and just recently had the chance to watch it again for the first time. After 32 years I was surprised at how well this made for TV movie had held up. The film centers around Chris Parker, a 14 year old girl played by the excellent young actress Linda Blair, who after running away from home several times due to her dysfunctional home life ends up in a state "home" for girls. The facility she is in is in reality a reform school for young women with varying degrees of mental problems due to their lack of love and guidance at home. It is very apparent that Chris doesn't belong there, she is not a criminal, just a troubled young girl who desperately wants the love and attention she was denied at home. I remember being shocked 32 years ago when I watched the infamous rape scene in the shower, and the DVD I rented from Netflix has this scene still intact. Seeing it after all the years didn't lessen the impact of the brutality and reality of this rape. I have read where this pivotal scene has been edited out of some viewings of "Born Innocent", and as awful as this sounds, the scene is central to the movie, and in explaining how Chris ends up being no longer innocent, as she was before she went to the "home". This is one of the best made for TV movies ever made. This DVD can be rented from Netflix, and I highly recommend it, even though it will leave you feeling sad in the end.
Refueling Linda's Cult Status
TheFearmakers20 March 2023
This TV-Movie warning the dangers of being an incorrigible runaway titled BORN INNOCENT begins three times, not finding the right place for 14-year-old Linda Blair to be holed-up: first at an adult prison as the opening credits surround our wide-eyed kid amongst rugged women inmates, tough enough to carry their own feature... to the next lockup but with younger females, and, at this point, at this place, we should be underway... until she's moved once again...
And the next place is permanent, a comparably loose juvenile hall that takes a rural dirt road to enter from a benign main building, at least reuniting one of the nicer girls from the second locale, while OVER THE EDGE director Jonathan Kaplan's butchy sister Nora Heflin and b-starlet Janit Baldwin are the token bullies...
And right when INNOCENT could be another watered-down small-screen exploitation, new girl Linda - having dodged lesbian advances from Heflin and deemed The Virgin - gets violently raped with a plunger's handle... even more shocking (and downright disturbing) than if BORN were flickering at an R-Rated midnight drive-in...
On the lighter side is grownup protagonist (and overall acting ringer) Joanna Miles, the progressive teacher who desperately foresees future hope in this new arrival -- who would understandably rather have freedom during the first half and, when let out on a two-day furlough, we learn WHY she's a runaway as veteran actors Richard Jaekel and Kim Hunter portray sleazy parents making prison seem lucrative...
And making BORN INNOCENT one of those edgy vehicles that improves upon realizing what both the audience and central character had been through despite some melodramatic sequences and potentially aggressive inmates that aren't quite fleshed-out enough to matter, including pretty black girl Tina Andrews, who'd have more potential in her own blaxploitation since, with an exception of Blair, the actresses were twenty-somethings portraying teens...
But overall it's Linda's sole ride despite her performance being cautiously toned-down as a cautionary-tale pawn, taking everything with stride and yet, by the very end, following an all-girl riot against the Nurse Ratched type overseer -- you'll realize that Blair's edgy, all-knowing, experienced prowess had been right there, lurking all along.
And the next place is permanent, a comparably loose juvenile hall that takes a rural dirt road to enter from a benign main building, at least reuniting one of the nicer girls from the second locale, while OVER THE EDGE director Jonathan Kaplan's butchy sister Nora Heflin and b-starlet Janit Baldwin are the token bullies...
And right when INNOCENT could be another watered-down small-screen exploitation, new girl Linda - having dodged lesbian advances from Heflin and deemed The Virgin - gets violently raped with a plunger's handle... even more shocking (and downright disturbing) than if BORN were flickering at an R-Rated midnight drive-in...
On the lighter side is grownup protagonist (and overall acting ringer) Joanna Miles, the progressive teacher who desperately foresees future hope in this new arrival -- who would understandably rather have freedom during the first half and, when let out on a two-day furlough, we learn WHY she's a runaway as veteran actors Richard Jaekel and Kim Hunter portray sleazy parents making prison seem lucrative...
