"A Dangerous Woman"
                             A film review by
                           Linda Lopez McAlister
                           on "The Women's Show"
                         WMNF-FM (88.5), Tampa, FL
                               June 11, 1994

   There was nothing playing in the theaters around Tampa Bay that seemed
appropriate for today's Women and Film segment, so I took myself off to the
video store to catch up with one that's just out on video that I had wanted to
see earlier in the year, but which was in and out of theaters here so fast I
missed it, a film called "A Dangerous Woman." This turns out to be, despite
what the other critics may have said, a film that's well worth looking at.

   I think one reason it may have got so little attention in its theatrical
run is that it's about a woman who is not glamorous, not obviously sexy, so
not attractive to males (including reviewers) and on top of that, she's not
even nurturing and supportive of men. She doesn't fit into any of the standard
roles for women because she is, to use a somewhat old-fashioned word for it,
retarded. And while I can think of a number of positive and warm portrayals of
retarded male characters on the small and large screens (most notably Dustin
Hoffman's in "Rain Man" which this film is like in many ways), such portrayals
of women are rare. Mercedes Ruehl's character in "Lost in Yonkers" was
somewhat childish and arrested in her development but out from under her
mother's thumb she could function in sociey on her own. Sweetie in the Jane
Campion film of the same name was, I think, mentally ill, rather than
retarded.

  It took a woman, Naomi Foner, to both write this screenplay and produce the
film. Director Stephen Gyllanhaal's main accomplishment is in casting
magnificent actors and getting fine performances from them. While it certainly
has its weaknesses as a film (the plot structure, for one thing), it's a very
worthwhile film, in particular for the wonderful actors and performances.

   Debra Winger gives an amazingly nuanced and believable portrayal of Martha,
who lives in the guest house of a large rural California home belonging to her
youngish widowed Aunt Frances who inherited the job of taking care of Martha
(a somewhat underdeveloped role played by Barbara Hershey). Not that Frances
pays much attention to Martha, for she has troubles of her own. She's involved
with a married man running for the state legislature who has a jealous and
alcoholic wife. In a riveting opening scene the wife comes crashing into
Frances's house with her car, intent on murder and waving a gun. Martha, whose
reactions are always straightforward and literal, runs and gets a hammer to
hit the wife over the head with. She also learns that night that Frances lied
to the man's wife when she denied there was an affair between them.

   Frances pays a local dry cleaner to give Martha a job where, since she's so
starved attention and kind treatment, she has a crush on Birdy, one of the
other clerks who treats her nicely--much to the amusement and later the scorn
of Birdy's no good boyfirend Getso (played by the wonderful David
Strathairn--who's such a good actor that for the second straight time I didn't
recognize him). Martha has a hard time at work thanks to her straightforward,
guileless, and proudly truthful reactions. She's a dangerous woman out in the
world because she doesn't lie. In fact she goes out of her way to tell the
truth, even when it gets her boss at the dry cleaners in trouble. Even when
it's Birdy's boyfriend who's stealing money from the till, and even when,
ultimately, lying would be the easy way to get herself out of trouble.

   Into this scene comes Mackey (also really well played by Gabriel Byrne), an
alcoholic drifter, out of work and looking for a job rebuilding the house. He
treats Martha well and with respect, at least when he's sober, and you can
bet she's going to respond with love just as she did with Birdy. Feminists may
well be divided (as they were with "The Piano") as to how they see the
relationship that develops between these two characters. At least this film
explicitly acknowledges that there is an issue here, but it certainly isn't an
easy one. Despite her limitations, you don't want merely to think of Martha 
as a victim, but as a person capable of knowing her own feelings and desires, 
and in a number of senses, a dangerous woman.

   For the WMNF Women's Show this has been Linda Lopez McAlister on Women and
Film.
   Copyright 1994 by Linda Lopez McAlister. All rights reserved. Please do not
reprint this review without the permission of the author.