A Mother's Revenge (1993 TV Movie) User Reviews (10)

Pretty good!!

[sugar-bear · 6/10 · 14 August 2005]

Pretty good Lifetime movie. Lesley Ann Warren is Carol. A woman who juggles motherhood and a career and a husband who's always on the go with business trips, etc.. they have two daughters Jill aged 17 and Wendy, 12. While Jill deals with her own world into becoming independent and an adult, Wendy seems to be more closer to her Carol. One day Carol realizes she needs to stay late at work so she calls Jill up at work to pick up Wendy after school. Jill is late in picking her up and this worries Wendy who heads back into the school building a little after 5pm to call her mother. Little does Wendy know, there is a sick perverted janitor, Frank, still inside who's got his eye on Wendy and before Wendy can call her mother, he beats then rapes her leaving her for dead.

Wendy is in the hospital clinging for life while Frank is caught and while in court Frank's quick witted attorney along with his lying mother take him off the hook. There is not enough evidence and Frank is free from all charges and is a free man. Carol is outraged at what is happening and decides to take the law into her own hands. Right there in the court room, she pulls a gun out of her purse and shoots and kills Frank. Now Carol must face with the possibility of never seeing Wendy again. Wendy awakes from her coma and is getting better when she finds out her mother is in court for killing her rapist.

The rest of the story is throughly acted and avoids being too sappy. In the end, Carol gets less time in prison(I believe she ends up getting like 2 or 3 years) and Frank's mother fesses up to lying under oath. Wendy heads back to school and Jill and her Mother along with Wendy become closer and stronger. I liked it and it was great to see Lesley Ann Warren in yet another movie she so greatly manages.

Pushed to the limit

[SusieSalmonLikeTheFish · 6/10 · 21 December 2014]

A Mother's Revenge (A.K.A. Desperate Justice) is the dramatization of the sad story of a woman whose straight-A's elementary school daughter gets raped and beaten to near-death by a man she trusted. It's a typical Lifetime movie, overly dramatic and hokey, but it manages to hold your attention for the most part.

Carol Sanders is the mother of two children: her "perfect angel" Wendy and her rebellious goth older daughter, Jill. She's married to a loving husband and aside from the typical family feuding drama that pops up on occasion, the Sanders family is totally normal, living in an Arizona suburb where everything seems protected and safe.

Wendy is a teacher's pet in her elementary school, with good grades and a love for animals, dreams of being a veterinarian and many hopes for the future. Lately she's befriended the kind school janitor, Frank Warden. Meanwhile Jill Sanders has started dressing all in black with a goth style, hanging around with her boyfriend at all hours, much to her mom's disapproval. When Carol asks Jill to pick Wendy up for school and Jill in ten minutes late, Frank Warden invites Wendy inside the school and the unthinkable happens. Wendy is reported missing but is found lying near the school, raped and beat-up and in a coma. When Frank's fancy lawyer gets him out of doing any jail time, Carol snaps and shoots him dead in the courtroom, and in order for Carol to stay out of jail, she seeks help from Frank's mother, his former lawyer and she tries to patch up her rocky relationship with Jill.

A Mother's Revenge has great soundtrack, not the best acting though. I think if it showed things more from Bill Sander's, Frank's mom, Frank's lawyer and Jill's boyfriend more, it would've been a little more insightful and interesting. Still, it's not too bad of a movie and I think it deserves six stars for its effort and its intriguing plot.

1993 drama. nothing special

[saskpareki · 5/10 · 22 June 2021]

Maybe it was enough for its time ( i guess it wasnt even good in 1993 since nobody knows this movie) but its totally expected and nothing really happens to change things.

They could focus in a few different relationships but they stick to the mothers view. She becomes a killer and kills a man who hasnt killed anyone, so we have 1 more killer in planet earth.

She gets what she deserves at the end. Fair enough.

Excellent Movie!

