Marie (1985) User Reviews

Strong Production saves the script.

[jennys-saviour · 7/10 · 18 January 2002]

Its fuuny how time changes how you see a movie. If this film came out in the cinemas today it would look terrific compared to the current rubbish around.

The premise for Marie is a god one for a thriller and although the script bottoms out, great acting in almost all areas and powerful direction from Roger Donaldson save it from mediocrity and turn it into a really effective, attention grabbing, suspensful and emotionally involving film.

Apart from Roger Donaldson and Chris Menges moody atmosphereic lighting. The film is served best by Sissy Spaceks lead performance, if any actress had greater ability to allow you to feel how their character is feeling I'd like to know who it is. Sissy makes a great protagonist with a mixture of vunerability and strong resolve. She's not so headstrong as too seem a bitchy self-interested character, yet she has enough strength and integrity to make Marie the hero of the story.

I thought the whole production was great. And the fact that this film wasnt one of the best ones whe it came out just goes to show how far behind hollywood has gotten.

On a last note. Jeff Daniels played a great role in this. He really made you see him in a completely different light to normal.

A mid 1980's period piece based on facts of corruption that ended with prison time for the state Governor

[Ed-Shullivan · 8/10 · 7 October 2019]

Politics is a very dirty and corrupt business which is evident and clearly outlined in less than the two hours it took to watch this film. Sissy Spacek plays the real life victim and heroine Marie Fajardo Ragghianti, who after surviving and subsequently leaving an abusive husband with her three (3) young children in tow works hard, studies even harder to achieve a Master of Public Administration (M.P.A.) degree from the Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1992. Like most novice civil servants who look for leadership from their superiors it did not take Marie too long to rise in the public ranks from 1997 through 1999, she worked as the chief of staff for the United States Parole Commission. Once in this prestigious position Marie realized that she was being duped and placed in her role to serve at the favor of a corrupt Tennessee Governor Ray Blanton.

When Marie started asking questions when her boss (who hired her) Eddie Sisk and Governor Ray Blanton insisted that she blindly approve a number of very dubious and questionable paroles of known and convicted criminals she spoke to the FBI. Marie was abruptly terminated under false accusations that she herself was acting fraudulently with her office expense account and drinking to excess.

After surviving an abusive husband, raising three (3) children on her own, one son with some very serious medical issues, completing her Masters degree, she decided to fight her firing in a civil suit. After winning her case, the perpetrators namely Eddie Sisk (her former boss) and the Governor of Tennessee Ray Blanton were found guilty of extravagant spending, mail fraud, taking bribes for approving liquor licenses and questions were raised about their role(s) in approving wrongful paroles of convicted felons and served prison time.

The movie itself is a period piece reflective of the 1980's corrupt politicians and blatant disregard for the rule of law and serving as a civil servant, except that Sissy Spacek who plays the victim and heroine Marie Fajardo Ragghianti, is someone we can all look up to and express our gratitude for agreeing to make this movie and shed a bright light on a few corrupt government officials.

Great cast in very important story

[morrisonhimself · 8/10 · 25 December 2004]

This movie is based on a true story, a story that is, in fact, much worse than is portrayed here.

The governor of Tennessee, Ray Blanton, must rank as the worst the state ever had and, as a son of Tennessee, let me tell you that is really saying something.

Not to spoil the movie, let me add that Bill Clinton ended his presidency much as did Blanton end his governorship. That fact is sort of hinted at by the movie, but Blanton's governorship was so rife with corruption, with members of his family and his friends and allies living and profiting at the expense of the taxpayers, one movie cannot do the story justice. It would take at least a miniseries to tell the whole tale.

This movie, though, makes a good stab at part of the story, the part played by the title character, Marie. Sissy Spacek does her usual good job as Marie, displaying not only her own mature beauty but an admirable emotional range as both the put-upon government employee and the concerned mother.

Fred Thompson ... well, there are not enough superlatives in my limited vocabulary to express all my admiration and respect for him. He is a fine actor, and he was one of the greatest U.S. senators ever to represent the usually misrepresented state of Tennessee. Certainly the two there now (2004) don't begin to be big enough to fill his shoes, nor do they remotely resemble him in moral stature, intelligence, or knowledge of the Constitution. Well, he is better off back in acting, but it is a serious loss to good government that Fred Thompson decided not to seek re-election.

I'm tempted to say, too, that any movie with John Cullum is a movie to see, if only to watch his scenes. What a superb actor, what a major talent he is. His big scene in "1776" just steals that movie, to name merely one.

Not to slight any other person in this excellent cast, but I have gone on long enough. They are excellent.

