Web of Deceit

Lauren Hale (Linda Purl) is a successful attorney in San Francisco. She comes back to Atlanta, where her mother belongs to the high-society, to defend Andy Sorva (Paul de Souza), a simple mechanic accused of rape and murder. She interviews Andy, and he tells her that he was going to a client's home to fix the starting engine of a car and decided to stop first in a bar for having dinner. There, he met the victim, the hitchhiker Mary Ellen Resse (Amy Bryson). She was travelling along USA and had no money for food. Andy bought some food for her and invited her to go to his client's mansion with him. There, they used some cocaine, he fainted and have not seen the girl anymore. He said that he would never need to rape the girl, since they had a `romance' before arriving in the mansion. Lauren decides to visit the prosecutor and she finds that he is her former boy friend Paul Evanston (James Read). He makes an offer to her to reduce Andy's sentence, but Andy does not accept it. Lauren and Paul are divorced and start dating while Lauren investigates deeper and deeper the case. The disgusting and dirty truth is only revealed in the last scene of this film. Yesterday I watched this movie, maybe for the fourth time. It is one of the best television movies I have ever seen. The story begins with a simple case of rape and murder, having a simple and poor guy accused. The perseverance of Linda Purl's character is fantastic, investigating wealthy persons without any fear. The excellent screenplay is very well tied-up, and the plot is disclosed to the viewer very slowly. The direction and performance of the cast is also very good. I like this politically correct movie a lot, where justice and ethic prevails no matter the price, and I do recommend it for all audiences. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): `Teia de Mentiras' (`Web of Lies')