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An Innocent Man

 An Innocent Man
type
TVTItem
 An Innocent Man
label
An Innocent Man
 An Innocent Man
page
AnInnocentMan
 An Innocent Man
comment
An Innocent Man is a 1989 crime thriller film directed by Peter Yates, and starring Tom Selleck and F. Murray Abraham.Enter James Rainwood, an airline maintenance supervisor with a perfect wife. Things take a dark turn when James decides to take a shower one night. While scrubbing himself clean, two crooked police officers get the wrong address and bash down his door. When James comes out of the bathroom wielding his hair dryer, they think it is a gun and shoot him. Realizing their mistake, they cover themselves and frame him as a drug dealer. James refuses to take a plea and he is sentenced to six years in the slammer. In the brutal prison environment, he is given a bleak collection of options in order to survive prison. After three years, James is released on parole, and he tries to pick up his life again, but the cops from before return to threaten James and his wife. Realizing that his prison lessons must be carried over into civilian life, James prepares for a final reckoning between the cops and himself.
 An Innocent Man
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2024-04-26T19:31:58Z
 An Innocent Man
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2024-04-26T19:31:58Z
 An Innocent Man
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DBTropes
 An Innocent Man / int_237404cc
type
Ironic Echo
 An Innocent Man / int_237404cc
comment
Ironic Echo: Virgil rhetorically asks "How often does a con get justice?" when James explains his plight, then repeats it triumphantly to the dirty cops who put both of them in prison when they arrive there at the end of the film.
 An Innocent Man / int_237404cc
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An Innocent Man / int_237404cc
 An Innocent Man / int_2d363f63
type
Frame-Up
 An Innocent Man / int_2d363f63
comment
Frame-Up: Two dirty cops break into James' house when they get the address numbers confused with a drug dealer's, then set him up to cover their mistake.
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An Innocent Man / int_2d363f63
 An Innocent Man / int_3036294e
type
Scary Black Man
 An Innocent Man / int_3036294e
comment
Scary Black Man: Jingles, the leader of the gang that preys on James during his time in prison.
 An Innocent Man / int_3036294e
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An Innocent Man / int_3036294e
 An Innocent Man / int_4de1544
type
Had to Come to Prison to Be a Crook
 An Innocent Man / int_4de1544
comment
Had to Come to Prison to Be a Crook: James kills an inmate preying on him to get rid of the threat and thus "prove" himself in prison so he'll be left alone. Lampshaded when James later tells Virgil that on the outside he never did anything illegal in his life.
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An Innocent Man / int_4de1544
 An Innocent Man / int_588d766f
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BlackAndGreyMorality
 An Innocent Man / int_588d766f
comment
Black-and-Grey Morality: Unlike James, Virgil and his friends are criminals who are probably deservedly in prison. We still side with them when they take on corrupt cops Parnell and Scalise, because Virgil and his associates at least have an Honor Among Thieves sense of morality and loyalty while Parnell and Scalise are completely amoral sociopaths.
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 An Innocent Man / int_6116ca8d
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Hellhole Prison
 An Innocent Man / int_6116ca8d
comment
Hellhole Prison: Oroville is obviously controlled by gangs.
 An Innocent Man / int_6116ca8d
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 An Innocent Man / int_6bda9a30
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Meaningful Name
 An Innocent Man / int_6bda9a30
comment
Meaningful Name: James's mentor Virgil has the same name as Dante's guide through Hell.
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An Innocent Man / int_6bda9a30
 An Innocent Man / int_758c3034
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Prison Rape
 An Innocent Man / int_758c3034
comment
Prison Rape: Jingles' gang threatens James with this by forcing him to watch as a younger inmate is prepared for this exact fate by members of the gang. It's this incident that spurs James (who until then had not been willing to dirty his hands with them) to take action.
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 An Innocent Man / int_863fa679
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What Happened to the Mouse?
