Film

Absence of Malice

Name: Absence of Malice
Genre: Drama, Romance, Crime
Released: 1981
Cast: Sally Field, Paul Newman, Bob Balaban, Melinda Dillon, Luther Adler

Drama

A reporter runs a story about a suspected mobster based on leaked information, only to discover the truth is far messier—and the damage far more real. Absence of Malice is a sharp, grown-up drama about accountability, the price of ambition, and the collateral damage of good intentions. Newman and Field spar brilliantly. It's for anyone who loves a thriller with a conscience.

TMDb rating

3.3

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like grown-up stories about conscience, where the line between hunting the truth and wrecking a life keeps shifting under your feet, and the moral argument matters more than the chase.

Skip it if you want brisk plotting or a clear-cut hero, since the film moves at a deliberate pace and its characters rarely feel fully comfortable with their own choices.

What it asks of you: Long stretches of talk and scenes that linger on small decisions, across a little under two hours; the mood stays measured and sober rather than lively.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

All the President's Men1976

Woodward and Bernstein chase the biggest story of their lives with the same hungry drive Megan Carter has. Watch two reporters dance with power, consequence, and the weight of what they print.

But It's a procedural about investigation and phone calls—not a lot of pyrotechnics, and if you need car chases this won't deliver.

Network1976

A blistering critique of news media and the people who work there, watching careers made and destroyed by ratings. Paddy Chayefsky's script is savage and prescient about exactly what Megan Carter is complicit in.

But It's a satire, not a thriller, and the tone is so acidic some people find it exhausting rather than cathartic.

Spotlight2015

A team of journalists excavates a buried truth at institutional cost. Like Absence of Malice, it's about the weight of responsibility and who pays when a story breaks—except here the reporters get it right.

But It's methodical and patient; if you want immediate tension you'll find it slow-cooked instead of quick-fried.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Absence of Malice

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Sweet Smell of Success1957

Both are about the power of a story in print and the people destroyed in its wake. Megan gets conscience. Susie Hunsecker never does.

Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis in Lehman's corrosive script about a gossip columnist with a poison pen and a fixation. The DNA is identical—ambition, information as a weapon, the wreckage left behind—but Lehman writes in aphorisms where Tesich reaches for guilt.

But It's in black and white, shot in high contrast, with a rhythm and slang that feel alien at first. And the ending offers no redemption, just ruin.

The Post2017

Meryl Streep as a newspaper owner wrestling with the decision to publish classified material, with Tom Hanks as her editor. The same moral machinery: do you print it, and who bears the cost?

But It can feel a bit flag-waving, and some find Spielberg's hand a touch too reassuring for a story about the risks of the press.

Michael Clayton2007

George Clooney as a fixer caught between corporate power and his own conscience. Like Megan, he's entangled with forces bigger than himself and has to reckon with complicity.

But It's deliberately paced and cerebral; if you want pyrotechnics you're in the wrong room.

Veronica Mars2014

A private investigator navigates the gap between truth and what people want to believe. Fast, smart, and funny in a way Absence of Malice isn't—but with the same core question about who gets hurt by investigation.

But The tone is much lighter and more wisecracking; if you want the weight and gravity of the original film, this tips toward entertainment.

Z1969

A journalist-turned-detective unravels a conspiracy after a political assassination. Costa-Gavras made a thriller out of responsibility and the machinery that swallows truth whole.

But It's a European political thriller from 1969, which means it moves at a different rhythm and the politics are specific to its moment.

The Killing of a Sacred Deer2017

Yorgos Lanthimos spins a story about consequence and obligation into something genuinely unsettling. Not a journalism thriller, but the same anatomy of guilt and the weight of collateral damage.

But It's a cold, formal, deliberately strange film; if you're looking for human warmth or catharsis, you won't find it.

Nightcrawler2014

Jake Gyllenhaal as a sociopath selling local news footage to the highest bidder. It's the dark mirror to Megan's ambition—what happens when the hunger to break a story goes completely unchecked.

But It's genuinely bleak and a little queasy; Gyllenhaal's character has no arc toward redemption, which some find punishing.

The Day of the Jackal1973

The same cat-and-mouse structure as Megan and Michael, but stripped of sentiment. Here truth is irrelevant; only the game matters.

Not a journalism film at all, but a procedural about an assassin being hunted by authorities. Watch it for the engine: two people, opposite sides, locked in a narrative neither can fully control, each trying to outmaneuver the other before the story ends.

But It's 2.5 hours and deeply patient; it's not chasing you, and some find that pacing glacial rather than taut.