I Watch Absence of Malice: A Cautionary Tale
by Hadley Ajana

Like most women over thirty, I find Paul Newman attractive, down right irresistible. But unlike women of an earlier generation, I don't love Newman for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid or The Sting or Cat on a Hot Tin Roof or even The Hustler, though those are all good movies.

I first came to know Newman through his portrayal of Michael Gallagher in Sydney Pollack's 1981 movie Absence of Malice. Here the blue-eyed charmer stars opposite Sally Field as Michael Gallagher, a straightforward Florida liquor salesman who gets squeezed by the feds because of his connections to organized crime. Fields is Megan Carter, an investigative reported duped into putting pressure on Gallagher through her newspaper articles.

When I think of an attractively introverted male, I think of Michael Gallagher, described by Janet Maslin in The New York Times as someone who "never offers an extra syllable." He is the moral center of the story, an innocent man, a private person at the mercy of those who traffic in secrets. In the end, he outsmarts the extroverts by getting them to get themselves. What is interesting about this movie, though, is not the introversion of Michael, for he is a man who seems balanced and whose orientation is perfectly suited to his psyche. This story is not about introversion at all. It is a cautionary tale about extroversion out of control.

Let's begin with Megan Carter who is, one assumes, supposed to be the protagonist of the story. She is hardly likable. Even when Michael physically assaults her, it is hard to be sympathetic. The opening scene is of Megan going about her daily routine checking in at the office of a special federal task force investigating the disappearance of Joey Diaz, a local labor leader. While she's there, the strike force leader, Elliott Rosen, tricks the curious reporter into publishing a false story that Michael Gallagher is a prime suspect in the Diaz murder. This is done in the hopes of pressuring Gallagher into producing information about Diaz. Michael's father was involved in organized crime and though Michael is not really suspected in the disappearance, Rosen feels that given proper motivation Gallagher could come up with the goods. Before Megan even publishes the story, she gets the strike force secretary in trouble for divulging information out of school. The biggest mistake extroverts make is communicating before they process information. Megan does it twice in the first ten minutes of this film.

Megan's behavior doesn't improve. Teresa, a good friend of Michael's, calls the reporter after reading her article. Teresa can alibi Gallagher for the weekend of Diaz's disappearance. Carter insists that Teresa tell her what she and Michael were doing together. Without specific details, says the writer, the alibi just isn't credible. Carter then proceeds through threats and patronization to extract a confession about something quite private that Teresa and Michael were doing together at the time of the disappearance. The frail woman begs Carter not to print her secret. "It's 1981. People will understand," Megan quips impatiently. Then she rushes off to the presses to ruin a life. Though she scruples over adding the specifics of the woman's alibi back at the press room, her editor assures her it is necessary information. The reporter is genuinely shocked by the consequences of revealing the woman's secret.

Meanwhile, in a plot twist that really defies credibility, Megan and Michael become involved. During their first date, Gallagher tells Carter he needs her to get to know him fast. What he means is that he wants to quickly convince her of his honest character. Being the out of control extrovert she is, Megan interprets "know" in the Biblical sense. Later that night as Gallagher takes Megan back to her car, she is disappointed that the relationship won't be consummated immediately. "I'm 33," she tells the older man, "I don't need courting." "Maybe I do," he says and proceeds to court a woman without a virtue. It's only in the end that Michael's motives are revealed. He is at war with those who destroyed the life of his friend Teresa, Megan included. When you are up against someone stronger than you are - Michael is up against the district attorney's office - the oldest trick in the book is to use the enemy's weight against him. Gallagher outsmarts Carter, Rosen, and the district attorney himself by getting them all to take their extroversion to excess. Eventually he takes advantage of Carter's communicative nature to get even.
He also takes advantage of another out of control extrovert, Eliot Rosen, the head of the task force assigned to the Diaz disappearance. Unlike Megan, we're not supposed to like him at all. Frustrated with his progress through legal means, Rosen resorts to illegal methods to get information about the union leader's presumed murder. In his relentless pursuit to catch the bad guys, he sets in motion a series of life-destroying events in order to gather information and save face. If you've seen the movie, you probably remember actor Bob Balaban as Rosen, pacing back and forth in front of Gallagher, twirling a rubber band, chewing gum, and trying desperately to justify his actions. That sort of nervousness and hyper-focus are generally the signs of unbalanced extroverted energy and do nothing to unnerve the calm and centered introvert.
Rosen and Carter deserve each other. Unfortunately, decent people get caught in between them. Nothing can undo that damage, but the two extroverts get their comeuppance in one of the most memorable scenes in all of modern cinema. A federal employee, played by Wilfred Brimley, is sent down to straighten things out when Carter prints a story that finally spins the gyre out of control. Carter is chastised for being irresponsible, Rosen is fired for disobeying the law, and the district attorney is forced to resign. Michael? He's warned not to get too smart for his own good. You can't use everyone's weight against them. It only works when you can get someone off balance. Not all extroverts are out of control. Only the bad ones.

The movie ends with Carter visiting Gallagher on his boat. He is packing for a trip to see his daughter. "I know what you think I do for a living is bad. It's not. I just did it badly," she explains. Let that be a warning to out of control extroverts everywhere.

In our defense, though, let me say that not all extroverts are obnoxious fast-talkers who don't know how to discriminate or when to shut up. In fact, I suspect JoAnn Woodward is a beautifully balanced extrovert and the woman who stole the heart of the world's sexiest introvert.

more reviews by Hadley Ajana