Absence of Malice

Synopsis: Mike Gallagher is a Miami liquor wholesaler whose deceased father was a local mobster. The FBI organized crime task force have no evidence that he's involved with the mob but decide to pressure him into perhaps revealing something - anything - about a murder they're sure was a mob hit. They let Megan Carter, a naive but well-meaning journalist, know he is being investigated and Gallagher's name is soon all over the newspaper. Gallagher has an iron-clad alibi for when the murder occurred but won't reveal it to protect his fragile friend Teresa. When Carter publishes her story, tragedy ensues. Needing to make amends, Carter tells Gallagher the source of the first story about him and he sets out to teach the FBI and the Federal Attorney a lesson.

Genre: Drama, Romance, Thriller

Director(s): Sydney Pollack

Actors: Paul Newman, Sally Field, Bob Balaban, Melinda Dillon

Production: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 3 wins & 5 nominations.


IMDB:: 6.9
Metacritic:: 64
Rotten Tomatoes:: 86%

Collection Edit Watch PDF Buy

: PG
Year:: 1981
: 116 min
: 172 Views

Capaletti.
Carlyle.
He's dead since June, boss.
ROSEN:
The man, Santos Malderone.
And here comes our boy,
Michael Colin Gallagher.
Forty-three here, 47 now.
Tommy Gallagher's only kid,
nephew of Santos Malderone.
Occupation, wholesale liquor.
MAN 1:
Look out, punch is coming.
MAN 2:
Duck, Waddell.
Hey, where were you
when I needed you?
Hi, Donna.
Oh, hi, Meg.
Did somebody rob a bank?
Wish somebody would.
Anything new on Diaz?
Oh, sure, lots.
We're just not ready
to discuss it yet.
So where is everybody?
Oh, no place you'd care about.
They're all watching the movies.
What movies?
Surveillance film.
Tommy Gallagher's funeral.
It's pretty funny. Bob Waddell
gets slugged at the end.
Who's Tommy Gallagher?
One of the bad guys.
He got dead before you got here.
All the crooks showed up,
so we took pictures.
Ask Bob to let you see it sometime.
Sure.
He's still crazy
about you, Meg.
He's a nice guy.
Donna,
I've been here three years.
Why would they be interested
in a guy that's been dead that long?
That got him busted for
assault. That's all we got
on Michael Gallagher.
For those of you who are new,
his old man, Big Tommy,
handled five states' worth of liquor
and kept the longshoremen
out of Miami for 15 years.
He played rough.
If he'd been alive when Diaz got hit,
he'd have been Suspect 1.
Since he was dead,
he's not involved.
Big Tommy had a stroke in '67,
brought Mike down from Chicago
to run the family store.
Word is, Little Mike's clean.
I don't buy it. I wanna find out.
Meersma, IRS gets his last six years.
Six? Come on.
Work it like a net-worth case.
I wanna know every nickel he's got
and how he got it.
I wanna know his mortgage,
his car payments, and his 2106s.
Mac, you guys crawl
all over his union stuff.
Bob, Bureau gets the rest.
Friends, neighbors, butcher shop.
I wanna know where he was
when Diaz went away.
I want this guy to know
we're in town, okay?
Hey, Bob, Eddie.
How come the streets
aren't safe?
Youths.
Disadvantaged youths.
You spent all morning
at the movies?
What movies?
The Gallagher funeral.
Donna said you might show it to me.
What?
Donna's on her way out.
Hey, wait a minute, take it easy.
She didn't do anything.
What are you doing for lunch?
Sorry, I've got a date.
WOMAN 1:
He's under arrest.
MAN 1:
What for?
WOMAN 2:
Sent him to a homicide
on Southwest 8th Street.
Did you hear him yelling at me?
Rosie, line four.
It's the electric company.
WOMAN 3:
Why do they talk in my teeth?
WOMAN 4:
It's the only way
they can reach you.
MAN 2:
Apalachicola. A-P-A-L-A-C-H...
Sue, there's a story in here
on a Michael Gallagher.
I'd like to have a copy.
Make sure this is on the son,
Michael Gallagher, not Tommy.
Okay, fine.
Thank you.
Bob Waddell's office, please.
[DANCE MUSIC PLAYING
OVER SPEAKERS]
Hi.
Hey.
Sorry I'm late.
It's okay.
Got hung up on a rewrite.
Glad you called. What's up?
Kathy,
a vodka martini, rocks.
I wanted to make sure that
Donna didn't get into any trouble.
She's gotta be careful.
She didn't tell me anything.
She just said you were looking
at the Gallagher film.
Yeah, well, let's forget it, okay?
Okay.
I'm buying.
No, no, put it on mine.
MAN:
Hey, Meg.
Hi. How are you?
Did you know he has a son?
Gallagher?
I called you last night. I thought...
Oh, I got in very late last night.
How'd you know he had a son?
Oh, I met him once at a party.
Oh, you cut your hair.
Yeah.
Well, it looks terrific.
Thanks.
He seemed nice.
Who?
Gallagher.
Listen, I'm gonna tell you something.
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Kurt Luedtke

Kurt Luedtke (born September 28, 1939) is an American screenwriter. He is best known for writing Out of Africa (1985), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, as well as Absence of Malice (1981) (for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay) and Random Hearts (1999). All three films were directed by Sydney Pollack. Before becoming a screenwriter, Luedtke was a newspaper reporter, eventually rising to the rank of executive editor of the Detroit Free Press. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018