And making BORN INNOCENT one of those edgy vehicles that improves upon realizing what both the audience and central character had been through despite some melodramatic sequences and potentially aggressive inmates that aren't quite fleshed-out enough to matter, including pretty black girl Tina Andrews, who'd have more potential in her own blaxploitation since, with an exception of Blair, the actresses were twenty-somethings portraying teens...
But overall it's Linda's sole ride despite her performance being cautiously toned-down as a cautionary-tale pawn, taking everything with stride and yet, by the very end, following an all-girl riot against the Nurse Ratched type overseer -- you'll realize that Blair's edgy, all-knowing, experienced prowess had been right there, lurking all along.
Have Never Looked At A Toilet Plunger The Same!
dgordon-111 March 2002
I remember this movie clearly when it debuted in September '74, and all of the controversy due to the rape with the toilet plunger. It ran on reruns, with the rape scene deleted, throughout the late '70s & '80s, but then this movie seemed to disappear in the '90s. Recently I was able to find a copy and view this made-for-tv classic. Being a fan of Linda Blair, this movie has withstood the test of time. It follows the story of a 14 year old girl that's unwanted by her messed up parents. The parents were the ones that should have been sent to reform school! If this movie was to be released today, it would still have controversy. Not only for the "toilet plunger" scene, but the fact that 14 year old characters are smoking cigarettes throughout the movie. When this movie was made, this was not mentioned due to the social stigma to smoking was not established yet. In some ways this movie is pretty tame compared to todays standards, it's still a slice of '70s fare TV, when there was less channels, but more to watch on TV. If you are a fan of '70s made-for-tv movies, then this one should be at the top of your list.
Movie was rememberable fir cult classic
dbkbsxhv3 April 2023
Warning: Spoilers
I have been thinking of cult classics and thought this could have been like sean penn bad boys if they left out the shower scene and just had a fight scene instead. It has a great story about how the system failed kids in the seventies and how sad linda blair turns nice to mean. However, i believe dhhs would not send her to reform school because if garbage parents. I think these kids were a little too young to portray the shower scene and it is a shame that this movie is remembered for that scene and not the general message the movie was trying to show young adults in the first place. It similar to bad boys but female version.
out dated
trashgang20 October 2009
I discovered this movie with a retailer selling OOP's. And this one surely is an OOP. One year after The Exorcist she's back in business with this movie but what we all new was that the career of Blair never broke out, she never became a mega star. That's one of the reason's many of her films are OOP. She gives a good performance in this movie. It's about a reject not recognized by her parents and doesn't have any friends. Played at an age of 15 playing a girl of 14, that's funny. The movie is also known for the rape scene in the showers were they stick a broomstick up her virginity. In most editions it's cut out, why, I don't know, no blood is involved, okay, Blair is butt naked but nothing is shown, no T&A so nothing to offend people. But the movie is slow, extremely slow. It doesn't happy normally to me but I almost felt asleep. It's just about that 14 year old becoming a rebel against society but no blood flows, no gore no nothing. Why this is categorized in horror is still a wonder to me. If you're a fan of Blair, buy it if you can find it otherwise leave it as it is.
Terribly brutal, but very emotionally moving.
triple810 April 2004
Warning: Spoilers
Growing up, The book, Born innocent stirred me and the movie version was pretty good as well. I agree with many on how controversial this is, there are some scenes(one in particular) that are brutal to the point of almost being unwatchable. Yet this movie is very intense and emotionally moving, as is the book.
SPOILERS THROUGHOUT: The transformation of Chris Parker from a frightened young woman to hardened and tough is frustrating and sad. The rape scene I could have very happily lived without, I was just a kid when I viewed this and it was pretty upsetting. But I don't think it was there for shock value, that scene was also present in the book and was, I guess, almost necessary for the whole story.
The movie shows what can happen to a kid who gets lost in the system-it is unusally powerful and though it stands as a TV movie this was a movie I have no problem with seeing it made for the big screen. The performances/acting were great.
