Disturbing, controversial NBC TV-movie, one of the most popular television-made dramas from the 1970s (regularly shown right into the '80s) has young Linda Blair fresh off "The Exorcist" and well-cast as a teen runaway facing hard time in a girls reform school. Gritty, documentary-like production filmed on a low-budget in New Mexico has (intentionally?) fuzzy sound and photography which may put some viewers off. The performances by the troubled girls, including Blair, are natural and compelling; Joanna Miles (a Carrie Snodgress look-alike) is sympathetic as a well-meaning teacher; Allyn Ann McLerie does a bravura dramatic turn in a clichéd part as a hardened housemother. The film's downbeat theme can be disheartening and difficult as an entertainment, but there are sensitive and moving sequences, and Fred Karlin contributes an evocative score. The sequence with Blair being raped by a group of girls using a toilet-brush handle caused so much controversy after its initial airing that the scene was dropped for the repeat (intact on DVD). Blair followed this up with a handful of other television stunners, and gained confidence as an actress with each one.

I first saw this movie on television during the fall of 1974 and I really enjoyed watching this very much. This is about a 14-year-old girl who is already in trouble with the law and has to spend time in prison.Linda Blair plays the role of Chris Parker, who is supposedly a good kid, but does not seem to stay out of trouble. She is picked up by law enforcement officers and is sent to a women's prison where she gets her first experience at being physically assaulted. She did get out of prison on parole, but is soon sent back because her parents (Kim Hunter and Richard Jaeckel) could not trust her because money was missing from her mother's wallet and Blair is immediately suspected. At that point, Blair becomes very hardened and not because of her parent's accusations, but because of spending time in prison.Blair comes in contact with a counselor, (Mary Murphy) who she confides in and began telling her stories of how she was treated very badly and had that woman in tears, but soon enough, the woman learns that this young girl is not what she claims to be after learning what happened while she was on parole and confronted her about this.Kim Hunter played the role of Blair's movie mom Mrs. Parker and has done a very superb job in playing this role. She was a housewife who stayed at home and sat in her recliner watching television and smoking cigarettes.Richard Jaeckel played the role of Blair's movie dad and did a very superb job in playing this. He behaved much like any father to his own daughter. He was the one who played in the 1976 movie "Jaws Of Death." He played the role of the sociopath who raised approximately 20 sharks and commanding them to kill.Mary Murphy did a superb job in playing the role of the prison counselor Miss Murphy. She did her lines to perfection and nothing was out of place.I do have to say that Linda Blair did a superb job in her role as young Chris Parker. She was only 15 years old, but played as a 14-year-old and everything she did was perfect! She has starred in other movies like "The Exorcist," and "Sara T." In her other 1974 movie "Sara T" she played the role of a very young alcoholic who experienced alot of problems in her life. Blair can really act, I mean, really act and it is because she has that very special talent. This is the beginning of something very special for miss Blair. Now she will do some nice films like Savage Streets, Chained Heat, Night Patrol, Savage Island and many others. I like when she is nude.Director Donald Wrye has really done a great job in directing this movie. He has directed all of the scenes very well and despite of the scenes that were violent, they were well managed.This is a movie that teenagers and their parents should watch. This gives insight of how even parents who have provided a very good home for their teenagers can wind up in the same situation as Chris Parker's parents.

"BORN INNOCENT" remains one of the more "controversial" TV movies of the 1970s.Setting the path for Linda Blair's future in trashy,women-behind-bars,skin-flicks.This is a shame because Born Innocent is a realistic and straight-forward expose'of life in "reformatories" and the people who try to make a difference there! The well-known story concerns a 14-year-old girl,branded an "incorrigible"runaway,sent to the state school for girls after being relinquished by her parents.At the "school" we meet girls with a variety of problems and behaviors-most of whom seem simply unloved aqnd unwanted!Of course we learn otherwise but the question still remains:Can having loving parents and a "normal" life in middle-class suburbia really solve everyone's problems?Are some people just not capable of functioning within the structure of a family and becomming productive in society? I think the most couragious step that the filmakers have taken is to show the school's "inmates" as both criminals and yet still "kids" who crave acceptance from each other and yes,the adults around them!This is especially evident in the scenes in which Chris Parker(the central character) befriends those same girls who "raped" her earlier in the story!Or when Moco(the tough lesbian) actually cries when Janet(Chris' friend) loses her baby during her stint in isolation(as punishment for fighting with Moco!) By the movies' end nothing has really been resolved!After injuring their housemother during a protest riot Chris joins her friends at the school and has undoubtedly become the new "leader".We the viewers are left to wonder:Will Chris ever get out and lead a productive life?Will any of these girls "make it" out "there"? It would be interesting to have made a "follow-up" sequel-something like "Born Innocent-25 years later!" Well...maybe not!!!

Linda Blair giving a post Exorcist turn as a troubled teen who has the bad habit of bolting every time her father belts her. Funny, seventies, almost exploitation movie. Best quote: Teacher" What do girls want to do with your lives" Girl "I want to get high!" Classic.