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Absence of Malice

“In America can a man be guilty until proven innocent?”

1981 · 1 h 56 min
Directed by Sydney Pollack · USA · New Hollywood

Cast

Paul Newman Sally Field Bob Balaban Melinda Dillon Luther Adler Barry Primus

Credits

Written by: Kurt Luedtke

Plot

A reporter is duped into running a false story about a suspected racketeer, with disastrous results for him.

Sinekatalog’s take

Sydney Pollack's drama about journalistic ethics is smart and tense, with Paul Newman and Sally Field.Sinekatalog’s own editorial review – not a user or critic quote.

Ratings

IMDb: 6.9 / 10 (16,856 votes)
IMDb rating and vote count from the IMDb ratings dataset (October 2026). Scores change over time.

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