The Burning Bed (1984)

Directed by

Robert Greenwald

Genre

drama film, docudrama, crime film, trial film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 36m

Rated

12

Rating

6.9 of 10 from 52 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A woman endures years of severe physical abuse from her husband. After a final violent episode, she sets his bed on fire and faces trial for murder.

tensedisturbingsomberangst-riddenrealisticslow-burnunsettlingemotionalbleak

What happens

The Burning Bed is a 1984 American television crime drama film directed by Robert Greenwald and starring Farrah Fawcett, Paul Le Mat, Richard Masur, Grace Zabriskie, and James Callahan. Adapted by Rose Leiman Goldemberg from the 1980 non-fiction novel of the same name by Faith McNulty, it follows battered housewife Francine Hughes and her trial for the murder of her abusive ex-husband, James Berlin "Mickey" Hughes. Francine set fire to the bed her husband was sleeping in at their Dansville, Michigan, home on March 9, 1977, after thirteen years of physical domestic abuse at his hands. It aired on NBC on October 8, 1984. The film premiered with a household share of 36.2, ranking it the seventeenth highest rated movie to air on network television and NBC's highest rated television movie. The Burning Bed was met with critical acclaim, receiving eight nominations at the 37th Primetime Emmy Awards. It was also nominated for three Golden Globe Awards, with Le Mat winning the award for Best Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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