This is not a pleasant movie to watch, as many really good movies aren't. It is however, a well done, frighteningly real story that will tug at your heartstrings. Any fan of Blair's or of this type of movie in general should check it out. It affected me then and would probably stand the test of time and affect me now, were I to view it again.
SPOILERS THROUGHOUT: The transformation of Chris Parker from a frightened young woman to hardened and tough is frustrating and sad. The rape scene I could have very happily lived without, I was just a kid when I viewed this and it was pretty upsetting. But I don't think it was there for shock value, that scene was also present in the book and was, I guess, almost necessary for the whole story.
The movie shows what can happen to a kid who gets lost in the system-it is unusally powerful and though it stands as a TV movie this was a movie I have no problem with seeing it made for the big screen. The performances/acting were great.
This is not a pleasant movie to watch, as many really good movies aren't. It is however, a well done, frighteningly real story that will tug at your heartstrings. Any fan of Blair's or of this type of movie in general should check it out. It affected me then and would probably stand the test of time and affect me now, were I to view it again.
Seen this around age 9-10
hikenorthpark4 August 2023
It was something I never forgot. I can't believe this was shown on national television. It made me scared of people even more. I thought it was a broom not a plunger. I can remember being severely affected by watching it. I really don't know what else to say about it here. It should if had a warning on it. I do think when movie should be required viewing for every high school student today and they should be educated in such matters to learn compassion and see that there are reasons why some people are the way they are and learn empathy about that. And that we as a society can and should do better.
The Power of Juvenile Detention compels you!
Coventry30 August 2022
What an amazing career Linda Blair has, seriously! Of all my favorite actresses, she's the one with the most remarkably uneven repertoire. In the 80s, the lovely Mrs. Blair was a B-movie/sleaze-queen with some questionable but courageous career choices ("Chained Heat", "Savage Streets", "Night Force",...). But in the 70s, as a teenager, she pretty much exclusively starred in prominent productions ("The Exorcist", Airport 1975") as well as in very respectable and melodramatic TV-movies ("Sweet Hostage", "Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic", and - of course - "Born Innocent").
I wonder she often contemplated during the 80s about where exactly her career took a complete U-turn...
To be entirely honest, "Born Innocent" isn't my favorite type of film-story at all. I only watched it because of Linda Blair, but the subject matter is far too dramatic, sentimental, and socially moralizing for me. It is, obviously, a very forceful and engaging film. Blair stars as Christine "Chris" Parker; a 14-year-old and very intelligent girl who gets committed to a sort of detention home for girls after she ran away from home for the fourth time already. Chris clearly doesn't belong here, and both she and social worker Barbara Clark realize this. For quite a while, the viewer also genuinely wonders how Chris ended up in a depressing place like this, until we're painfully confronted with the fact her family members are complete jerks and the poor girl really doesn't have any luck in her life whatsoever.
The script is also very (over-) ambitious, because next to the tragic tale of Chris Parker, it simultaneously attempts to criticize a whole lot of things that are wrong with American society, like parenting and the guidance of troubled teenagers into adulthood. Chris and the other girls in her group are supposed to evolve into better persons at the detention center, but they only grow more cynical and nihilistic. "Born Innocent" not exactly a cheerful movie, but the performances of the ensemble female cast (and Richard Jaeckel as the loathsome father) are stupendous, and a handful of sequences (like the unsettling shower moments or the funeral) are impossible to forget.
I wonder she often contemplated during the 80s about where exactly her career took a complete U-turn...
To be entirely honest, "Born Innocent" isn't my favorite type of film-story at all. I only watched it because of Linda Blair, but the subject matter is far too dramatic, sentimental, and socially moralizing for me. It is, obviously, a very forceful and engaging film. Blair stars as Christine "Chris" Parker; a 14-year-old and very intelligent girl who gets committed to a sort of detention home for girls after she ran away from home for the fourth time already. Chris clearly doesn't belong here, and both she and social worker Barbara Clark realize this. For quite a while, the viewer also genuinely wonders how Chris ended up in a depressing place like this, until we're painfully confronted with the fact her family members are complete jerks and the poor girl really doesn't have any luck in her life whatsoever.