I will carp about three things: Some of the expository dialog was trite and silly, especially the character Kevin's last scene. The courtroom scene was missing something. I believe if I had been on the jury, I'd have voted differently simply because the evidence was not presented well enough. (One can understand Sen. Arlen Specter {more-or-less-R.- Pa.} and his "not proved" impeachment vote.)

And why was Bill Sanderson not cast in this? He is a marvelous actor, could probably have handled beautifully almost any role, and besides he is from Tennessee. And he is usually in Spacek's movies. Too bad, for us and for him.

Still, I'm glad I finally got to see "Marie." The story is important, and the movie is extremely well done.

One more quibble: A very well-known Edmund Burke quote is used several times, but in an odd paraphrase. Not inappropriate, but jarring because of the different phrasing. Never mind. This is a good movie, and I hope everyone sees it.

Freedom for sale, with Fred Thompson as himself

[AlsExGal · 7/10 · 11 September 2018]

Sissy Spacek plays Marie Ragghianti, a single mother of three who escapes her abusive husband in Georgia, moves back to Tennessee and her mother, and gets her degree. After getting her degree, she meets old college friend Eddie Sisk (Jeff Daniels), an appointee of the new Governor, and he gets her a job in the clemency and extradition bureau. She does her job well enough that Gov. Blanton (Don Hood) eventually appoints her to the parole board. On the parole board, however, she learns there may be high-level corruption going on, with paroles and pardons being sold, as well as delays in extraditions. At every turn she's stymied, until the governor fires her. She sues for wrongful dismissal, hiring former Senate Watergate counsel Fred Thompson (playing himself). Also in the cast are Keith Szarabajka as the civil servant trying to win Marie's heart; and Morgan Freeman as a fellow Parole Board officer who not only isn't impossibly virtuous, but is in fact a bit of a bad guy.

The performances are good, especially Spacek's, and the trial scenes are particularly good, as there's little of the histrionics that generally appear in Hollywood courtrooms. In fact, the courtroom itself is pretty cramped and much less majestic-looking than in most movies. The movie is generally based on a true story, although I do wonder how much liberty was taken with that story since Ragghianti has to go through so much that it gets ridiculous by the end. The other problem with the movie is the heavy-handed music score, which makes it very obvious when Something Dramatic Is About to Happen. It was to the point that I started laughing when I heard the change in music. Still, don't let that put you off the movie. It is a solid film.

good actors

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 28 June 2019]

Marie Ragghianti (Sissy Spacek) has enough of her abusive husband. She leaves him taking her three children back home to Tennessee. In 1973, she goes back to school. She gets a job from former classmate Eddie Sisk (Jeff Daniels). The head of the parole board, Charles Traughber (Morgan Freeman), is uncooperative. Bill Thompson is an unscrupulous operator behind the scenes. Sisk tells her to release a prisoner for the sake of a contributor to the Governor. He surprises her by making her the new chairman expecting more cooperation.

Sissy Spacek is great. I kinda remember this story from the news. Jeff Daniels is also great as something more than his normal nice guy. The ending is a little bland. The courtroom has some nice turns but the tension flattens out. More could have been done with Kevin's character. This is a compelling true story with some good acting.

Evil flourishes when good men do nothing.

[Hey_Sweden · 7/10 · 18 August 2022]

Inspired by a real-life story (and officially based on a book by Peter Maas), "Marie" stars a typically delightful Sissy Spacek as Marie Ragghianti (pronounced ra-JOHN-tee), a divorced mother of three. After getting herself an education, she goes to work in the office of the Tennessee governor (Don Hood, "Absence of Malice"). From there, she is given the fast track to becoming chairwoman of the parole board. Then her eyes are opened to the rampant corruption in her office, which includes the selling of clemency to various lowlife criminals who don't deserve it. Marie, being a fundamentally *good* person, is not going to keep quiet about this, continuing to try to do her job well, and of course gets into deep trouble with the powers-that-be.

While not really a great film, the material does make for solid entertainment that holds ones' attention. While one is never in doubt as to the outcome, director Roger Donaldson ("No Way Out", "Dante's Peak", etc.) generates sufficient tension from the isolated suspense sequences, relates the story quite capably, and gets very fine performances out of a cast featuring quite a few familiar faces: Jeff Daniels, Keith Szarabajka ("The Dark Knight"), Morgan Freeman, Lisa Banes ("Gone Girl"), Trey Wilson ("Raising Arizona"), John Cullum ('Northern Exposure'), Graham Beckel ("L. A. Confidential"), Macon McCalman ("Dead & Buried"), Collin Wilcox ("To Kill a Mockingbird"), Clarence Felder ("The Hidden"), Leon Rippy ("The Patriot"), and Timothy Carhart ("Thelma & Louise"). There is particular value here in seeing Fred (Dalton) Thompson, making his film debut and playing himself, Maries' defense attorney. Right from the start, he showed that strong screen presence that served him well in his respectable acting career and his later venture into politics.

