Betrayal (1978 film)

Betrayal
GenreDrama
Based onBetrayal
by Julie Roy and Lucy Freeman
Teleplay byJoanna Crawford
Jerrold Freedman
Directed byPaul Wendkos
StarringLesley Ann Warren
Rip Torn
Theme music composerPaul Chihara
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
Production
Executive producersRoger Gimbel
Tony Converse
ProducerMarc Trabulus
CinematographyGayne Rescher
EditorDana Cahn
Running time96 minutes
Production companiesEMI Television
Roger Gimbel Productions
Original release
NetworkNBC
ReleaseNovember 13, 1978 (1978-11-13)

Betrayal is a 1978 American made-for-television drama film directed by Paul Wendkos and starring Rip Torn and Lesley Ann Warren, based on a non-fiction book by Julie Roy with Lucy Freeman. The subject is a real life lawsuit[1] about a woman who sued her psychiatrist after he allegedly lured her into a sexual relationship. The film was first aired on NBC Monday Night at the Movies on November 13, 1978.[2][3]

Plot

When Julie Roy, a young woman, approaches a maverick attorney Bob Cohen who handled her divorce several years earlier, she was desperate. She needed money to move to San Francisco to escape her painful past and wanted to sue her psychiatrist because he hadn't helped her. What was then revealed by Julie to Bob and his associate, Loren Plotkin, was a frightening expose of how Julie was, in fact, claiming that her psychoanalyst, Doctor Renatus Hartog, raped her, and over a period of time used her for sex before discarding her.

At first skeptical, the two lawyers were finally persuaded that Julie was telling the truth and they had the grounds for an unprecedented malpractice case that became a landmark decision in legal history.[4]

Cast

References

  1. ^ Elizabeth Ford, Merrill Rotter, eds., Landmark Cases in Forensic Psychiatry (Oxford University Press, 2014), ISBN 978-0199344659, p. 115. Excerpts available at Google Books.
  2. ^ William Beamon, "Depression in Two Different Veins", Evening Independent, November 13, 1978.
  3. ^ "'Betrayal' Drama Airs", Spartanburg Herald-Journal, November 11, 1978.
  4. ^ Panorama newspaper TV and Radio Guide; 08/10/1982-14/10/1982