Fallen Angel (1981) Reviews

• Chilling, disturbing, brilliant (some spoilers)

  zoemanning2004-01-21

  I first saw this movie way back when I was a teen. I only watched the latter half of it, and it was so captivating that I spent the next few years searching for the full movie. At that time, I was doing school research on the topic of paedophilia and child pornography, and Fallen Angel was an excellent case study about how children can be lured into a world of porn and sexual exploitation which they are not yet ready for. The story in short is about 12 year old Jennifer who felt neglected by her single-parent working-mom Sherry. She sought friendship and solace with softball coach cum child pornographer Howard, who in turn abused her trust to lure her into the world of child pornography. In the end, Jennifer must decide whether to move on with her life, or risk her reputation and face up to her painful mistakes to prevent Howard from harming any more children. It would be easy to point the finger at the paedophile Howard (Richard Masur) and clueless mother Sherry (Melinda Dillon), but the characters are multi-layered and complex, which makes this movie so good and disturbing. Howard came from an abusive family, and so he tried to treat children with respect like adults. Unfortunately, he also fell in love with girls as if they were grown women, and he couldn't see that he was wrong in having sexual relationships with children or putting them in pornography. Despite exploiting Jennifer (Dana Hill), he was also shown as a caring and protective father figure to her, raising her self-confidence. Her mother Sherry worked hard to provide for Jennifer, but her neglect and relationship with another man pushed Jennifer away towards Howard. Even Jennifer wasn't totally innocent, as she seduced Howard into taking her in when she ran away from home. The acting is first class. Amazingly, the late Dana Hill was about 16 at that time, but she managed to convey the image and innocence of 12 year old Jennifer convincingly. Richard Masur was perfect as a creepy paedophile, yet still manages to draw sympathy for his "condition". His character was both manipulative and child-like at the same time. Fallen Angel doesn't defend paedophilia or parental neglect, but it does try to offer reasons and underlying circumstances for them. It also explores the budding sexuality and curiosity in children which adults tend to ignore until too late. Most importantly, it addresses the darker aspects of society that parents try to shield their kids from, which actually make them easy targets for exploitation. Overall, Fallen Angel is an exceedingly good made-for-TV movie. It would serve as a reminder for parents to remain vigilant and to educate their preteen children against society's ills.

• amazing, disturbing tv movie

  rottenmat2002-09-08

  I wholly disagree with the idea that the plot stalls and the behavior of "Howie" is inconsistent. The writers make it quite clear that Howard Nichols seduces both for sex and for business. What makes this movie creepy is that it is too good. The pedophile character is complex, and such a complex depiction would be unthinkable today. This is almost a period piece... It documents an era of innocence long gone. Word of warning.... don't use this film for its intended purposes... it's too bizarre for kids.

• Assured performances in an unsteady "warning" film

  moonspinner552001-05-22

  Richard Masur is exceedingly creepy as a pedophile who lures youngsters into kiddie-porno films, but this vehicle for his character can't quite create a plot out of these dynamics. Masur's relationship with disenfranchised youth Dana Hill is pseudo-friendly (he's really all business), so it comes as something of a surprise when he tells her near the end that he wants to be her lover. This is not consistent with the character, nor is it likely that Hill would find any revelations shocking at this point. What the movie does well is to show Hill almost absent-mindedly falling into the porn racket, turning her from an innocent latch-key kid into someone hard and manipulative (yet the filmmakers have her go all sweet and soft at the tag, as if finding the culprit repairs most of the damage). "Fallen Angel" isn't a great TV-flick, nor has it proved to be an important one, but it does have some frank dialogue and some emotional and disturbing scenes.

• A truly disturbing early 80's made-for-TV shocker

  Woodyanders2007-09-21

  It's very rare that one sees a made-for-TV movie with any real edge to it, which makes this hard-hitting effort all the more startling. It's a truly shocking, upsetting and disturbing film which openly deals with an emotionally charged, morbidly compelling and undeniably unpleasant topic (in this case pedophilia and child pornography) in a surprisingly frank, unflinching, nonexploitative manner and hence delivers an unexpectedly sinewy punch. Richard Masur, astutely cast against type (he often appears in countless movies as your dad's affably goofy best bear-drinking buddy), delivers a frightfully creepy and utterly believable performance as Howie Nichols, a seemingly nice and harmless fellow who coaches an all-girls softball team. Beneath his warm, cuddly, ostensibly placid veneer, Howie is a deeply sick and loathsome man, a smoothly ingratiating child molester who recruits vulnerable teenage boys and girls for an underground small town kiddie porn racket. Howie's latest potential conquest is confused, bitter 13-year-old Jennifer Phillips (an achingly fragile and susceptible Dana Hill in a remarkably gutsy, on-target characterization), whose messed-up home life -- Jennifer's hard-working widow mother (beautifully played by Melinda Dillon) has acquired a new boyfriend (the always excellent Ronny Cox) Jennifer doesn't like -- makes her an easy target for Howie's smarmy, pseudo-sensitive and mock-understanding affection. The sordid subject matter skirts cheap, tawdry exploitation at its most base and reprehensible, but thankfully the film itself steers clear of crass titillation and remains firmly grounded in revealing, confrontational, genuinely provocative domestic drama due to Robert Lewis' tasteful, restrained direction, Lew Hunter's thoughtful, trenchant, grimly engrossing script, and uniformly superlative acting. Masur in particular has never been better, bringing an oily, skin-crawling conviction and, most striking of all, even a fair degree of touching pathos to his fascinatingly grotesque part: Howie's the pathetic, socially maladaptive result of severe parental abuse and neglect who honestly thinks there's nothing wrong with his unsavory carnal interest in adolescents. For once television's strict censorship code against explicitness helps instead of hurts a film, saving this movie from becoming gross, unwatchable filth. Still, "Fallen Angel" is just graphic enough to make one feel uncomfortable and thus comes recommended with reservations. All in all, it's understandable that when this potently unsettling film first aired it was a huge ratings hit and subsequently won an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Special Drama: It's an extremely powerful and gut-wrenching examination of the warped psyche and unbalanced sexuality of a predatory, unrepentant pedophile.

• Tense to watch

  robbytara2003-05-14

  I actually watched this movie at school of all places! It was in 1983 and I guess the school board wanted all young people to know about this disturbing topic. This movie is very tense for me to watch, I have a twelve year old daughter myself. This was a well made TV movie that I will give a solid 8/10.