Movie·1981·116 min

Absence of Malice

Name: Absence of Malice
Genre: Drama, Romance, Crime
Released: 1981-11-19
Duration: 116 min
Rating: 6.6
Cast: Sally Field, Paul Newman, Bob Balaban, Melinda Dillon, Luther Adler

Absence of Malice streams in the US on Amazon Prime Video, and free with ads on The Roku Channel and Tubi TV, as of October 5, 2026.

In America can a man be guilty until proven innocent?

6.6 / 10 · TMDBTomatometer 82%Audience 64%Metacritic 64IMDb 6.9Letterboxd 3.4

Scores via MDBList. Rotten Tomatoes and Tomatometer are trademarks of Fandango Media, LLC; Metacritic, IMDb and Letterboxd are trademarks of their owners.

Drama Romance Crime

Megan Carter is a reporter duped into running an untrue story on Michael Gallagher, a suspected racketeer. He has an alibi for the time his crime was allegedly committed—but it involves an innocent party. When he tells Carter the truth and the newspaper runs it, tragedy follows, forcing Carter to face up to the responsibilities of her job when she is confronted by Gallagher.

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