[BreanneB · 10/10 · 10 May 2005]

I loved this movie and the actors and actresses in it. My favorite is Annette O'Toole. Although, you may think she is a jerk in the beginning because she gets the charges against Frank Warden the rapist dropped, she really is a cool character. I also really like Carol Sanders the mother, Lesley Ann Warren's character. I think she is a supermom. Iam not saying that killing is okay, because it certainly is not, there is no justification in killing someone. However, that man was a monster and his mother was an asshole. She is a moron for lying under oath just to protect her son. Kudos to cast, crew and filmmakers. Two Thumbs Way Up!

Temporary Insanity

[lavatch · 8/10 · 23 November 2022]

This film takes a non-conventional approach to a mother's revenge after the brutal assault of her daughter. Instead of a carefully planned vigilante act, the mom kills the perpetrator in a moment of high anxiety after he is acquitted. The shooting occurs in the courtroom. If ever there was an instance of temporary insanity, this is it. And it is the legal concept of temporary insanity that is explored in the film.

The screenplay was exceptional in providing dialogue that gave each performer the opportunity to pull out the emotional stops. A twist came when the defense attorney for the rapist Frank Warden elects to represent the mom, Carol Sanders. The attorney, Ellen Wells, effortlessly switched sides to represent the wounded mother.

The courtroom scenes unfolded the drama of the temporary insanity defense. In the end, the judge's ruling was curious. While the verdict was surprising, all parties seemed to be reconciled to the judge's decision. It is clear at the end that the lives of those involved will never be the same.

While the film may have been excessively sentimental, the ensemble cast was superb in commitment to the realities of the brutality of an unspeakable crime. Much credit should go to the director for the compositional choices for key dramatic moments. One of the most moving of the characters was the older sister Jill, who blamed herself for arriving late at school. But the entire cast was terrific in portraying the overall impact of a domestic tragedy.

A mother's plight driving her by nature to desperate measures

[clanciai · 9/10 · 3 January 2023]

This is not a simple case. There are many issues here, as there are many people deeply committed in the drama and few of them getting things properly sorted out. Even the judge has some difficulty in clearing the way. There is a happy family with two daughters, the youngest being 12 years old, and she is a favourite at school. Her mother usually picks her up after school, but one day she gets detained and phones her eldest daughter to pick up her younger sister instead. She fools around with a boy and forgets about the time, and when she finally reaches the school her little sister isn't there. She is later found in a ditch thrown out of a car, molested and almost beaten to death. We know the transgressor from the beginning, he has a criminal record, and he lives alone with his mum. She is over-protective and lies in court to save her son, who is acquitted. Then the mother of the raped little girl loses control.

There are two mothers' cases here, the mother of the raped little girl and the mother of the perpetrator. Then there is the elder sister who has to live with a burdened conscience for having neglected to collect her little sister in time. Even the perpetrator is a case of its own. Then there is the head mistress of the school who employed him without thoroughly checking his past. Then there is the father of the two girls, who has to bear with all the guilt complexes of the others and check them from running wild. The case is deeply engaging, you can't watch this without becoming involved in the drama, the actors are all perfect, and the music is also exactly enough. Above all, this is a drama for all parents to learn something out of.

Spoiler: Each parent should watch this,a GOOD parent,and grandparents,families.1 of the best ever made on true stories.

[domincanredangel · 10/10 · 8 November 2014]

Annette O Toole from Dead before Sunset. with the handsome Ken Olin,she was great in that film too,but THIS one i really feel her acting chops.The lovely,very talented Leslie Ann Warren was simply as always incredible,quite realistic,as all of her movies i've seen. --- I have it on again today. Prosecutor,i agree only care about it seem"winning"at all cost,not attempting to understand the flagrant mitigating factors,leading up to a parent doing what she did. --- They do not put themselves,in"how they will feel if some 1 hurt their under eighteen years old child,in a abhorrent brutal, nefarious, vile fashion.The parent simply SNAPPED.It clearly was not planned.She snapped.She sure didn't mean to intentionally kill the rapist/batterer of her youngest child.

