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Prosecuting attorney Raymond Horgan assigns his chief deputy, the taciturn Rusty Sabitch, to investigate the rape and murder of colleague Carolyn Polhemus, unaware of their torrid affair. However, when he digs too deeply, he finds himself framed for the murder.
The film's densely constructed trial sequences are freighted with rich detail, unexpected turns and intimate insights into the criminal justice system.
Pakula and the cast are excellent in the cut and thrust debates and the grilling of witnesses. At least on the surface, Presumed Innocent unfolds in the grand tradition of great courtroom drama. But nothing in Presumed Innocent is what it seems.
When you get right down to it, Presumed Innocent is really just an elaborate version of the standard courtroom drama -- souped-up Perry Mason. On the other hand, this is as good as Perry Mason gets.
It presents a more intriguing and certainly more complicated portrait of cinema's historic struggle with representations of female agency and sexuality.