Triay - Presumed Innocent

Ford in Presumed Innocent is a flawed anti-hero. The film deals with a great amount of guilt placed upon Ford's character, Rusty Sabich. Sabich is accused of murdering a young woman named Carolyn, with whom the audience knows he has been having an affair with. The audience does not know whether Sabich truly did murder Carolyn, and with building evidence including finding Sabich's sperm inside of her after the autopsy greatly affect the audience's ability to trust Ford as the hero, the good guy. The audience can feel the guilt that Sabich is dealing with throughout the whole picture.



The film's final scene involves the revelation that Sabich's wife was the one who murdered Carolyn. She discovered Sabich's affair and, led to insanity, murdered Carolyn. The couple must now continue to live together, with this fractured notion of trust between them. Guilt is manifested within this broken sense of threatened trust, a trust that is based upon an "I've killed before, I'll kill again" ideal. This unsettling idea of the couple sticking together brings about an immense feeling of guilt on Sabich's behalf, as if he had remained faithful to his wife, none of this would have ever happened.

Massiha Presumed Innocent

The scene when Rusty discovers the hammer sets up his wife’s confession. It begins to set the foundation for Rusty’s guilt. The whole movie we are lead to believe it really wasn’t Rusty who killed Carolyn Polhemus, but in a twist, it was his actions that prompted her murder. If, he had never had an affair with Carolyn, his wife wouldn’t have been feeling depressed and suicidal and well, basically crazy. She felt so down that had to “destroy the destroyer.” Step by step she executed her “perfectly” planned murder, knowing she wouldn’t get caught. She, however, didn’t think they would blame her husband for her actions by default. She claims she wouldn’t have let Rusty go to jail, that she would have come clean. Her thought process had her believing he would have just written the case as unsolved and it would have gotten dismissed. Guilt manifests in Rusty because he alone has to live with the truth: that his wife killed Carolyn. Not only will it haunt him everyday, but he doesn’t have the heart to punish his son by taking his mother away. Thus, leaving him to deal with the truth every single second of every day.

Ramon- Presumed Innocent

The entire movie is focused on the guilt of Rusty Sabich. Whether it is the guilt that he had a rather intense love affair with Carolyn Polhemus, the entire film is focused on guilty and not guilty. In the same light, Rusty is found accused in the murder and rape of his mistress. The irony of the situation is that Rusty can not comes to terms with his wife in this situation because he cannot bring himself to admit to this wife that he cheated on her. However, he really did not need to have that guilt of cheating on Barbara because she already had a hunch that he was cheating on her with Carolyn. Barbara did not want Carolyn around in Rusty’s life anymore, so she killed Carolyn with Rusty’s hammer. In terms of Rusty’s guilt and the irony it possesses, as said before, he was already guilty in the eyes of his wife. However, that guilt Rusty possessed never does leave him as he still grieves the loss of Carolyn. Within all of this guilt, I would like to take to opportunity to bring up a point I found while analyzing this prompt. I believe that Rusty knew that his wife murdered Carolyn the whole time. If he did not believe so, then why would he not want her to testify? If she did tell the jury about Rusty and Carolyn’s affair, then that would only be throwing her own husband under the bus. She loves him too much to do that to him. He also loves Barbara too much for her life to be ruined. He knew that if she testified, then she would admit to the murder of Carolyn. The final scene is great because it is the moment when the circle of guilt is completed, and all loose ends are tied up for what me know is the time being.

Ruffino-Presumed Innocent

A lot of things happen to Rusty in the last scene of the Presumed Innocent, things that will change his life forever and ultimately leaving him feeling responsible. First he finds the murder weapon used on his mistress, Carolyn. Then he learns that it was his wife that killed her which leads him to feel guilt. For if he had not had an affair his wife would have had no reason to kill anyone and the woman with whom he had the affair would still be alive. Going through the grieving process is a battle already so I know that blaming yourself for the death of someone must leave you feeling way worse and this is what Rusty has to deal with. The guilt of having someone’s death on your hands, the loss of a lover, and also to live with the murderer till death do you part. This sad reality seems to hit Rusty as his wife begins to tell him how perfect her murder was and why she did it, so that they could be a happy perfect family once again. This internal struggle within the household is reinstated when in the last scene Rusty’s voice over says “There is punishment.” Because even though Rusty and Barbara were not convicted they have to live with each other and all their secrets which is a torture in itself. Rusty knows he lives and sleeps in the same bed as a murderer and to make it worse it is the murderer of the woman he loved and Barbara has to live with the fact that her husband will always prefer another woman over her even after she has killed her. Guilt is a horrible prison itself.

