TV Reviews : Doctor’s Rape Story: A Ludicrous Assault on the Mind

A woman doctor is raped. Later, the rapist, shot while fleeing police, is brought into the emergency room and, gasp, the surgeon on duty is the same woman doctor. When he dies as she operates, she is accused of murder.

“The Rape of Dr. Willis,” a CBS TV movie airing at 9 p.m. Sunday on Channel 2 and 8, deserves a few points for initially trying to overcome its ludicrous premise. The script by Steven Gethers and Anne Gerard does try to set up a real relationship between the recently widowed Willis (Jaclyn Smith) and her 10-year-old daughter (Lisa Jakub). As a doctor who has relocated to a new city, Smith recognizably copes with the girl’s anxiety at being uprooted and her resentment of her mother’s time-consuming profession.

The rape scene itself is no joke; director Lou Antonio emphasizes the assault as an act of violence and Smith hits home showing Willis’ wrenching helplessness. Dan Butler is convincing as the vicious attacker.

In the aftermath, however, silliness sets in. Does tough Dr. Greenway (Holland Taylor) want to ruin Dr. Willis? Will the hospital staff resign if Dr. Willis is suspended? Will the rapist’s widow turn out to be arrogant and vindictive?

And most preposterously, will everyone in the script forget that the rapist, a high-powered executive, was in the emergency room because he had been shot by police after a high-speed chase?

This one’s for only the most stalwart Smith fans--and they’ll be rewarded with generous close-ups of that amazingly beautiful face. Viewers looking for drama that rises above cartoon level, or for a meaningful examination of a legal system that still too often victimizes rape victims, will have to go elsewhere.