This watchable "wrong man" drama is probably the highlight of Tom Selleck's less than impressive movie career. Okay, so prison movies are ten-a-penny these days but this one is well made and has some unpleasant moments to stop it becoming just another television-made movie-of-the-week. Tom Selleck is a likable, lightweight lead who you actually care about and his various obstacles in prison - while admittedly clichéd - are quite frightening. From the bullying racists to the rapes in the showers and the wise old inmates (an excellent turn from F. Murray Abraham), everything is present and correct here. One moment has Selleck taking on a chief opponent as he plans to knife him in the toilets and is totally gripping.Outside of prison, things are less interesting, with a worthy but unmemorable actress playing Selleck's girlfriend who sticks by him through thick and thin. The introduction of two corrupt cops, a kind of 'bad' Starsky and Hutch if you will, sets the sense for an implausible climax which sees Selleck suddenly become a fearless action man and do lots of stunts. Cool, but hardly believable. Overall, AN INNOCENT MAN is a fine thriller with a good central premise and an adequate execution - and it makes a nice evening's family entertainment.

This film shows some of the unspoken truths about the U.S. criminal justice system, as well as the horrors of state prison. We probably would be shocked to learn just how many innocent people are in prison, many for life.We would probably be equally shocked to find out who, in the judicial system, knows just who these innocent people are. This is an extremely important issue in contemporary culture, and one that many, including myself, are afraid to talk about or to get too close to. While An Innocent Man, and Tom Selleck, both, do an admirable job in exposing how this can happen to any one of us and what we would have to do to survive, I detracted one star because it depicts a scenario only about 1/3 as horrible as real life in state prison: In real life, Jimmie Rainwood would have had multiple, simultaneous enemies, not just one. As soon as he killed one, another would have appeared. The rapes and murders in the prison were accurate and realistic. Selleck did a great job of sounding not-totally-convinced of the truth of his words when he told his visiting wife "I can handle this place. I can". While this is an extremely important film, sociologically speaking, I must remind the readers of this review of the day-to-day torture, beatings, murders, rapes, suicides, solitary confinement, deprivation, mental breakdowns and thick atmosphere of evil and insanity permeating and pervading state prison.An Innocent Man approaches these subjects, as well as the critical issue of innocent people being sent to prison by a corrupt institution, too rigid and unethical to admit its mistakes and shortcomings. For this rare and courageous look, I am grateful.

My father had been recommending this movie to me for a long time because he had seen it in the theaters back in 1989. Well, I was glad to finally see it today because I was blown away. This movie was fantastic and Tom Selleck was real good, I think this is one of his best performances ever. And the movie pisses you off because you want to see the bad guys get what they deserve so much! All the supporting actors were good in their roles as well. This can very well be a family movie too depending on what you let your kid see, there's some violence but not too much and there's some language but not a lot and there is no nudity. And the ending was perfect! So my recommendation is a must see, especially if you enjoy revenge movies and like Tom Selleck!! 10 stars!

This movie looks like a TV-movie. But that's okay, because I was watching it on a TV set.Tom Selleck plays Jimmie Rainwood, and aircraft engineer living in the seaside 'burbs with his wife, Kate (Laila Robins), who suffers the old 'wrong place at the wrong time' thing when two highly decorated (and highly corrupt) cops, acting on a tip, hit his house, which is on Oak Lane, mistaking it for Oak WAY, where the real drug deal is going down.Jimmie's just taken a shower while he contemplates the salad Kate left for him in the refrigerator (she's working late) when the two narcs burst in. Mistaking Jimmie's hairdryer for a gun, coke-addled detective Mike Parnell (David Rasche) shoots Jimmie.Not wanting to tarnish their "distinguished" careers, the two cops frame Jimmie and the legal system fails him and he winds up sentenced to 6 years.While Jimmie learns how to survive in the big house from lifer Virgil (F Murray Abraham), his wife writes letters, harrasses people etc to try and get him out, including clever manipulation of Internal Affairs Detective Fitzgerald (Badja Djola), and the corrupt narcs do their best to keep Jimmie and Kate silent about their collossal screw-up.A pretty formulaic prison-drama revenge-story, An Innocent Man has strength in it's performances and in it's realistic depiction of prison-life, particularly the tendency for some more experienced inmates to take pity on the "new guy" and give him some pointers so he stands at least some chance of surviving beyond his first week. And Laila Robins is really good as Rainwood's wife, remaining steadfast in her belief in Jimmie's innocence. And it steers clear of most of the jail-movie-clichés we are used to, like the "oh my god it's a shower scene...don't drop the soap", or the sadistic warden character.This was never meant to be a dialogue-driven character study, nor a psychological examination of what incarceration does to the human soul. It's a revenge flick, a Tom Selleck action movie (you gotta love that he simply adds some 'handlebars' to that ridiculous moustache for his tough-guy jail-look) and a bite of after-dinner entertainment that delivers. Todd Graff deserves a mention as the hapless Robby, a repeat offender who offers Jimmie some initial tips when they first arrive, though he gets doused in petrol and set alight about 10 minutes in...he's really good though, playing the loser who knows what every prison on the eastern seaboard looks like.F Murray Abraham is worth the price of admission alone. He has some great lines. Oh, wait...yeah and that flying leap Tom Selleck does out of nowhere to take down Det Parnell...classicly weird and entertaining. All in all, worth a look.