''Guilty by Suspicion'' is a 1991 American

period drama A historical drama (also period drama, period piece or just period) is a dramatic work set in the past, usually used in the context of film and television, which presents history, historical events and characters with varying degrees of fiction s ...

film about the

Hollywood blacklist The Hollywood blacklist was the mid-20th century banning of suspected Communists from working in the United States entertainment industry. The blacklisting, blacklist began at the onset of the Cold War and Red Scare#Second Red Scare (1947–1957 ...

McCarthyism McCarthyism is a political practice defined by the political repression and persecution of left-wing individuals and a Fear mongering, campaign spreading fear of communist and Soviet influence on American institutions and of Soviet espionage i ...

and the activities of the

House Un-American Activities Committee The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative United States Congressional committee, committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 19 ...

. Written and directed by Irwin Winkler in his

directorial debut This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's first commercial cinematic release. Many filmmakers have directed works which were not commercially released, for example early work ...

, the film stars

Robert De Niro Robert Anthony De Niro ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor, director, and film producer. He is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of List of awards and ...

Annette Bening Annette Carol Bening (born May 29, 1958) is an American actress. With a career spanning over four decades, she is known for List of Annette Bening performances, her versatile work across screen and stage. Bening has received List of awards an ...

and

George Wendt George Robert Wendt Jr. (October 17, 1948 – May 20, 2025) was an American actor. Wendt was best known for playing Norm Peterson on the NBC sitcom ''Cheers'' from 1982 to 1993, which earned him six consecutive nominations for the Primetime Em ...

. The character of David Merrill is inspired by the experiences of John Berry during the Hollywood blacklist era. The film was entered into the 1991 Cannes Film Festival.

Plot

David Merrill, a successful director in 1950s

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

, returns from film-location scouting abroad to find that a rising tide of

and the

Red Scare A Red Scare is a form of moral panic provoked by fear of the rise of left-wing ideologies in a society, especially communism and socialism. Historically, red scares have led to mass political persecution, scapegoating, and the ousting of thos ...

is creating havoc among his colleagues in the film industry. His friend Larry Nolan is forced to name to the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

and Congressional Oversight Committee the many people in Hollywood who are potentially associated with the

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

movement. Nolan names several friends and colleagues such as Merrill as collaborators. Although most of them have tangential relations to the actual United States Communist Party,

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, forces Hollywood executives such as mogul Darryl Zanuck to convince his directors and support staff to disavow communism, agree to perjure themselves in congressional hearings, and name other Hollywood influencers as communist agents. Merrill is asked by Hollywood legal consultant Felix Graff to cooperate with FBI agents to cite four names, including screenwriter and childhood friend Bunny Baxter, as communists to Congress. If not, he will not be allowed to work again in the film industry. By refusing, Merrill is

blacklisted Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list; if people are on a blacklist, then they are considere ...

from Hollywood and quickly loses his assets. Unable to pay

alimony Alimony, also called aliment (Scotland), maintenance (England, Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales, Canada, New Zealand), spousal support (U.S., Canada) and spouse maintenance (Australia), is a legal obligation on a person to provide ...

to his ex-wife Ruth and son, Merrill tries his luck across the country in New York City. He is initially well received by past colleagues, but is eventually convinced by FBI agents and Merrill's friends on Broadway to abandon him as well. Merrill retreats to Los Angeles and rekindles his friendship with Ruth while he stays in her apartment. She has sold her home and has restarted her teaching career in elementary school. Despite losing all his money, the family dynamic improves with his constant presence in his son's life. Meanwhile, Dorothy Nolan, actress and Larry's estranged wife, has a mental breakdown. Her refusal to cooperate with the FBI has led to her losing custody of her son. When she discovers that Merrill cannot offer her a job on Broadway because of his failed dealings with New York producers, a distraught Dorothy drives her car off a cliff to her death. Things begin to improve when Merrill receives a phone call from a

B-movie A B movie, or B film, is a type of cheap, low-budget commercial motion picture. Originally, during the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood, this term specifically referred to films meant to be shown as the lesser-known second ...

director to pick up the pieces of his failing

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

. After successfully improving the film's direction and artistry, the FBI again tracks down Merrill and has him removed from the film. Bunny Baxter is also in a situation because in his youth, he attended communist rallies but did not mention it to the FBI. That has put him in the position of

perjury Perjury (also known as forswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an insta ...

