Betrayed (1988 film)

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Betrayed
movie poster
Directed by	Costa Gavras
Produced by	Irwin Winkler
Written by	Joe Eszterhas
Starring	Debra Winger Tom Berenger John Heard John Mahoney
Music by	Bill Conti
Distributed by	United Artists/MGM
Release date(s)	26 August 1988
Running time	127 min.
Language	English

Betrayed is a 1988 motion picture drama directed by Costa Gavras, written by Joe Eszterhas and starring Tom Berenger and Debra Winger.

1 Plot
2 Reviews
3 Trivia
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Plot

Set in the American Midwest, the film begins with the murder of a Jewish radio host in Chicago. FBI undercover agent Catherine Weaver (Winger), alias Katie Phillips, sets out to infiltrate a farming community, suspected of harbouring those responsible.

After receiving a warm welcome from land-owner and farmer Gary Simmons (Berenger), his two children and extended family, she begins to believe that the FBI lead is erroneous. Throwing caution to the wind, she moves in and falls in love with Simmons, a Vietnam War veteran who appears to command the respect of the local community. A short while later, her suspicions are aroused by talk of family secrets and as more chilling events unfold, Katie is exposed to the fact that Gary is the leader of a Klan-like white supremacy group involved in heinous, often gut-wrenching, acts of racial violence.

In too deep, Katie pleads with boss and mentor Michael Carnes (John Heard) to release her from the assignment, but he refuses, instead turning the screw on her mixed loyalties. Ultimately, she must betray either the man she loves or the country she has sworn to protect.

The start sequence is loosely based on the 1984 murder of Denver DJ Alan Berg, who was murdered by white supremacists known as The Order. This is also the theme of the Oliver Stone movie Talk Radio.

The film is culturally significant in one of the first accurate contemporary depictions of social computer networking. In a subtle chilling scene, the extent of the racist organization is revealed by a look at their Usenet group.

[edit] Reviews

The film was moderately successful from a critical perspective, with the movie review amalgamation site RottenTomatoes.com giving it a 63% Fresh rating [1]. The performance of Winger was praised by some reviewers, who felt she was successful in conveying complex and mixed emotions throughout.{{Fact} Critics of the film point to a muddled and sometimes unbelievable unraveling of the plot.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Trivia

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

In a 1996 interview, Tom Berenger named Betrayed as his favourite film, shrugging off any media criticism with the retort "It was exactly what it was meant to be".

The film is mentioned in the Seinfeld episode "The Comeback".

[edit] See also

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[edit] References

This article does not cite any references or sources. (February 2008)
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