This telefilm pulls no punches and can be tough to watch, but the central performance, the handling and the plot (which doesn't feel mechanized) makes it worthwhile. Perky Sally Struthers is attacked by two masked thugs in her home, who degrade and humiliate her; she breaks free and grabs her gun, but is later dragged through legal mud before facing one of her attackers yet again. Struthers takes a 'typical housewife' character and makes her immediate and dear to us; she's such a natural that her ordeal here is quite gripping. We follow her through the messy circumstances--which blessedly steer clear of courtroom melodrama--and we are most definitely on her side. In a downsized (but certainly no less important) way, this drama could be the "Death Wish" of the small screen.
10 Reviews
You should see this no matter what your politics are
Col_Hessler5 June 2005
This film is one that could have become a propaganda piece for one side or the other. But, the writers did well to tread the line.
Seeing the wife, played by Sally Struthers, take the upper hand against the creeps who attack her, is very satisfying. She made mistakes by shooting in a panic rather than trying to get her cool back. But then, many people would make mistakes in that situation.
Also, the overzealous DA is, unfortunately, a too-common problem in the real world. Fortunately, in this case, he didn't get a chance to berate the victim, as happens in real life.
The last scene is good, and shows how good the writers are at not forcing an agenda. You just have to see it, and depending on your politics, can draw your own ending.
Other commentators have said Sally should have gotten an Emmy, and she probably would have gotten one, but again politics can be blamed. The left-wingers of Hollywood wouldn't have given her an award, because "we wouldn't want people to get ideas." That's how I see it.
Seeing the wife, played by Sally Struthers, take the upper hand against the creeps who attack her, is very satisfying. She made mistakes by shooting in a panic rather than trying to get her cool back. But then, many people would make mistakes in that situation.
Also, the overzealous DA is, unfortunately, a too-common problem in the real world. Fortunately, in this case, he didn't get a chance to berate the victim, as happens in real life.
The last scene is good, and shows how good the writers are at not forcing an agenda. You just have to see it, and depending on your politics, can draw your own ending.
Other commentators have said Sally should have gotten an Emmy, and she probably would have gotten one, but again politics can be blamed. The left-wingers of Hollywood wouldn't have given her an award, because "we wouldn't want people to get ideas." That's how I see it.
A Gun in the House
HorrorFan198411 May 2020
Two criminals are attacking housewives in their homes in suburbia. Our main character's solution? To get A Gun in the House.
While everyone in a suburban block is having a discussion on guns and safety in the neighbourhood, we see two masked men break into a woman's house to rob her. They also go as far as raping her. We meet our lead character Emily who is rattled by the latest attacks in the neighbourhood against women, so she buys a chain for the door instead of getting a gun. After the chain is a dud in her husbands eyes, Emily begins going to the shooting range to learn how to use a gun for protection. Late one night, the two men break in and attack Emily also humiliating her in the process. They pour alcohol on her and make her crawl around the floor like a dog. She breaks free of them and grabs the gun shooting one of the men dead in the process, the other runs off. The police then turn the story around on Emily and make her the villain instead of the victim. Can Emily prove her innocence? And will the second man be found?
A Gun in the House isn't a bad Made-For-TV horror drama. There is a lot of discussion throughout the film of are guns good or bad to have, and what is the real problem - guns or the people who carry them. Very relevant to almost every decade and dealing with gun control laws. The film drags slowly in the middle half. It's pretty much just Emily going to the shooting range over and over again to learn how to fire the weapon.
Sally Struthers does a beautiful job as the victim in this break and enter case. Her emotions and fear when the two men attack her and humiliate her are so well done. And then the confusion she shows when she is charged for the murder of the one boy, pretty powerful.
All in all, A Gun in the House is a pretty effective thriller about the dangers of owning a gun and the consequences that can come from it. It also depicts a very terrifying experience of a home invasion and how that can affect a person. I recommend it.
6/10
While everyone in a suburban block is having a discussion on guns and safety in the neighbourhood, we see two masked men break into a woman's house to rob her. They also go as far as raping her. We meet our lead character Emily who is rattled by the latest attacks in the neighbourhood against women, so she buys a chain for the door instead of getting a gun. After the chain is a dud in her husbands eyes, Emily begins going to the shooting range to learn how to use a gun for protection. Late one night, the two men break in and attack Emily also humiliating her in the process. They pour alcohol on her and make her crawl around the floor like a dog. She breaks free of them and grabs the gun shooting one of the men dead in the process, the other runs off. The police then turn the story around on Emily and make her the villain instead of the victim. Can Emily prove her innocence? And will the second man be found?