, and the inquiry board has threatened him with extensive jail time unless he also names Hollywood associates as Communists. Bunny begs Merrill to allow his name to be " thrown under the bus" because he is "already dead", but Ruth kicks him out of the house in disgust. Merrill decides to contact Zanuck's lawyer Graff again after Zanuck begs him to concede to the Congressional requirements to name conspirators in the Communist party. Speaking to Graff, it is assumed that Merrill is broken and will cooperate with Congress in Washington, D.C., to resurrect his career. At the hearing, under much derision from the committee, Merrill again backtracks and refuses to discuss anyone aside from himself, which causes a fracas in the room. The committee cites him with contempt of Congress, which leads to others being sent to prison for years. As he leaves, Bunny takes his place at the witness stand and also refuses to cooperate with the demand that he name his colleagues as conspirators.

Cast

as David Merrill *

as Ruth Merrill *

as Bunny Baxter *

Patricia Wettig Patricia Anne Wettig (born December 4, 1951) is an American actress and playwright. She is best known for her role as Nancy Weston in the television series '' Thirtysomething'' (1987–1991), for which she received a Golden Globe Award and three ...

as Dorothy Nolan *

Sam Wanamaker Samuel Wanamaker (born Samuel Wattenmacker; June 14, 1919 – December 18, 1993) was an American actor and director, whose career on stage and in film and television spanned five decades. He began his career on Broadway theatre, Broadway, but sp ...

as Felix Graff * Luke Edwards as Paulie Merrill *

Chris Cooper Christopher Walton Cooper (born July 9, 1951) is an American actor. Having made his debut as a stage actor, he made his Breakthrough role, breakthrough on television as Sheriff July Johnson in the acclaimed Western television miniseries ''Loneso ...

as Larry Nolan * Ben Piazza as Darryl F. Zanuck *

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November17, 1942) is an American filmmaker. One of the major figures of the New Hollywood era, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Martin Scorsese, many accolades, including an Academ ...

as Joe Lesser *

Barry Primus Barry Primus (born February 16, 1938) is an American television and film actor, director, and writer. Career While Primus is primarily an actor, he has also worked as a writer and director in films in which he has acted. For the first decade ...

as Bert Alan *

Gailard Sartain Gailard Sartain (born September 18, 1946) is a retired American actor who frequently played characters with roots in the South. He was a regular on the country music variety series ''Hee Haw''. He is also known for his roles in three of the Ern ...

as Chairman Wood * Robin Gammell as Congressman Clyde Howard Tavenner * Brad Sullivan as Congressman Harold H. Velde * Tom Sizemore as Ray Karlin *

Stuart Margolin Stuart Margolin (January 31, 1940 – December 12, 2022) was an American actor, director, and screenwriter of film and television. He was known for playing con artist Evelyn "Angel" Martin on the 1970s television series '' The Rockford Files'', ...

as Abe Barron * Roxann Biggs as Felicia Barron * Barry Tubb as Jerry Cooper * Adam Baldwin as FBI Agent #1

Production

Reception

The film opened to positive reviews and earned praise for Robert De Niro's performance.

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

'' gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four, and wrote that the film "teaches a lesson we are always in danger of forgetting: that the greatest service we can do our country is to be true to our conscience". On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, it holds a rating of 68% from 19 reviews.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Guilty By Suspicion 1991 films American legal drama films 1991 drama films 1990s legal drama films American courtroom films Films directed by Irwin Winkler Films about the Hollywood blacklist Warner Bros. films Films scored by James Newton Howard Films set in 1951 1991 directorial debut films Films produced by Arnon Milchan 1990s English-language films 1990s American films