The script is also very (over-) ambitious, because next to the tragic tale of Chris Parker, it simultaneously attempts to criticize a whole lot of things that are wrong with American society, like parenting and the guidance of troubled teenagers into adulthood. Chris and the other girls in her group are supposed to evolve into better persons at the detention center, but they only grow more cynical and nihilistic. "Born Innocent" not exactly a cheerful movie, but the performances of the ensemble female cast (and Richard Jaeckel as the loathsome father) are stupendous, and a handful of sequences (like the unsettling shower moments or the funeral) are impossible to forget.
It's not the story. It's the way it's told.
mark.waltz15 November 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Certainly anyone who's ever been bullied in school, no matter what gender the bulliers were, can relate to the plight of 14 year old Linda Blair in this very exploitive look at a bunch of very troubled teens. Most are supportive to new arrival Blair at a detention center for troubled young women, but a group of bullies lead by the nasty Nora Heflin sets out to make Blair (who rejected Heflin's advances) miserable. They commit a violent act against her that is unbelievable maybe in 1974 terms, but a lot more creditable since the advent of the social media days that has exposed violent bullying so physically and psychologically damaging that no punishment seems great enough.
This is so cheaply made that you can't help but see this as complete exploitation, and it's not the kind that makes it campy or a cult film. Tina Andrews is really good as the genuinely concerned fellow resident who becomes a protector, while Allyn Ann McLearie and Joanna Miles as the superintendent and psychologist are fine as well. As Blair's parents, Richard Jaeckel and Kim Hunter don't really get deep material to share their point of view, and the story is far too deep to play out with necessary back story that's barely explained. The mood is maudlin, overwrought with a downbeat musical score that not only becomes depressing but frequently cumbersome and painfully slow moving to the point of frustration.
This is so cheaply made that you can't help but see this as complete exploitation, and it's not the kind that makes it campy or a cult film. Tina Andrews is really good as the genuinely concerned fellow resident who becomes a protector, while Allyn Ann McLearie and Joanna Miles as the superintendent and psychologist are fine as well. As Blair's parents, Richard Jaeckel and Kim Hunter don't really get deep material to share their point of view, and the story is far too deep to play out with necessary back story that's barely explained. The mood is maudlin, overwrought with a downbeat musical score that not only becomes depressing but frequently cumbersome and painfully slow moving to the point of frustration.
A gritty and hard-hitting 70's made-for-TV classic
Woodyanders30 March 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Sullen and forlorn 14-year-old incorrigible runaway Chris Parker (a touching and terrific performance by Linda Blair) gets declared a ward of the state. She's placed in a juvenile reform school where she not only begins to feel even more dejected and alienated because of the cold bureaucratic system, but also runs afoul of nasty, disturbed Denny (chillingly played by Janit Baldwin) and dumpy, aggressive lesbian Moco (the equally scary Nora Heflin). Director Donald Wrye, working from a gritty and uncompromisingly realistic script by Gerald Di Pego, relates the grimly plausible and compelling story in an admirably straightforward and nonexploitative manner. The uniformly fine acting from a top-notch cast qualifies as another substantial asset: Joanna Miles as concerned, caring counselor Barbara Clark, Allyn Ann McLerie as strict, but compassionate house mother Emma Lasko, Richard Jaeckel as Chris' stern, volatile, overbearing father, Kim Hunter as Chris' neurotic, ineffectual mother, Mitch Vogel as Chris' supportive, but unhelpful brother Tom, Tina Andrews as the friendly, spunky Josie, and Sandra Ego as the depressed, suicidal, pregnant Janet. Fred Karlin's beautifully moody'n'melancholy score and David M. Walsh's plain, yet polished cinematography are likewise solid and impressive. But what truly gives this hard-hitting made-for-TV drama its considerable impact and poignancy is the welcome and commendable sense of restraint, conviction and raw honesty evident throughout. The potentially lurid plot stays on a steady and tasteful course (although the infamous plunger rape scene is indeed quite shocking and disturbing, its thankfully more suggested than shown), sharply revealing plenty of bleak truths about troubled teens in the process and culminating in a hauntingly downbeat ending. A real powerhouse.