A Gun in the House isn't a bad Made-For-TV horror drama. There is a lot of discussion throughout the film of are guns good or bad to have, and what is the real problem - guns or the people who carry them. Very relevant to almost every decade and dealing with gun control laws. The film drags slowly in the middle half. It's pretty much just Emily going to the shooting range over and over again to learn how to fire the weapon.
Sally Struthers does a beautiful job as the victim in this break and enter case. Her emotions and fear when the two men attack her and humiliate her are so well done. And then the confusion she shows when she is charged for the murder of the one boy, pretty powerful.
All in all, A Gun in the House is a pretty effective thriller about the dangers of owning a gun and the consequences that can come from it. It also depicts a very terrifying experience of a home invasion and how that can affect a person. I recommend it.
6/10
Shoot to kill?
Merely13 March 1999
A movie with a moral about guns, the law and self defense. Sally Struthers gives an emotional performance in this made-for-tv fare. One scene, daring for 1981 television, is watching uncomfortably as the intruders humiliate their victim. If you ever see it in the listings, is worth catching. Also, the actor who plays the rapist is well cast...eww.
Shaggy and Jeff Spicolli merge to become the big bad neighborhood masked robbers and rapists.
mark.waltz24 November 2021
Warning: Spoilers
This film would have made more impact had it focused on a variety of types of characters who break into homes and terrorize women without their husbands present. Sally Struthers is written in a one-dimensional manner but gives a very intense performance, making you forget that she was ever Meathead's wife. Her character is so cheery and socially involved that you wonder how she has time to keep her home together. Yet that home is as neat as a pin and in spite of a strong security system has never been rated, up until this.
There have been better films on the same subject, and while this has good intentions, it has many cartoonish elements about it that makes it ridiculous at times. The two rapists and robbers remind me of the husband and wife who kidnapped Bette Midler In "Ruthless People" with their idiotic masks that almost makes them look like Huey and Dewey. Yes, they are dangerous because they have the power over the little wifey and mother, and have a nice, but in the case of Struthers, we're supposed to believe all of a sudden after a few gun lessons, she's ready to handle them.
The two serial criminals are presented in such a dumb dude way that they become instantly laughable. Had they been less cartoonish or had there been a variety of these types presented, this would have been a serious thriller to make its points. Even if they had been shown doing some kind of drug to explain why they were acting that way, it would have made a bigger impact as well. But we get one kind of bad element only, and as horrifying as the opening scene is and the break-in later in the film, it doesn't really show what these types are usually like, and that weakens the film's intentions. Struthers really gives it her all and deserves a claim for this performance, but the writing makes it often unintentionally silly which defeats the purpose of the horrifying subject matter.
There have been better films on the same subject, and while this has good intentions, it has many cartoonish elements about it that makes it ridiculous at times. The two rapists and robbers remind me of the husband and wife who kidnapped Bette Midler In "Ruthless People" with their idiotic masks that almost makes them look like Huey and Dewey. Yes, they are dangerous because they have the power over the little wifey and mother, and have a nice, but in the case of Struthers, we're supposed to believe all of a sudden after a few gun lessons, she's ready to handle them.
The two serial criminals are presented in such a dumb dude way that they become instantly laughable. Had they been less cartoonish or had there been a variety of these types presented, this would have been a serious thriller to make its points. Even if they had been shown doing some kind of drug to explain why they were acting that way, it would have made a bigger impact as well. But we get one kind of bad element only, and as horrifying as the opening scene is and the break-in later in the film, it doesn't really show what these types are usually like, and that weakens the film's intentions. Struthers really gives it her all and deserves a claim for this performance, but the writing makes it often unintentionally silly which defeats the purpose of the horrifying subject matter.
Janie's Got a Gun
saint_brett13 June 2023
Warning: Spoilers
"A Gun in the House" is one of those primitive tutorial movies that had 50s training wheels to shock an easily outraged, gullible audience when they used to believe in things like aliens and Santa Claus.
Man, this looks like the 50s in color but is shedding its 70s skin.
It's pretty obvious we're in a cookie-cutter part of the suburbs when picket fences were nearing the end of their tenure.
What's her name from "Green Acres?" Eva Gabor walks Lindsey Wallace down the street to Tommy Doyle's in a leafy suburb where only the elite live.
Anyone remember Neighborhood Watch?
