Scandal in a Small Town

TV Movie
1988
1h 31m

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Raquel Welch in Scandal in a Small Town (1988)

Leda Beth Vincent (Raquel Welch) lives in the small town of Shiloh, where she works as a cocktail waitress. She isn't too well-liked there, as she is no blushing virgin, but she is far from ... Read allLeda Beth Vincent (Raquel Welch) lives in the small town of Shiloh, where she works as a cocktail waitress. She isn't too well-liked there, as she is no blushing virgin, but she is far from a whore and has been a loving, responsible mother to her now-high-schooler daughter Julie ... Read allLeda Beth Vincent (Raquel Welch) lives in the small town of Shiloh, where she works as a cocktail waitress. She isn't too well-liked there, as she is no blushing virgin, but she is far from a whore and has been a loving, responsible mother to her now-high-schooler daughter Julie (Christa Denton) and tried to raise her right. When she becomes aware that Julie's very po... Read all

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IMDb RATING

5.6/10

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Trivia
Although the end credits claim that the events and characters are fictitious, the script was based on actual facts that took place in a Canadian town where a history teacher (and former Mayor) had used his classes to vilify Jews and denied that Adolf Hitler had even ordered the "Final Solution". Parents concerned about what their children were learning mounted a successful legal battle to have the teacher fired.

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Featured review

7/10

TV Movie with a Message

This movie is about the confrontation between a waitress (Raquel Welch) and a high-school history teacher: the waitress is not happy with the teacher instilling antisemitic conspiracy theories into the mind of her daughter (and the minds of her classmates). The final scene is in court, but much of the drama comes from the fact that popular opinion is more favorable to high-school teachers than to waitresses; and, in a small town, it is not good to have popular opinion against you.

It is easy to see that this movie was made for TV. The plot is not too bad, but the acting is less than impressive. Given these limitations, it might seem extravagant to compare this movie to High Noon, but some of the themes are there: a small town, a woman with a reputation for easy morals, and a person who stands for what is right even when everybody else wants to keep it quiet. The fact that it is the woman of easy morals who stands for what is right, is an interesting twist.

However, the main point of interest for me were the classroom scenes. It was fascinating to see how the teacher cajoles the students to look at history the way he sees it (that is, as the unfolding of a vast Jewish conspiracy). What really stuck in my mind was the teacher saying that history is about discovering patterns. In a sense, he was right: without looking for patterns, history is just one fact after another. And yet, we can find any pattern we like in history; that is to say, we can use history to justify any prejudice that we have. This is a dilemma that will keep me thinking, and that is more than I normally expect from a TV movie.