''Judgment'' is an

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...

. It was first broadcast on October 13, 1990, and was written and directed by

Tom Topor Tom Topor (born 1938) is an American playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. Topor was born in Vienna, Austria, and he was brought to London in 1939, where he remained until he came to New York City in 1949. He earned his bachelor's degree at Br ...

. The film's tagline is "No one stands beyond the reach of the law, not even the

Church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

Plot

The

sexual abuse of minors Child sexual abuse (CSA), also called child molestation, is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in sexual activities with a child (whet ...

by priests is the delicate issue to be handled by Peter and Emmeline Guitry, devout

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

s in a small town in

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

whose lives are shattered when their son Robbie reveals that he has been sexually abused by their priest, Father Frank Aubert. Along with other parents in the parish, they begin a persistent but painful campaign to remove Aubert from the clergy, and have him prosecuted as a

sex offender A sex offender (sexual offender, sex abuser, or sexual abuser) is a person who has committed a Sex and the law, sex crime. What constitutes a sex crime differs by culture and legal jurisdiction. The majority of convicted sex offenders have convi ...

. The Catholic Church attempts to cover up the abuse and place Aubert back in the parish, causing a nationally publicized lawsuit.

Cast

Keith Carradine Keith Ian Carradine ( ; born August 8, 1949) is an American actor. In film he is known for his roles as Tom Frank in Robert Altman's ''Nashville'', E. J. Bellocq in Louis Malle's ''Pretty Baby'', and Mickey in Alan Rudolph's '' Choose Me.'' ...

as Pete Guitry *

Blythe Danner Blythe Katherine Danner (born February 3, 1943) is an American actress. Accolades she has received include two Primetime Emmy Awards for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, Best Supporting Actress in a Dra ...

as Emmeline Guitry *

Jack Warden Jack Warden (born John Warden Lebzelter Jr.; September 18, 1920July 19, 2006) was an American actor who worked in film and television. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for ''Shampoo (film), Shampoo'' (1975) and '' ...

as Claude Fortier *

David Strathairn David Russell Strathairn (; born January 26, 1949) is an American actor. Known for his leading roles on stage and screen, he has often portrayed historical figures such as Edward R. Murrow, J. Robert Oppenheimer, William H. Seward, and John D ...

as Father Frank Aubert *Michael Faustino as Robbie Guitry *Crystal McKellar as Sabine Guitry *

Bob Gunton Robert Patrick Gunton Jr. (born November 15, 1945) is an American character actor of stage and screen. He is known for playing strict authoritarian characters, including Warden Samuel Norton in the 1994 prison drama ''The Shawshank Redemption'', ...

as Monsignor Beauvais *

Dylan Baker Dylan Baker (born October 7, 1959) is an American actor. He gained recognition for his roles in films such as '' Planes, Trains and Automobiles'' (1987), ''Happiness'' (1998), '' Thirteen Days'' (2000), '' Road to Perdition'' (2002), ''Spider-Man ...

as Father Delambre *

Mitchell Ryan Mitchell Ryan (January 11, 1934 – March 4, 2022) was an American actor. His six decades of television credits, he is best known for playing Burke Devlin in the 1960s gothic subculture, gothic soap opera ''Dark Shadows'', and later for his co- ...

as Dave Davis *

Robert Joy Robert Joy (born August 17, 1951) is a Canadian actor. He is best known for his role as medical examiner Sid Hammerback on the police procedural series '' CSI: NY'', and his appearances in the films ''Atlantic City'' (1980), ''Ragtime'' (1981) ...

as Mr. Hummel *Steve Hofvendahl as Daniel Broussard *Mary Joy as Madeleine Broussard *Kimberli Bronson as Miss Haver

Reception

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' movie critic Tom Shales called the film "a competent, compelling docudrama, but also one of those squirm-inducing films that seem, when it's all over, not worth the discomfort." Chris Willman of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' wrote: "Ultimately 'Judgment' stops a little short of the judgments it seems prepared to make..." ''

The Baltimore Sun ''The Baltimore Sun'' is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local, regional, national, and international news. Founded in 1837, the newspaper was owned by Tribune Publi ...

s Steve McKerrow concluded, "the film grapples pretty well with its troubling topic." Kenneth R. Clark, writing in the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

'', talked with the film's producer, Rob Hershman about the story's origins. In 1984, Hershman found a one paragraph newspaper summary of Louisiana priest

Gilbert Gauthe Gilbert Gauthe is an American former Catholic priest who served in the Diocese of Lafayette in Louisiana from 1972 to 1983. In 1984, Gauthe became the first Catholic priest in the United States to face a widely publicized criminal trial for child ...

's plea agreement and chose to cover the story on the

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio broadcaster CBS. It is headquartered in New York City. CBS News television programs include ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs ''CBS News Sunday Morn ...

news program ''West 57th Street''. Tom Topor, who had previously written about

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...

in '' The Accused'' and about

pedophilia Pedophilia ( alternatively spelled paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of pube ...

in ''

Nuts Nut often refers to: * Nut (fruit), fruit composed of a hard shell and a seed * Nut (food), a dry and edible fruit or seed, including but not limited to true nuts * Nut (hardware), fastener used with a bolt Nut, NUT or Nuts may also refer to: A ...

'' chose to write the screenplay about a fictional character similar to Gauthe and direct the project for HBO Films. Clark neither praised the film nor panned it, but pointed out "only HBO, with no advertisers to worry about and no public pressure groups to appease, would dare to run it."

Awards

*The director and writer

won the

Writers Guild of America The Writers Guild of America (WGA) is the name of two American labor unions representing writers in film, television, radio, and online media: * The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) is headquartered in New York City and is affiliated wit ...

award for his work on ''Judgment''.

References

External links

* {{Sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church 1990 television films 1990 drama films HBO Films films Films scored by Cliff Eidelman Films about Catholic priests Films about child sexual abuse Films about pedophilia