Kuebler-Presumed Innocent

In this ending moment where all questions are answered we find Rusty struggling with the fact that one of the women he once loved is now dead. We also find that not only is she dead, but even while cleared of murder Rusty is still deserving of guilt. While his wife is the one who killed Rusty's lover, he is still in some sense responsible. Rusty was the one having the affair and due to his lack of love and care for his wife she went crazy. This was a great surprise to me but a very unique end to the movie. The guilt is manifested by the hammer and the court room as the movie closes. Rusty tells the audience that there was a crime and someone was to be punished. He does not mention who is punished but we can imagine that he is referring to every party involved. The crime of passion, to make love and to murder for love and fear hurts many parties involved.


During the scene between Rusty and his wife she explains that she could not help but kill Carolyn. She was originally thinking of ending her own life but instead would "destroy the destroyer" and bring their family back to a healthy place. Rusty in this moment realizes that while his wife did in fact murder Carolyn, he had just as much a part in her death as the murderer. His cruelty to his family was a crime that caused the woman he was obsessed with to be killed and be framed for the crime. So while his wife steps downstairs with a "I did it, I fooled them all" Rusty realizes that he has never once fooled his wife and he is just as guilty if not more for all crimes present in this movie.

Cutler: Presumed Innocent

Unlike in The Fugitive, the audience of Presumed Innocent doesn't know if the main character, Rusty Sabich, is innocent. There's evidence leading us to believe the Sabich actually killed Carolyn. When he is no longer under suspicion, he returns to his regular life until he finds the murder weapon. He confronts his wife who admits to killing Carolyn. Sabich is overcome with guilt because he knows that even though he didn't actually kill Carolyn, he is the reason why she is dead. His affair with Carolyn sparked his wife to kill her with a hammer and frame Sabich with fingerprints and sperm. Sabich was the catalyst for his wife's jealousy that caused her to viciously kill Carolyn.
Sabich's guilt is one of the most important themes in this film because he is not only guilty about Carolyn's death, but also his son's future. He knows that if he doesn't destroy the evidence that shows that his wife is the murderer, his son will live without a mother. He ends up taking an unethical approach and destroys the evidence to save himself from his own guilt. Although Sabich didn't actually kill Carolyn, through the trial and his discovery of the hammer, he feels immense guilt for her death.

Guerry- Presumed Innocent

Adultery rarely ends well; most couples never recover from the knowledge of spousal infidelity. Rusty Sabich knows this better than most, as his obsession with the office hottie, Carolyn Polhemus, is discovered following her murder. After this discovery, the police make him their prime suspect in the murder case, and he is convicted and sentenced to trial. This leads to the eventual declaration of his innocence, due to incomplete evidence presented by the prosecution. One day, after the trial, Rusty finds a bloody hammer in his toolbox while attempting to mend a fence outside his house. Immediately we see shock and understanding on his face, as he must have concluded that his wife was behind the murder of Carolyn. Oddly enough though, Rusty takes the hammer to the basement sink and begins washing off the blood. It’s as if he plans to remove the evidence, and never mention his discovery to his wife. Then, as the hammer is finally cleansed, his wife steps down into the basement.

Proclaiming her guilt, Rusty’s wife proceeds to then explain her thought and planning behind “destroying the destroyer.” Shocked, repulsed, and infinitely guilty, Rusty listens to her story with tear-soaked eyes and astonished silence. He understands that his adulterous actions led to the eventual insanity of his wife, and had he remained faithful, she would have still been the same woman he married. He is guilty not of murder, but of destroying his marriage and wife’s mind, as well as indirectly causing Carolyn’s murder.