While all these do-gooders attend their conglomerate meeting with the local law officers, two "Point Break" ex-presidents in waiting are robbing their houses right from under their dry noses.
A heated exchange takes place among the do-gooders, and the discussion quickly centers on the purchase of firearms.
With the seed planted, everyone starts contemplating which caliber they'll purchase.
It didn't take much persuasion.
I can see the boom mic's shadow at the 21:25 minute mark as Lindsey Wallace just met the boogeyman through a window.
Nothing else happens in this movie other than home security issues.
No shopping, gardening, or any other topics.
All the housewives on "Fairytale Drive" fall into the temptation to purchase guns all of a sudden and take courses to master them.
They meet one exiled member of "Magnum Force," yes, a cop killer, and I hope he doesn't make them use this .44.
An introductory course, and he pulls out the big bazooka? Heavy duty, man. They don't call these things wristbreakers for nothing.
Especially if they're used by midday housewives who are more used to using feather dusters and floor wipes.
The exiled cop killer emphasizes a point not to purchase Heinz Condensed Tomato Soup as it's high in sugar content and proceeds to blow it away with the .44.
Did I just witness that scene correctly? A shooting gallery drill with an analog TV? Was she supposed to blast that TV monitor away?
What looks like Neil Sedaka (Neil Diamond wannabe) and Ritchie Cunningham are the "Point Break" ex-president baddies in this who terrorize "Fairytale Drive." This Leatherface mask Sedaka is wearing is sinister.
They home invade Eva Gabor's house after being motivated by Ice T's song "It's On" from the Home Invasion album, and this scene is quite chilling as they degrade what's-her-name.
Come on, lady, make a mad dash for it and grab that gun of yours upstairs. (She should have been charged anyway for not abiding by secure gun storage laws.) Go, go, go! Grab, grab, grab! Gabor makes it up the stairs and fumbles to retrieve the handgun from under her mattress.
Shoot 'em! Don't hesitate, lady! Hesitation leads to doubt and negotiation.
Pop 'em, lady! What are you waiting for? She has them both dead bang but she doesn't know what the next procedure involves.
This is the inexperienced gun holder not ready or prepared for this part. You didn't think it would ever come to this, did you?
He's going to make a grab for it. Keep your distance, Gabor.
Shoot 'em already.
The two blabberheads have slipped up and start pleading and saying how sorry they are. Look at the cowards when control's been taken away from them.
They continue to squabble, and it gets heated with some push and shove when suddenly bang bang bang rings out.
Cunningham cops one in the back.
Gabor man's up and squeezes the trigger as instructed by the exiled "Magnum Force" trainer.
Man down. Count one murder.
There you go. "Eat lead, slacker."
Gabor shoots the apprentice dead as Sedaka bolts out the door and flees, and I hope this doesn't turn into a long, drawn-out courtroom drama from here.
I hate those types of movies and books.
A seditious DA enters the scene and despizes the public taking the law into their own hands and builds a case against Gabor, resulting in her being arrested in front of her own daughter, profiled, and imprisoned like all the other regular scum.
She looks like Elisabeth Shue.
It becomes one of those women in prison movies, but where's Linda Blair?
Just don't turn it into a lengthy trial movie.
It's Judge Judy.
Judge Judy gives Gabor discounted bail because she's blond and not common scum like all the other plebians, and part of her bail conditions is to go home and scrub the floor with Pine-Sol to remove any evidence of her crime scene. (Pine-Sol looks like a delicious sports drink with all the different wonderful colors.)
Hearing of her dire situation, the NRA assist Gabor and sponsor her defense with a large donation. It's another way of covering themselves and shifting the blame.
The ending of this sort of reminds me of how Kiefer Sutherland went after Sally Field in that movie of hers where she wore the blue baseball cap.
Gabor beats Sedaka half to death with good left-right-left-right combinations, and the movie ends abruptly as it seemed to have just run out of budget. It stops on a stand-up comedy line, hits pause, and then the credits roll.
For what Sedaka put her through, Gabor should have planted the entire chamber in him as a reminder for the next one who rolls the dice and tries to trifle with her and her family.
Man, this looks like the 50s in color but is shedding its 70s skin.
It's pretty obvious we're in a cookie-cutter part of the suburbs when picket fences were nearing the end of their tenure.
What's her name from "Green Acres?" Eva Gabor walks Lindsey Wallace down the street to Tommy Doyle's in a leafy suburb where only the elite live.
