Heart of the Beholder (2005)

Director:

Ken Tipton

Writer:

Ken Tipton (writer)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

The movie Hollywood doesn't want you to see!

Plot:

Based on the true story of a family who opened the first videocassette rental stores in St. Louis in 1980...

Plot Keywords:

Scorsese | Intolerance | Censorship

Awards:

1 win

Cast

  (Credited cast)

Barbara Allyne-Bennet	...	Miss Bennet
Carrie Armstrong	...	Vesta
Conrad Bachmann	...	Rudy
Priscilla Barnes	...	Miss Olivia
April Barnett	...	Rhonda
Roseanne Benjamin	...	Vicky
Sarah Brown	...	Diane Howard
Katelin Chesna Henke	...	Marci (as Katelin Chesna)
Samantha Coker	...	Protester
Stella Croxon	...	Stenographer (as Stellarina Croxon)
Dabier	...	Partrick (as Dabir Snell)
Michael Dorn	...	Lt. Larson
Daphne Duplaix	...	Detective Deborah Burbach
John Dye	...	D.A. Eric Manion
Greg Germann	...	Bob Harris
Dawn Grabowski	...	Christine
Phil Huggins	...	Hank
Freddie Johnson	...	Bailiff (as Freddie L. Johnson)
Susan Johnston	...	Joan
David Kelsey	...	Detective Dennis Murphy
Patrick J. Kiernan	...	Steve
Casey Kramer	...	Civil Rights Activist
Matt Letscher	...	Mike Howard
Paul Majors	...	Officer Terry Robinson
Patty McCormack	...	Helen
Silas Weir Mitchell	...	Lester
Chloe Moretz	...	Molly
Arden Myrin	...	Patty Simpkins
Michelle Paradise	...	Denise
John Prosky	...	Rev. Matthew Brewer
Anne Ramsay	...	Reeba Hollings
L.G. Ross	...	Police Officer
Murray SawChuck	...	Protester
Stacie Shakarian	...	Peggy (as Stacie Adkins)
Ken Tipton	...	Bill
Laura Tipton	...	Randi
Patrick Tipton	...	Patrick
Paul Michael Tipton	...	Jerry
Tony Todd	...	Chuck Berry
Mark Valinsky	...	Officer
Tarita Virtue	...	Awards Ceremony
Lanette Ware	...	Louise
Jason Wiles	...	Deetz

MPAA:

Rated R for language and sexual content.

Runtime:

USA:106 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:R

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

River City Entertainment

Movie Connections:

References The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)

Heart of the Beholder is the story, based on real events, of a man destroyed by persecution who managed to come back and achieve a measure of revenge.

The Heart of the Beholder is the story of a dreamer who finally achieved one of his dreams: his own business, a chain of video stores in St. Louis, Mo, only to be driven out of business by a group of fanatics who are outraged when he won't remove The Last Temptation of Christ from the shelves of his stores. It is, as they say, based on real events. In fact, the movie was written and directed by the man himself on the advice, he says, of Robert Wise. Undertaking the project helped in his recovery process. At the time I write this, he is having trouble getting distribution for the movie.

This is a story that needed to be told. The trouble is that the movie isn't very good, more like a worse than average TV movie. The actors in the main roles don't quite pull it off. Michael Dorn in wasted in a small role. Greg Germann's performance is the best in the movie.

This is definitely a movie to see on DVD because all the background information is what makes it interesting. We learn that the most unlikely things depicted in the movie actually did happen. Freedom of speech is everywhere under threat so everybody should either see this movie or read about the story on-line.