(Some Spoilers) We get to see right away that Frannie Bennedetto, Mary Stuart Masterson, has gone through some real hard times in her life. That's by counting the black and blue marks on her body as we see her taking a shower. It's then that were introduced to who's responsible for putting them there Frannie's husband NYPD Detective Bobby "B" short for Bennedetto, Anthony Lapeglia. The Teddy Bear like but manic depressive Bobby claims all throughout the film that he beats his wife Frannie because it's his way of showing her that he loves her!
At the retirement party of Bobby's good friend and police partner Tommy Walsh, Beau Starr, Bobby loses it when Frannie gets a bit to close, by innocently kissing him on the head, with Tommy. That soon leads to a violent explosion on the way driving home. Accusing Frannie of embarrassing him in front of his friends Bobby zooms at speeds of almost 100 MPH, on a 35 MPH speed zone, and almost ends up crashing his car into a oil pump! Of course being a detective in the NYPD gives Bobby the right to do anything he wants in not only where he gets away with speeding but also using his wife's skull for batting practice whenever he feels like taking a few swing at it.
This abuse goes on without a stop until Frannie together with her and Bobby's 8 year old son Robert, Will Rothhaam, check out of the Bennedtto house and into a witness, or wife abuse, protection program arraigned by Frannie's good friend Patty Bancroft, Allegina Fulton. Now calling herself Beth Crenshaw Frannie starts a new life for herself in the state of Florida together with her son Robert. Bobby feeling betrayed in Frannie not appreciating his love, in him beating her black and blue, and worst of all having his son Robert kidnapped from him is now more determined then ever to find Frannie and pay her back, with his fists, for everything that she did to him!
Excellent made for TV movie about an abused wife and how helpless she is in preventing her brutish cop husband from working her over in the fact that no one is willing to believe her. You get to feel like Frannie does that no matter where she goes her husband Bobby will find her and sooner or later end up not just beating her into a pulp but eventually ending up killing her! It was Robert's teacher and soccer coach in Florida Mike Riordan, Sam Robards, who did in fact bring some hope and stability back into his and his moms Frannie's life. Still there was a lot of beatings and broken bones to come Frannie's way when her estranged husband Bobby tracked her down in the Sunshine Sate and not only, for the up-teeth time, brutally worked her over but ended up forcibly taking Robert away from her.
***SPOILERS*** The movie did in fact end on a positive note with Frannie, now five years later, married to Mike and having a child, a little girl, with him but the bruises like memories, as we saw at the beginning of the movie, of her abusive life with her former "loving" husband Bobby Bennedeto are still with her! But so is Robert, now 14, who gets in touch by phone with his mom in Florida through her sister Gracie( Sabrina Grdevich), who's face was almost slashed by one of Bobby's goons, whom he ran into in the old neighborhood back in NYC.
At the retirement party of Bobby's good friend and police partner Tommy Walsh, Beau Starr, Bobby loses it when Frannie gets a bit to close, by innocently kissing him on the head, with Tommy. That soon leads to a violent explosion on the way driving home. Accusing Frannie of embarrassing him in front of his friends Bobby zooms at speeds of almost 100 MPH, on a 35 MPH speed zone, and almost ends up crashing his car into a oil pump! Of course being a detective in the NYPD gives Bobby the right to do anything he wants in not only where he gets away with speeding but also using his wife's skull for batting practice whenever he feels like taking a few swing at it.
This abuse goes on without a stop until Frannie together with her and Bobby's 8 year old son Robert, Will Rothhaam, check out of the Bennedtto house and into a witness, or wife abuse, protection program arraigned by Frannie's good friend Patty Bancroft, Allegina Fulton. Now calling herself Beth Crenshaw Frannie starts a new life for herself in the state of Florida together with her son Robert. Bobby feeling betrayed in Frannie not appreciating his love, in him beating her black and blue, and worst of all having his son Robert kidnapped from him is now more determined then ever to find Frannie and pay her back, with his fists, for everything that she did to him!
Excellent made for TV movie about an abused wife and how helpless she is in preventing her brutish cop husband from working her over in the fact that no one is willing to believe her. You get to feel like Frannie does that no matter where she goes her husband Bobby will find her and sooner or later end up not just beating her into a pulp but eventually ending up killing her! It was Robert's teacher and soccer coach in Florida Mike Riordan, Sam Robards, who did in fact bring some hope and stability back into his and his moms Frannie's life. Still there was a lot of beatings and broken bones to come Frannie's way when her estranged husband Bobby tracked her down in the Sunshine Sate and not only, for the up-teeth time, brutally worked her over but ended up forcibly taking Robert away from her.
***SPOILERS*** The movie did in fact end on a positive note with Frannie, now five years later, married to Mike and having a child, a little girl, with him but the bruises like memories, as we saw at the beginning of the movie, of her abusive life with her former "loving" husband Bobby Bennedeto are still with her! But so is Robert, now 14, who gets in touch by phone with his mom in Florida through her sister Gracie( Sabrina Grdevich), who's face was almost slashed by one of Bobby's goons, whom he ran into in the old neighborhood back in NYC.