Anyone remember Neighborhood Watch?
While all these do-gooders attend their conglomerate meeting with the local law officers, two "Point Break" ex-presidents in waiting are robbing their houses right from under their dry noses.
A heated exchange takes place among the do-gooders, and the discussion quickly centers on the purchase of firearms.
With the seed planted, everyone starts contemplating which caliber they'll purchase.
It didn't take much persuasion.
I can see the boom mic's shadow at the 21:25 minute mark as Lindsey Wallace just met the boogeyman through a window.
Nothing else happens in this movie other than home security issues.
No shopping, gardening, or any other topics.
All the housewives on "Fairytale Drive" fall into the temptation to purchase guns all of a sudden and take courses to master them.
They meet one exiled member of "Magnum Force," yes, a cop killer, and I hope he doesn't make them use this .44.
An introductory course, and he pulls out the big bazooka? Heavy duty, man. They don't call these things wristbreakers for nothing.
Especially if they're used by midday housewives who are more used to using feather dusters and floor wipes.
The exiled cop killer emphasizes a point not to purchase Heinz Condensed Tomato Soup as it's high in sugar content and proceeds to blow it away with the .44.
Did I just witness that scene correctly? A shooting gallery drill with an analog TV? Was she supposed to blast that TV monitor away?
What looks like Neil Sedaka (Neil Diamond wannabe) and Ritchie Cunningham are the "Point Break" ex-president baddies in this who terrorize "Fairytale Drive." This Leatherface mask Sedaka is wearing is sinister.
They home invade Eva Gabor's house after being motivated by Ice T's song "It's On" from the Home Invasion album, and this scene is quite chilling as they degrade what's-her-name.
Come on, lady, make a mad dash for it and grab that gun of yours upstairs. (She should have been charged anyway for not abiding by secure gun storage laws.) Go, go, go! Grab, grab, grab! Gabor makes it up the stairs and fumbles to retrieve the handgun from under her mattress.
Shoot 'em! Don't hesitate, lady! Hesitation leads to doubt and negotiation.
Pop 'em, lady! What are you waiting for? She has them both dead bang but she doesn't know what the next procedure involves.
This is the inexperienced gun holder not ready or prepared for this part. You didn't think it would ever come to this, did you?
He's going to make a grab for it. Keep your distance, Gabor.
Shoot 'em already.
The two blabberheads have slipped up and start pleading and saying how sorry they are. Look at the cowards when control's been taken away from them.
They continue to squabble, and it gets heated with some push and shove when suddenly bang bang bang rings out.
Cunningham cops one in the back.
Gabor man's up and squeezes the trigger as instructed by the exiled "Magnum Force" trainer.
Man down. Count one murder.
There you go. "Eat lead, slacker."
Gabor shoots the apprentice dead as Sedaka bolts out the door and flees, and I hope this doesn't turn into a long, drawn-out courtroom drama from here.
I hate those types of movies and books.
A seditious DA enters the scene and despizes the public taking the law into their own hands and builds a case against Gabor, resulting in her being arrested in front of her own daughter, profiled, and imprisoned like all the other regular scum.
She looks like Elisabeth Shue.
It becomes one of those women in prison movies, but where's Linda Blair?
Just don't turn it into a lengthy trial movie.
It's Judge Judy.
Judge Judy gives Gabor discounted bail because she's blond and not common scum like all the other plebians, and part of her bail conditions is to go home and scrub the floor with Pine-Sol to remove any evidence of her crime scene. (Pine-Sol looks like a delicious sports drink with all the different wonderful colors.)
Hearing of her dire situation, the NRA assist Gabor and sponsor her defense with a large donation. It's another way of covering themselves and shifting the blame.
The ending of this sort of reminds me of how Kiefer Sutherland went after Sally Field in that movie of hers where she wore the blue baseball cap.
Gabor beats Sedaka half to death with good left-right-left-right combinations, and the movie ends abruptly as it seemed to have just run out of budget. It stops on a stand-up comedy line, hits pause, and then the credits roll.
For what Sedaka put her through, Gabor should have planted the entire chamber in him as a reminder for the next one who rolls the dice and tries to trifle with her and her family.
Only One Scene Worth Watching
Rainey-Dawn22 January 2017
There is only one scene worth watching and it's not worth watching this entire film just to see it. It's really not "must see this" scene either... just the only one in the film that makes you think the film is going to get good from that point on but it doesn't.