A home for wayward girls
bkoganbing4 September 2020
After scoring in The Exocist Linda Blair's next project was Borm Innocent with
Blair playing a habitual runaway. If I had a dad like Richard Jaeckel ready to
believe the worst at all times, a subservient mom like Kim Hunter I might
consider running away myself.
Where she lands is hardly any improvement. This institution for runaways s just that for runaways. Not like these girls are criminals yet., emphasis on the last word.
Allyn Ann McLerie is the house mother and she's sort of a Nurse Ratched lite. And we know what happened to Ratched.
A forcible sodomy scene was most controversial in its day. This would hardly raise a ripple now.
Controversial back in the 70s, Born Innocent seems just exploitive now.
Where she lands is hardly any improvement. This institution for runaways s just that for runaways. Not like these girls are criminals yet., emphasis on the last word.
Allyn Ann McLerie is the house mother and she's sort of a Nurse Ratched lite. And we know what happened to Ratched.
A forcible sodomy scene was most controversial in its day. This would hardly raise a ripple now.
Controversial back in the 70s, Born Innocent seems just exploitive now.
Innocence Lost
Noirdame7910 September 2006
Warning: Spoilers
Linda Blair, immediately following her triumph in ''The Exorcist'' was cast in this then controversial TV movie. Christine Parker is a young runaway from an abusive home whose parents hand her over to the state. She finds herself in a detention home, where she discovers the even harsher realities of the young girls who reside there - unloved, troubled, and angry, who have the tendency to vent all their aggression onto newcomers. She finds herself as the target of their rage on evening in the shower room, where five of her fellow inmates gang up on her and violate her with a toilet plunger handle. Considered overly graphic at the time of its original airing in 1974, the scene was cut for later airings, but has been restored on DVD. Blair's nipple can be briefly seen for a few moments and that may explain why the scene was cut in subsequent TV broadcasts. As disturbing as it is, the rape is essential to the film's plot and adds to the anguish that Chris and her peers experience. When she has the chance to go home for a brief stay, her abusive father (Richard Jaeckel, magnificent) slaps her and her mother, leading the teen to run away again, taking her right back to where she started. Kim Hunter is effective as the passive, meek mother who endures her husband's insensitivity and mistreatment. Blair went on to give some more great performances in the late 70s, such as another TV movie, "Sarah T: Portrait Of A Teenage Alcoholic" and the theatrical releases "Sweet Hostage", "Summer Of Fear" and "Hell Night". Not long after, she found herself in exploitation flick hell. She is an outstanding actress, giving her all to every project, and it would have been nice if she had found some more mainstream material. Joanna Miles as the compassionate teacher, is the voice of reason and perhaps of caring in a system that does not want to take a bigger step towards actually considering the welfare of these troubled youths. Allyn Ann McLerie, as the well-meaning but ineffectual housemother Lasko, conveys the frustration and defeatist attitude of a woman who keeps things together but can't bring herself to actually make a difference in the lives of her girls. The portrayals of the other adolescents are right on target, a diverse group who all share the same pain, so much so that they become bonded in a hardened, indifferent way. Chris becomes one of the gang, and in a sadly realistic conclusion, has lost sight of any goals or aspirations she may have had to change her life.
Worth viewing, still relevant today.
Worth viewing, still relevant today.