Morris- Presumed Innocent

In the last sequence of the movie, Presumed Innocent, Rusty Sabich finds the hammer used in the murder of his mistress, Carolyn. He knows now that his wife, Barbara, committed the crime for which he was put on trial. This scene is important in terms of his guilt because had he not had an affair, his wife would not have become a murderer and the woman would still be alive.

Knowing that it is your fault that someone is dead cannot be easy. Rusty now has to face the consequences of his actions which have been somewhat non-existent since his wife found out. The guilt manifests itself in the scene as his expression changes and he just sits there while his wife describes how she committed the perfect murder, a murder that she intended to wake him from his zombie-like existence, so they could move on to being a happy family once again.

In the last courtroom scene, Rusty’s voice over states, “there is punishment.” Although neither Rusty nor Barbara has faced punishment by the law, they have each other as punishment. Barbara has to live with knowing that her husband will always prefer Carolyn to her, and with killing another human being. Rusty will have to live with the guilt that the woman he loves’ death was because he loved her, and having to live with her killer.

Lazo - Presumed Innocent

Presumed Innocent deals heavily with the guilt of Rusty Sabich. Throughout the film, Rusty is confronted by his wife and by his own memories of his affair with Carolyn Polhemus. As a prosecutor, Rusty values justice and the law. He struggles with immense guilt over breaking the law of marriage with his affair. His suspicious behavior while investigating Carolyn's murder is not due to guilt over murdering her like the other investigators believe, but his guilt from sleeping with her (after all, he knows he is innocent of murder). After the case against him is dismissed, Rusty tries to return to his life, but discovers the murder weapon in his own tools.

Barbara's confession escalates Ruty's guilt

These two scenes are key to understanding Rusty's guilt. First, he seems to quickly realize that his wife, Barbara, must have murdered Carolyn. Curiously, he goes to the basement and proceeds to destroy the evidence. He does not keep the hammer to confront Barbara with, but immediately tries to cover it up. Why? This becomes clear after Barbara admits that she had to "destroy the destroyer." Rusty's final voice over says, "there is punishment." Rusty realizes that although he did not physically murder Carolyn, she would not have been killed if he never had an affair with her. In his mind, it is his fault (at least to an extent) that she is dead. His guilt runs so deep that he blames himself for her murder even though he did not kill her, and also takes full responsibility for the affair when Carolyn had just as much, if not more, to do with it starting.

Torres - Presumed Innocent

Throughout Presumed Innocent there is ambiguity as to who is guilty. Guilt takes on an interesting role in the film, as in the end it shows that although Rusty is not guilty of murder, he is still guilty. After Rusty was acquitted of the murder, he is at home working outside when he comes across a small hatchet with blood and hair fibers on it and realizes that they are Carolyn Polhemus's. When he confronts his wife she appears somewhat demented, referring to herself in the third person (similar to the way Rusty would reenact criminal motives and events in the courtroom). Barbara confesses that, following his affair, she fell into a state of depression and even considered suicide before deciding that it would be better to "destroy the destroyer," Polhemus. She tells him why she felt that she had to kill Carolyn and how she did it. She had bought glasses similar to some Carolyn had and got Rusty's fingerprints on them and saved his sperm in a freezer after they had had sex. After killing Carolyn , Barbara set up other evidence in order to make it look like a man attacked and raped her, making it seem as though someone who she had put away had come back for revenge. She claims that she did not actually intend to frame her husband and did not anticipate he would be charged with the murder; she assumed that he would realize it was her and file it under unsolved cases. After hearing this, Rusty cannot bring himself to turn her in; he cannot bring himself to separate his son from his mother. In a final voice-over he says that the murder of Carolyn Polhemus has been written off as unsolved, though he still feels guilt over his role in causing her death. Although he did not murder Carolyn , it was his affair with her that caused his wife to murder her. This final scene is very important to the movie because it explains to the audience why Rusty has been displaying so much guilt throughout the film; he knew that having an affair was wrong and he regrets it, but now he is forced to live with the fact that his mistake led his wife to murder.