I love Annette O Toole,from start to conclusion.

I love how at first,she had aggressiely and astutely,defendant the rapist,the disgusting,abhorrent Frank Warden,who indeed battered/raped wendy,a little girl pre-teen only 12, during such brutal attacks,then turn around,sympathize,as a mother herself with Leslie Ann Warren character, she clearly did understand what the mother must've been going through and finally agreed,to represent the mother.I love it.

Brilliantly written-all premise on a true-story.sad, so so sad,seeing the beautiful Lil girl Wendy suffer this way,"talk about a great child-actor."so good she was in this,and the father as well,JILL, theolder teen-child,curly-hair sister was good(realistically) as a teen-sis,devastated,blaming herself at first as the mom,even "inwardly blame Jill."the ending i will not surprise but wow. ---

Just a incredible true to life story.Sex abuse/RAPE is the worse. ...

Some say death is worse than what happened to wendy but some disagree.

Some say, the knowing of what had happen to her daughter,simply in many ways is worse. Worse for the victim of rape & worse for the darling, sweet good parents who also has to live with what happen to the child,during such time in their young lives. ---

I could not convict some 1 like that,i do NOT at anytime,condone shooting a man or woman,in cold blood, defenseless. ---

But i also know this coward,no good person was the worse in society,and she "snapped"so it happened. i would have said acquit her,and or probationary period couple years,with ongoing week-by- week therapy,until she is "ok again." 1 of lifetime BEST MOVIES ever made for television. ---

Even toward the end of her being sentenced,not of murder but of the lesser included-charge of "manslaughter"we see the daughter enter the courtroom,and how the jury responded,the courtroom etc. A very moving scene.

Even at the end,his mother(frank warden mom) finally understood when seeing "the physical of what happen to the Lil girl)she even finally understood,what her son really did,and for that?i would have if i was the jury given her no time,probationary period for therapy,but no prison time.

All good parents can relate to this movie,and i love it.have it on today after many years,of waiting for LMN to show it again,love it. ...

adiós

.decent character buildup & very REAL dialogue & the little girls' sister play SUPERBLY ....

[beverlyb-03166 · 10/10 · 27 September 2015]

.....I have seen LOTS of life-time movies & HAD to reviews this one as it ROCKS & is played EXCELLENTLY with a great story-line & realistic Twists along the way....and i am ONLY 1 HOUR into the Movie as i write this.....i figure it would be slam dunk for the Mom to be found innocent since daughter has awoken from Coma & can Identify her Assailant. Chain of Evidence is the New phrase i have learned in my Legal battles - LOL Beverly

>>>> was this REALLY based on a Book ? It seems ANY Pre-2000 Lifetime movie rocks & is WAY BETTER than 1999 and up.decent character buildup & very REAL dialogue & the little girls' sister play SUPERBLY .... there IS a second co-plot that involves Mom & older sister & its interaction is very Natural. All in all its a TOP 10 & ANY Lifetime Movie made in the 90's is WAY SUPERIOR to trash released in last 10 years !! TIP: Watch one with Brendon Frazier called "guilty till proved innocent" w/Martin SHeen

Another engaging plot?

[harleypassion · 14 March 2001]

Not too bad drama about mother finding justice for her youngest daughter. What more to say about the plot? it's pretty much summarised in the Plot outline above. Lesley Warren puts up a gd act, and so does annette o'toole.

A Mother's Revenge

[hotwheelerd-52603 · 10/10 · 14 March 2024]

I Loved and Hated this Film. But a lot of truth in the film unfortunately. This man beat this seven year old child and raped her. He was a child Molester in the past. For some reason he had a job at this elementary school as a janitor. Why because people are stupid. Goes to court for some odd reason he gets let off. The mother lost her mind and shoot him in court. Now she is the bad one. If course the Law does not look at the fact there the ones that allowed the sickow to work in a school as a janitor. What is wrong with the world. They had proof even in his car the little girls blood and everything. But he gets let off.