Gross Misconduct (film)

1993 film

Gross Misconduct

Region 4 DVD cover

Directed by| George T. Miller
Written by| Gerard Maguire
Lance Peters
Based on| the play by Lance Peters
Starring| Jimmy Smits
Naomi Watts
Cinematography| David Connell
Edited by| Henry Dangar
Music by| Bruce Rowland
Distributed by| Becker Entertainment
Magna Pacific

Release date

* 29 July 1993 (1993-07-29)

Running time

| 89 minutes
Country| Australia
Language| English
Budget| over A$4 million[1]
Box office| A$489,598 (Australia)

Gross Misconduct is a 1993 Australian thriller film directed by George T. Miller. It stars Jimmy Smits and Naomi Watts.[2] It was nominated for an award by the Australian Film Institute in 1993.[3] The film has been described as an Australian version of Fatal Attraction.[4]

## Plot

[edit]

At an all-girls academy in Australia, a married philosophy professor, Justin Thorne, attracts a fervent admirer in one of his students, Jennifer Carter.

Daughter of the school's headmaster, Jennifer is driven by a passion for the professor, practically throwing herself at him. Thorne resists repeatedly, but finally yields to temptation. Jennifer, feeling rejected later, accuses the professor of a sexual assault. A journal she has been keeping, fantasizing about a lover, makes it appear that she and the professor have been carrying on a long affair, placing Thorne's reputation and future in grave danger.

After Thorne is found guilty in a jury trial it emerges that Jennifer's father has been sexually abusing her over some considerable time, and pesters her once again. This time she snaps, and stabs him in the face with a kitchen implement. The last scene shows Thorne emerging from jail, freed.

## Cast

[edit]

* Jimmy Smits as Justin Thorne
* Naomi Watts as Jennifer Carter
* Sarah Chadwick as Laura Thorne
* Adrian Wright as Kenneth Carter
* Tara Judah as Nancy Thorne
* Brendon Suhr as Terry MacKnight
* Ross Williams as David Guilde
* Goran Stamenkovic as Oliver Thorne
* Alan Fletcher as Henry Landers
* Beverley Dunn as Judge Barlow
* Nicholas Bell as Detective Matthews
* Fiona Corke as Detective Coote
* Jack Finsterer as Policeman

## Story and production

[edit]

The film was based on the play Assault With a Deadly Weapon which was written in 1969 by Lance Peters. It had been suggested by a 1955 scandal in Hobart, where university professor Sydney Orr had been sacked from his job on grounds of gross misconduct.[1] Gross Moral Turpitude, Cassandra Pybus' book on the Orr case which also emerged in 1993, gives a very different reading on Orr from Peters' and this film's. She writes that "in the Orr case... it was almost universally accepted... that an academic who seduced a student should be dismissed. He did. He was."[5]

The movie was the first film to be produced by PRO Films in Australia, a subsidiary of R.A. Beacker & Co. It was shot at various locations around Melbourne, including The University of Melbourne, the Melbourne Magistrates Court and Queen Victoria Market.[1]

## Box office

[edit]

Gross Misconduct grossed $489,598 at the box office in Australia.[6]

## See also

[edit]

* Cinema of Australia

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c Andrew Urban, "Gross Misconduct", Cinema Papers, January 1993 p4-9
2. ^ Dillard, Brian J. "Gross Misconduct". AllMovie. Retrieved 16 April 2010.
3. ^ "Gross Misconduct – IMDb".
4. ^ O'Connell, David (2 March 2010). "Review: Gross Misconduct (1993)". In Film Australia. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 16 April 2010.
5. ^ Pybus, Cassandra. Gross Moral Turpitude. Heinemann, Port Melbourne 1993 p. 214
6. ^ "Film Victoria – Australian Films at the Australian Box Office" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 February 2011. Retrieved 20 November 2010.

## External links

[edit]

* Gross Misconduct at IMDb
* Gross Misconduct at Rotten Tomatoes
* Gross Misconduct at Oz Movies

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by George T. Miller

* Against the Wind (1978)
* The Last Outlaw (1980)
* The Man from Snowy River (1982)
* The Aviator (1985)
* Cool Change (1986)
* Les Patterson Saves the World (1987)
* The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter (1990)
* A Mom for Christmas (1990)
* In the Nick of Time (1991)
* Over the Hill (1992)
* Frozen Assets (1992)
* Gross Misconduct (1993)
* Andre (1994)
* Silver Strand (1995)
* Zeus and Roxanne (1997)
* Tidal Wave: No Escape (1997)
* Robinson Crusoe (1997)
* Journey to the Center of the Earth (1999)
* Cybermutt (2002)
* Attack of the Sabretooth (2005)
* Prey (2009)

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