An Innocent Man (1989)

IMDb plot summary: After airline mechanic James Rainwood is framed by two corrupt police officers, he begins plotting his revenge against them.

Directed by Peter Yates. Stars Tom Selleck, F. Murray Abraham, and Laila Robins.

An Innocent Man follows an ordinary everyman played by Tom Selleck who’s wrongfully convicted by corrupt cops trying to cover up their own mistakes. He is sent to prison where he must toughen up to survive and eventually seek justice once he’s released. This sounds like it should be a tense, gripping thriller, but it turns out to be a pretty boring prison drama. Peter Yates made sharp, energetic films in his earlier years but at this point in his career he seems to have drifted into pure dullness in his later years, and this is another example of that. I genuinely struggled to remember most of it even moments after the credits rolled. The characters are all broad stereotypes: the hardened inmate, the cartoonishly evil guards, the unconvincing villains, the stoic hero. There’s no compelling character arc, nothing to elevate it above dozens of similar but better movies. Disappointingly flat and forgettable.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 An Innocent Man (1989)

📊 Ranked #3214/4083 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 21

lost to Fail Safe (#2027 → #839)

lost to My Darling Clementine (#3047 → #3043)

beat Johnny Tremain (#3571 → #3572)

beat Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (#3317 → #3377)

lost to Multiplicity (#3189 → #3186)

lost to State Fair (#3256 → #2940)

lost to What Lies Beneath (#3284 → #3263)

lost to The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (#3299 → #3245)

beat Kinsey (#3303 → #3311)

beat That Darn Cat! (#3301 → #3316)

lost to ParaNorman (#3300 → #3201)

beat Zorba the Greek (#3302 → #3303)