"Marie" is definitely well made; although the Francis Lai score tends to be over-dramatic, making up for that is the excellent widescreen photography by Chris Menges. But Sissy really is the glue that holds the story together: Marie is not meant to be portrayed as some "perfect" individual, but she had the strength of character and desire to be truthful that makes her a protagonist worth a viewers' rooting interest. And the villains here truly are deplorable scum, making the inevitable conclusion a pretty satisfying one.

Brief text before the closing credits reveals the fate of a few of the key players.

Seven out of 10.

Before Jeffrey Wigand, before Erin Brockovich, there was Marie Ragghianti.

[lee_eisenberg · 7/10 · 13 June 2006]

In case you've never heard of Marie Ragghianti, she escaped an abusive marriage and went to work for a firm, only to discover some unsavory things about it. In the movie "Marie", Sissy Spacek plays her as well as can be expected. However, I would agree with a previous reviewer that the movie sort of uses her as a conduit to tell the story, and otherwise seems incomplete.

But overall, they do a pretty good job showing how Marie was finally able to make something of herself, only to be faced with the dilemma of maintaining this position or blowing the whistle. Maybe not exactly a masterpiece, but certainly worth seeing. Also starring Jeff Daniels and Morgan Freeman.

I disagree with Michael Morrison

[Cernan68 · 9/10 · 7 September 2007]

This was a great thriller, and is especially timely today, with all the corruption and lawbreaking at the top of government,

But I disagree with Michael Morrison when he says that Ray Blanton ended his governorship the way President Clinton ended his presidency. I've seen the movie twice, and have researched Blanton. The truth is, Blanton was a very corrupt official who did very little for his constituents and did not care about upholding the law or about the people who elected him. Unless everything I've read about Blanton, and saw in the film, was incorrect, Mr. Morrison is wrong. The truth is, Blanton left office in disgrace, with a dismal record as governor. Among those who remember him, he holds very little respect. In fact, even though The Tennessee State Constitution was amended in 1978 to allow Blanton and future Tennessee governors to succeed themselves. he did not run for reelection. In fact, due to the controversy surrounding his administration and lack of respect the public felt about him, it was very unlikely he would have been renominated, let alone reelected, had he chosen to run.

So Mr. Morrison observations are 180 degrees wrong.

As far as the movie, itself, is concerned, the story is strong. I was actually getting hot under the collar watching the corruption going on, even though it was only a movie. Spissy Spacek's performance as Marie Ragghianti made me genuinely feel the frustration of being in a position where she has to choose between siding with the law and your citizens or siding with a corrupt government official (who will abuse his power and authority in order to put you down if you don't join his side). This is true testimony to her acting skills.

Fred Thompson plays himself in this film; a skillful performance which led to his eventual full-time career as an actor. As a real life politician, himself, he skillfully is able to draw on his personal experience to bring certain depth to both his role here and subsequent acting roles he carried.

Although the situation in Tennesee, back in the 1970s, doesn't come close to the level of corruption today, at the Federal level, it does serve as an excellent morality tale of what can and, indeed, has happened. It's a bite size version of the bigger story that is going on today.

Despite an abundance of talent, not the distaff "Serpico" this team was probably hoping for...

[moonspinner55 · 4/10 · 7 November 2015]

Uninteresting vehicle for Sissy Spacek, an adaptation of the book "Marie: A True Story" by Peter Maas (the biographer of Frank Serpico), concerns divorced single mother Marie Ragghianti, who was fired from her job as chairman of the Tennessee Board of Pardons and Paroles in 1977 after refusing to release certain convicts (all rotten and threatening for effect) whose pardons were the result of bribes going back to the governor (similarly rotten). Ragghianti sees the corruption, understands its origins, and is tempted to go along with it for the sake of her job, but eventually has to take a stand for justice. Sally Field's Oscar-winning performance in 1979's "Norma Rae" provided a much-needed boost for actresses looking for substantial roles in 1980s cinema; however, by 1985, audiences had cooled on female stars such as Spacek, Field, Jessica Lange and Meryl Streep all taking noble stances on-screen for the sake of audience empathy (and prestige). Nothing in "Marie" rings true, not Spacek's relationships with her co-workers, her troubles with doctors over her sick son, nor her humble beginnings as an undereducated and abused housewife (the actor playing Spacek's bad-tempered husband looks about 10 years younger than the actress). The writing is vapid, Francis Lai's music is 'heart tugging' in the worst sense, and Roger Donaldson's direction is scattershot, with artificial details dotting the scenario. Fred Thompson plays himself as Marie's attorney, and is the only cast member to successfully overcome the phony dramatics. ** from ****