A sad and gritty drama of innocence lost!
bfjrnski17 November 2002
"BORN INNOCENT" remains one of the more "controversial" TV movies of the 1970s.Setting the path for Linda Blair's future in trashy,women-behind-bars,skin-flicks.This is a shame because Born Innocent is a realistic and straight-forward expose'of life in "reformatories" and the people who try to make a difference there! The well-known story concerns a 14-year-old girl,branded an "incorrigible"runaway,sent to the state school for girls after being relinquished by her parents.At the "school" we meet girls with a variety of problems and behaviors-most of whom seem simply unloved aqnd unwanted!Of course we learn otherwise but the question still remains:Can having loving parents and a "normal" life in middle-class suburbia really solve everyone's problems?Are some people just not capable of functioning within the structure of a family and becomming productive in society? I think the most couragious step that the filmakers have taken is to show the school's "inmates" as both criminals and yet still "kids" who crave acceptance from each other and yes,the adults around them!This is especially evident in the scenes in which Chris Parker(the central character) befriends those same girls who "raped" her earlier in the story!Or when Moco(the tough lesbian) actually cries when Janet(Chris' friend) loses her baby during her stint in isolation(as punishment for fighting with Moco!) By the movies' end nothing has really been resolved!After injuring their housemother during a protest riot Chris joins her friends at the school and has undoubtedly become the new "leader".We the viewers are left to wonder:Will Chris ever get out and lead a productive life?Will any of these girls "make it" out "there"? It would be interesting to have made a "follow-up" sequel-something like "Born Innocent-25 years later!" Well...maybe not!!!
I enjoyed it
Sisophous25 September 2017
This films is far better than I expected. For a low budget film I found the acting to be above average. The story-line is depressing about a young teen girl with no one really caring about her and a history of running away from home. My local library in Westchester County, New York has it available to rent so I did not have to purchase it or bother with Netflix. Check your on-line library system to see if they carry it on DVD. About the rape scene it is not very graphic but is on the shocking side. It's about a bunch of girls holding down a teen and using a toilet plunger to penetrate her- that's it. If you have grade school kids you may not want them to see this title. There is a fair share of other violence mixed in too. I viewed this solely to see Linda Blair. She is only age 15 when this was shot and released in 1974.
Unpolished Gem
narcangel16 July 2020
I know at times people tend to either go full out on a 10/10 or a 2/10 for movies but, in trying to be fair and looking at this movie again many decades after seeing it for the first time. There's a definite deepness to this movie which was probably very low budget and the script wasn't too much on complexity but there is emotion in this movie that does reverberates inside if you let the movie creep inside of you as it may not be so obvious the first 20 minutes.
There's sadness, there's a low of raw emotions, there's truth, there's reality of a broken family, there's the violence and the abuse and the despair. I did bumped it from 6.4/10 to 8/10 for my own taste as I believe that rating is far too low for this unpolished gem.
There's sadness, there's a low of raw emotions, there's truth, there's reality of a broken family, there's the violence and the abuse and the despair. I did bumped it from 6.4/10 to 8/10 for my own taste as I believe that rating is far too low for this unpolished gem.
Ms.Blair's first tv movie performance is her best!
Stanbabe1 June 2003
Linda Blair gives a chilling but pogient performance in this harsh,realistic look into the abusive world of juvenile justice.As "Chris Parker", she tries to flee from her abusive father and her drunken,irresponsible mother.But her running away only leads to her being unjustly placed in a girls reform school.Where she is abused and condemmed even further by the school's insane and dangerous students and by the insensitive and corrupt school officals(The main villian in this dramatic tale is Allyn Ann McClaire.Who plays the evil housemother:"Mrs.Emma Lasko").Ms.Blair's character goes from being a gentle,navie'and put upon young innocent to becoming a tough,violent young punk.Who distrusts and attacks anything that is phoney or authoritative.The most memorable but forgotten scene is Ms.Blair being raped by four perverse girls in the shower room with a brush handle.The scene has since been edited,due to the complaints from one girl's family.That she was raped in a similar manner.Despite the editing of this graphic scene."Born Innocent"is Linda Blair's best tv performance.
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