Humphrey has a Lowe Point
Kate Kerner (Lindsay Wagner) is a single mum to Jessie (Renée Humphrey) and her younger brother and unlike her mother Judge Edna Burton (Piper Laurie) is more lenient with her children, allowing them to live their lives. But when Jessie meets Eric (Chad Lowe) Kate becomes concerned as whilst on the outside he appears a good kid something about him causes Kate to try and warn Jessie off of him. It only does the opposite and leads Jessie to Eric's friend Russell (Kirk Baltz) who is a pimp and convinces Jessie to become one of his girls. With the police unwilling to do anything Kate and a friend take it upon themselves to try and rescue Jessie from a life on the streets.
So first things first "Fighting for My Daughter", also known as "Deadly Nightshade", is one of those movies inspired by actual events but is fictionalized, which means there may have been a case of a woman who set about rescuing her daughter from a life on the streets as a hooker but it probably was very different to the one presented to us in this movie. As such whilst that means that technically "Fighting for My Daughter" is based on a true story it is probably only in the loosest sense of the term.
What that also means is that "Fighting for My Daughter" is a vision of life which is acceptable to an audience who enjoy made for TV movies. As such whilst we have life on the grim streets, those grim streets are tamed down just enough to not repulse the audience. It is the same with various characters as whilst every single one presented to us be it Chad Lowe's smooth talking Eric, Renée Humphrey's troubled Jessie or Lindsay Wagner as busy single mum Kate has negatives about them they are not real people but the same sort of caricatures you would see in other similar made for TV movies from the 90s.
But what that also means is that "Fighting for My Daughter" with its story of a daughter who becomes a hooker is one of the parental public warning movies which sets about highlighting what can happen to young teenagers whilst also pointing out the signs a parent should be looking out for that things are not right. Now part of me applauds any movie which tries to do something so noble but at the same time the way "Fighting for My Daughter" goes about it is less than subtle, something which to be frank is typical of the TV movie genre especially from the mid 90s.
Now all those things are basically negatives but on a more positive note "Fighting for My Daughter" will appeal to those who prefer to watch the easy to digest nature of TV movies. It is easy to follow; it moves at a decent pace and gets across what it is trying to say before finding a way to bring a positive end to the proceedings. As such in many ways "Fighting for My Daughter" is a success because it works for its intended audience, just having the usual array of issues which some people mock TV movies for.
What this all boils down to is that "Fighting for My Daughter" has an interesting story but is 100% typical TV movie which makes its appeal only to those who enjoy the genres easy to watch nature and simplified vision of life.
