The Burning Bed (1984)

Description

Farrah Fawcett (TV's Charlie s Angels) scores a personal triumph with a riveting Emmy-nominated performance in this gripping movie about a woman who takes incendiary revenge on her brutal husband. Based on actual events, this courageous story of a woman pushed to the edge is a gut-wrenching, eye-opening and shocking experience. Francine Hughes (Fawcett) marries her small-town high-school sweetheart Mickey (Paul Le Mat, American Graffiti) only to discover his temper is short and his behavior violent. Urged to hang in there by her family and a broken social welfare system, she suffers continuous abuse - until desperation leads her to cross a threshold from which neither she nor her husband can ever return. Veteran filmmaker Robert Greenwald (Xanadu) directed this classic TV-movie which was nominated for 8 Emmys and features wonderful performances by Richard Masur (Scavenger Hunt), Grace Zabriskie (Twin Peaks), Penelope Milford (Coming Home) and James T. Callahan (Lady Sings the Blues).