Madere - Presumed Innocent

In Presumed Innocent, Harrison Ford's character Rusty Sabich spends most of the movie attempting to convince every other character in the movie and the audience of his innocence in Carolyn's murder. However, one of the reasons it is hard to believe Rusty when he says he is not Carolyn's murderer is that it is clear that he is guilty of some wrongs related to her death. Rusty's trial is dismissed, however, when misconduct by the prosecution is revealed and there is a lack of material evidence to convict him. It then seems as if Carolyn's murder would go unsolved until the second-to-last scene of the movie reveals that the murderer was actually Rusty's wife.

Despite the fact that Rusty's wife admits her guilt in the murder and explains the great lengths she went to to not only prevent the police from suspecting her, but implicate Rusty, it is clear that Rusty still experiences come guilt, some responsibility in the murder. He feels guilty for the affair with Carolyn (and the resulting obsession it created) as he has throughout the movie as it was a breaking of a rule and Rusty is a strict follower of rules. His wife's confession adds a new dimension to his guilt. Even if he was not the person to actually take Carolyn's life, he feels as though his actions and affair spurred his wife's actions, even that his wife was justified in her actions. In his mind, had he not had the affair and obsession with Carolyn, she would still be alive.

This guilt manifests itself in that he chooses to remain silent about his wife's guilt in the murder. He washes off the hammer, supposedly planning to never say anything to his wife about knowledge of her actions until she confesses to him. Even after the confession, he chooses not to turn her in, saying that it was an impracticality to try two people for the same crime and that he could not take his son's mother away from him. At the end of the movie, he speaks of a punishment, which presumably is a lifetime of guilt over the affair and responsibility in his death, a lifetime of guilt over not assigning blame and punishment to the murderer (which he clearly believes in throughout the movie), and a lifetime of living with a murderer.

Bloo- Presumed Innocent

Presumed Innocent gives several hints that Rusty Sabich might be the killer of Carolyn. However, because of a lack of evidence, and many flaws in the trial, the case is dismissed and Rusty can return to his daily life.

One afternoon, when Sabich is repairing the fence, he is runmaging through his toolbox, when he finds the murder weapon: a small hammer with blood and blond hair on it. His face devoid with emotion, Rusty goes to the basement and destroys the evidence of Carolyn's blood and hair. This scene already shows that Sabich feels guilty and that he knows he is in an indirect way responsible for the death of Carolyn,even though he haven't heard the story yet. His wife Barbar enters as he's cleaning off the murder weapon. ''I did it'', she says. These words have a double meaning: Barbara is speaking of her job interview, while Rusty thinks she is confessing the murder. She looks shocked when she sees the murder weapon and goes upstairs.

In the final scene, Barbara tells her husband what she did and more importantly why. Rusty's guilt manifests itself since he realizes that not only does he feel guilty because of his adultery but also that his adultery caused his wife to kill Carolyn - it was the inexorable consequence.

Rusty feels that he is responsible for Carolyn's death. He now must live with the pain, the loss of Carolyn, the guilt of his adultery, and a marriage destroyed by either his infidelity and Barbara's murder of Carloyn.

Roberts-Presumed Innocent

After the trial Sabich is no longer convicted of killing Carolyn so he resumes his semi-normal routine. It is during his return to normalcy that he discovers that his wife is the true murderer of Carolyn. The murder weapon is found among the tools he is using to fix his fence and when his wife returns home that evening he silently confronts her about it. He doesn't need to say a single word his wife knows and details her entire murder plan.
This scene is pivotal because Rusty Sabich has felt guilt throughout the film, but not guilt for killing Carolyn rather guilt for having an affair with her earlier on. It is in this moment that his guilt truly manifests itself . Because of his affair his wife felt the need to "destroy the destroyer," or kill Carolyn, the woman who "bewitched" his husband. Rusty feels like his initial affair set off a chain of events that led up to Carolyn's death. He is not directly guilty of the crime, like his wife is, but he feels guilt for ultimately causing it.