The point of this made for TV film is to get you buy a gun - just in case something like this happens to you. They show ol' Sally at the firing range learning how to use one. Later on the "one good scene" happens and the two guys in masks broke in to her place without a gun on her but she happens to have a gun now and knows how to use it. (The film goes back to being lame after that).
It's really a get a gun and learn how to use it film - it's nothing more than that.
1/10
The point of this made for TV film is to get you buy a gun - just in case something like this happens to you. They show ol' Sally at the firing range learning how to use one. Later on the "one good scene" happens and the two guys in masks broke in to her place without a gun on her but she happens to have a gun now and knows how to use it. (The film goes back to being lame after that).
It's really a get a gun and learn how to use it film - it's nothing more than that.
1/10
Effective TV thriller
ninjaalexs26 April 2020
A Gun in the House has been described as the TV Movie equivalent of Death Wish. This is fairly accurate. Both feature neighborhoods with criminals causing havoc and a vigilante to stop them. A Gun in the House isn't anywhere as sensational and it is plodding in places. Both can be seen as a comment on crime in society dealing with home security, gun crime and burglary.
There is some fine acting that elevate it above many made for TV thrillers. The film is notable in that it features a fairly nasty rape scene that goes on longer than one would expect in a 1980s TV Movie. No surprise that when it was broadcast on UK TV possibly in 1991 it attracted some complaints for decency. It was also released on VHS tape in the UK and with it being a precert it goes for a pretty penny.
The film is well worth seeing despite a fairly dull 20 minutes before the finale it manages to be a tense, well acted little film. Despite its reputation it never goes into sleazy territory, unlike Death Wish. I'm not sure if it is better or worse for it.
There is some fine acting that elevate it above many made for TV thrillers. The film is notable in that it features a fairly nasty rape scene that goes on longer than one would expect in a 1980s TV Movie. No surprise that when it was broadcast on UK TV possibly in 1991 it attracted some complaints for decency. It was also released on VHS tape in the UK and with it being a precert it goes for a pretty penny.
The film is well worth seeing despite a fairly dull 20 minutes before the finale it manages to be a tense, well acted little film. Despite its reputation it never goes into sleazy territory, unlike Death Wish. I'm not sure if it is better or worse for it.
Great TV Movie, Sally Struthers has never been better!
Hoohawnaynay30 December 2003
This movie is a good argument against gun control. It's hard watching an actress we grew up with (Sally Struthers) being humiliated by home invaders. Sally should have won an emmy for her performance in this flick. She goes through all the emotions as she is arrested for shooting one of the scumbags who breaks into her house. This movie proves that most District Attorney's have their head up their @#$ !!!
The ending does provide some satisfaction, I won't elaborate on details, just sit back and watch and enjoy old time entertainment that doesn't rely on computer-generated action, just plain ole' good acting.
The ending does provide some satisfaction, I won't elaborate on details, just sit back and watch and enjoy old time entertainment that doesn't rely on computer-generated action, just plain ole' good acting.
With The Exception Of One Scene This Remains A Goofy Waste Of Time
JasonDanielBaker24 January 2015
Emily Cates (Sally Struthers) - respectable and strait-laced (dorky even) businesswoman & wife of airline pilot Joe (David Ackroyd) is frightened about the skyrocketing crime rate. It is getting bad specifically in her neighbourhood - one plagued by a string of burglaries. Home alone with a young daughter she and Joe are justifiably concerned.
In diminutive and little-girl voiced Emily, a wishy-washy liberal, the audience is given a heroine with no discernible sense of threat. The tone of the narrative suggests she will inevitably find herself at the mercy of darker elements and lack even the inclination to try to defend herself.
The notion of purchasing a firearm for home protection is one she resists until she begins sensing suspicious activity around her house. Joe does not object to the purchase nor does he encourage the decision.
She gets one but must wait through a legislated time period. During that time she takes a course in how to use it and makes all the mistakes that neophytes make when first firing a gun.
Little does she know how quickly she will be called upon to use it. Little does she know that even in an encounter in which she is obviously the victim that she will zealously be persecuted as a victimizer by a tool of a flawed justice system in the person of the local district attorney (Jeffrey Tambor - very effective in a non-comedic role) - a warped incompetent with an axe to grind.
This CBS TV movie was very much a product of its time and circumstances. Aspects of legislation enacted to correct social inequity which was thought to create crime instead made the state a soft touch with criminal elements who were the actual cause. Crime was thus considerably worse especially from the late 1960s to the early 1990s when it rapidly declined.