 An Innocent Man / int_863fa679
comment
What Happened to the Mouse?: It's never established whether Fitzpatrick was killed, seriously injured, or just knocked out when Scalise hits him with his car after being shot.
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 An Innocent Man / int_90e31482
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Laser-Guided Karma
 An Innocent Man / int_90e31482
comment
Laser-Guided Karma: The surviving dirty cop who framed James was sent to the same prison he was in, on the same block (in Real Life most likely he would be put in protective custody).
 An Innocent Man / int_90e31482
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An Innocent Man / int_90e31482
 An Innocent Man / int_94e7d8f
type
Shoot Him, He Has a Wallet!
 An Innocent Man / int_94e7d8f
comment
Shoot Him, He Has a Wallet!: After Scalise and Parnell mistakenly break into James' house instead of their intended target, they shoot James as he comes out of the bathroom holding a hair dryer.
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An Innocent Man / int_94e7d8f
 An Innocent Man / int_ae3d6438
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Deadpan Snarker
 An Innocent Man / int_ae3d6438
comment
Deadpan Snarker: Virgil. Fitzpatrick at times as well.
 An Innocent Man / int_ae3d6438
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An Innocent Man / int_ae3d6438
 An Innocent Man / int_aec63727
type
Pragmatic Hero
 An Innocent Man / int_aec63727
comment
Pragmatic Hero: James's vigilante actions tend to be just as necessary as they are vengeful. In prison, he initially attempts to remain neutral... until a sadistic inmate backs him into a corner, forcing him to kill the inmate for payback as well as survival (both in self-defense and reputation-wise). And upon being paroled, James initially decides to try and rebuild his life rather than seek revenge on the dirty cops; it isn't until they start blackmailing him (thus threatening to ruin his life once again) that he sees no choice but revenge.
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 An Innocent Man / int_b3d1b7e3
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Genius Bonus
 An Innocent Man / int_b3d1b7e3
comment
Genius Bonus: James and Kate discuss the definition of punctuated equilibrium, Stephen Jay Gould and Niles Eldredge's interpretation of evolutionary rates in the fossil record, as Kate prepares for a biology exam.
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 An Innocent Man / int_bc3cb7ff
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Clear My Name
 An Innocent Man / int_bc3cb7ff
comment
Clear My Name: James struggles to do this after he gets released from prison.
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An Innocent Man / int_bc3cb7ff
 An Innocent Man / int_c7d86fbe
type
Plausible Deniability
 An Innocent Man / int_c7d86fbe
comment
Plausible Deniability: After offing Jingles:
 An Innocent Man / int_c7d86fbe
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 An Innocent Man / int_eb251937
type
Dirty Cop
 An Innocent Man / int_eb251937
comment
Dirty Cop: Parnell and Scalise are on the take from a gangster by selectively targeting drug dealers from rival gangs. Following a drug bust at the wrong address, they frame James so that they don't get the blame. He used their dirty dealings against them in the end. They're working for a major drug kingpin by arresting competing dealers: James gets their informant to have them arrest the kingpin's men instead.
 An Innocent Man / int_eb251937
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 An Innocent Man / int_fccd06b6
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Beware the Nice Ones
 An Innocent Man / int_fccd06b6
comment
Beware the Nice Ones: Parnell and Scalise see the typically mild-mannered and play-by-the-books Fitzpatrick as an ineffectual bureaucrat. Later on, Fitzpatrick almost kills Parnell with his bare hands when they threaten him, and kills Scalise in a shoot-out.
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An Innocent Man

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 An Innocent Man
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Brass Balls / int_7835be85
 An Innocent Man
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Clear My Name / int_7835be85
 An Innocent Man
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Had to Come to Prison to Be a Crook / int_7835be85
 An Innocent Man
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Pariah Prisoner / int_7835be85
 An Innocent Man
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Prison Films / int_7835be85
 An Innocent Man
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Prison Rape / int_7835be85
 An Innocent Man
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Shoot Him, He Has a Wallet! / int_7835be85