Suspenseful, polished production

[eigaeye · 8/10 · 18 December 2012]

There are more than a few movies about women battling and (hopefully) beating the system, so the field was already getting pretty crowded by 1985, when this film hit the cinemas. But it stands up there with the best of them; the greater surprise is that "Marie" is so less well known than, for instance, "Erin Brockovich" or "Norma Ray". The people involved in making this production are all out of the top drawer: Sissy Spacek in the lead role, supported by Jeff Daniels, Keith Szarabajka, Fred Thompson and Morgan Freeman (in a comparatively small part); director Roger Donaldson; cameraman Sam Mendes; and screenwriter John Briley. The script is tightly written, with a good pattern of sequences that moves the action through suspense (or, more precisely, a sense of menace), anxious domestic incidents, and lighter casual moments: the story looks and feels authentic. Spacek is terrific in the lead role of a "not perfect" person who just won't let herself be pushed aside when her integrity gets in the way of her political masters. But no element of the production is weak: the final court drama is beautifully played (how much better are these sequences when they rely on real transcripts), and so is the dynamic within the family of the woman on a mission. Highly recommended.

Fired?

[rmax304823 · 5/10 · 6 November 2016]

I enjoy legal conflicts and courtroom movies. Not much action, usually, but lots of chicanery. There seems to have been a spate of movies over the last decade or two about strong-willed women having their way with miscreants. "Zero Dark Thirty," though not a courtroom drama, was quite good except for the strident and unnecessary outburst by Jessica Chastain employing the MF word in the presence of the Secretary of Defense. "Erin Brokovitch," also a professional piece, had Julia Roberts shocking the rest of the room by claiming she'd seduced the witnesses with BJs. I wish the fad would exhaust itself because it provides a cheap thrill at the expense of verisimilitude.

In "Marie," one of the earliest, Sissy Spacek as the principled Chairman of the Parole Board in Tennessee is spared that chore. And Spacek, with her tiny figure and long red hair, is sort of loomed over by the guys she works for -- especially Fred Dalton Thompson, in his debut role playing himself, who wears the same dyspeptic expression he wore throughout his career. He looks like what you would look like if you were losing a duel of wits with a claw machine in an arcade. In one scene, when Spacek wins her court case, she hugs him and he tries to smile but what emerges is a teeth-filled snarl, as of a threatening junkyard dog.

The problem is that it's a kind of clunky picture. The major performances are good enough, and Spacek is thoroughly convincing. She's also a genial lady with pretty legs, my co-star in the unforgettable "Crimes of the Limbic System" or whatever it was.

There's a murder in here. Spacek's only true friend, who is going to testify at her trial and save her bacon, is strangled. A slight problem there. The incident is never referred to again. Instead we're immediately back to Spacek's underwhelming tribulation: Will she be able to hang onto her job, despite the governor's accusations of sloppiness? Never mind the murder of her friend, who denounced her in a letter. (Some friend.) But will the jury accept the governor's lies? Guess.

It's a mid-range movie that loses its focus and takes us on a tour of a pistachio nut that one of her three kids swallowed. The peregrinations of the nut make no medical sense. Neither do some other details, not worth going into. The writing is pretty murky and the direction is adequate, no more than that. Little in the way of local color.

Not a bad movie but I'd rather expected more because I'd seen both "Brokovitch" and "Zero Dark Thirty" first. They're both fine but this one is a bit like a Lifetime Movie Network feature. Not a knock on the performers, just that their roles are poorly written.

A woman's truth

[jgcorrea · 5/10 · 13 December 2022]

The premise, good for a thriller, prevented mediocrity and made the movie effective, attention-grabbing, suspenseful and emotionally involving. The writing was vapid & murky, it bottomed out with the artificial details dotting the scenario, but the direction was vigorous and adequate, if scattershot. As to Sissy Spacek, she confirmed her proficiency to be also shown in Carrie - Prime Cut - Badlands - Coal Miners Daughter - Crimes of the Heart - Missing - Old Man & the Gun - - Affliction - Raggedy Man - Three Women - The River - In the Bedroom - An American Haunting - JFK - Castle Rock - and even Bloodline.