NBC pioneered the genre of social issue made-for-TV flicks in the 1970s. Most of them were terrible. Some of them were good. A scant few were great. Whatever the quality they began to reliably deliver enough of an audience to continue to be made. The other networks took notice and delivered their own versions of varying quality.
As production of them evolved (or mutated) the most sensationalistic and alarmist of them tended to deliver the biggest audiences. In the case of this film there is such a lack of subtlety that there might just as well be an announcer's voice warning audiences that thugs are right outside their homes watching the movie with them through a window. That is fully the level of overstatement the narrative makes. You either accept that and keep watching or take it as an insult.
Many have said that this film features the finest acting performance Sally Struthers ever gave and I agree. It was likely the result of a great deal of hard work. Most importantly Struthers completely relinquished any evident sense of ego or vanity (not an easy thing to subdue in the minds of star actors of whatever level) in the key scene where she is actually called upon to use her gun.
In that one remarkable scene where is dehumanized by inexplicably hateful criminals and all that she holds dear faces a grisly ending she is transformed. It is a profound change in the character arc we see staged in but a few minutes of shocking screen time though it has been adequately foreshadowed in the lead up.
That scene is so effectively staged that no preconceived impression can endure. In that moment one forgets that Struthers portrayed Meathead's wife from All in the Family or that you never found her attractive or that her voice is irritating or that this is even an actress. We are given an uncomfortably close view of a human being pushed to the very brink.
Sadly almost everything else in the movie clumsily falls flat in attempts at crafting a heavy-handed morality play. Thus it is primarily of interest for the aforementioned key scene where she is confronted by the rapist/burglars and a surprising but not wholly unexpected result occurs.
In diminutive and little-girl voiced Emily, a wishy-washy liberal, the audience is given a heroine with no discernible sense of threat. The tone of the narrative suggests she will inevitably find herself at the mercy of darker elements and lack even the inclination to try to defend herself.
The notion of purchasing a firearm for home protection is one she resists until she begins sensing suspicious activity around her house. Joe does not object to the purchase nor does he encourage the decision.
She gets one but must wait through a legislated time period. During that time she takes a course in how to use it and makes all the mistakes that neophytes make when first firing a gun.
Little does she know how quickly she will be called upon to use it. Little does she know that even in an encounter in which she is obviously the victim that she will zealously be persecuted as a victimizer by a tool of a flawed justice system in the person of the local district attorney (Jeffrey Tambor - very effective in a non-comedic role) - a warped incompetent with an axe to grind.
This CBS TV movie was very much a product of its time and circumstances. Aspects of legislation enacted to correct social inequity which was thought to create crime instead made the state a soft touch with criminal elements who were the actual cause. Crime was thus considerably worse especially from the late 1960s to the early 1990s when it rapidly declined.
NBC pioneered the genre of social issue made-for-TV flicks in the 1970s. Most of them were terrible. Some of them were good. A scant few were great. Whatever the quality they began to reliably deliver enough of an audience to continue to be made. The other networks took notice and delivered their own versions of varying quality.
As production of them evolved (or mutated) the most sensationalistic and alarmist of them tended to deliver the biggest audiences. In the case of this film there is such a lack of subtlety that there might just as well be an announcer's voice warning audiences that thugs are right outside their homes watching the movie with them through a window. That is fully the level of overstatement the narrative makes. You either accept that and keep watching or take it as an insult.
Many have said that this film features the finest acting performance Sally Struthers ever gave and I agree. It was likely the result of a great deal of hard work. Most importantly Struthers completely relinquished any evident sense of ego or vanity (not an easy thing to subdue in the minds of star actors of whatever level) in the key scene where she is actually called upon to use her gun.
In that one remarkable scene where is dehumanized by inexplicably hateful criminals and all that she holds dear faces a grisly ending she is transformed. It is a profound change in the character arc we see staged in but a few minutes of shocking screen time though it has been adequately foreshadowed in the lead up.
That scene is so effectively staged that no preconceived impression can endure. In that moment one forgets that Struthers portrayed Meathead's wife from All in the Family or that you never found her attractive or that her voice is irritating or that this is even an actress. We are given an uncomfortably close view of a human being pushed to the very brink.
Sadly almost everything else in the movie clumsily falls flat in attempts at crafting a heavy-handed morality play. Thus it is primarily of interest for the aforementioned key scene where she is confronted by the rapist/burglars and a surprising but not wholly unexpected result occurs.
See also
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