No One Would Tell (1996) Candace Cameron Bure, Fred Savage, Gregory Alan Williams, Heather McComb Movie Review

No One Would Tell (1996)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Candace Cameron Bure in No One Would Tell (1996)

A Savage Teen Drama

For two years Stacy (Candace Cameron Bure - Freshman Fall) held a secret crush on high school wrestler Bobby Tennison (Fred Savage - When You Remember Me) so when he asks her out she is blown away, how could life get any better than dating the school hunk. Initially flattered by his constant attention and declarations of love, Stacy slowly comes to realise Bobby has a controlling side with moments of rage at the way she dresses, the people she hangs out with and not being in when he calls. When Bobby's anger turns to violence it causes Stacy to live life on constant edge till eventually one of her friends spots the bruises and encourages her to end things with him. The question is will he allow Stacy to call an end to their relationship?

"No One Would Tell" starts with a scene where we see Bobby taking Stacy to the place where they had their first date but is begging with her not to finish with him. Things then jump to 5 months earlier to a wrestling match as we watch Stacy mooning over Bobby and we spend the first half of the movie focussing on their teen romance. In doing so we watch how Bobby gets increasingly controlling, how he gets jealous when her friends show up, when he sees a picture of her with another guy with his arm around her and how his anger manifests itself in violent outbursts. It is powerful stuff and as "No One Would Tell" is based on a true story it is an eye opener for anyone going through the same thing but are blinkered by their own need for things to work out. In fact director Noel Nosseck has done a terrific job of showing the abuse and the actors do a good job of selling it especially Candace Cameron Bure who really appears to get thrown around.

Fred Savage in No One Would Tell (1996)

This first part is a build up to that opening scene, something which is pretty standard in these sorts of made for TV movies. That means the second half of "No One Would Tell" deals with the aftermath of the events with the details of what actually happened kept secret until later on which when we are told what happened is pretty disturbing. In truth the second half of "No One Would Tell" is pretty stereotypical in the way it plays out but no less effective for being standard.

The thing about "No One Would Tell" is that it is full of powerful scenes. The scenes of Bobby's violence and physical abuse are powerful as they are extremely convincing and as I said Candace Cameron Bure sells these scenes and makes them look uncomfortably real. Then there are the powerful scenes such as a shower scene and we see the extent of the bruising all over Stacy's body from Bobby's violent outbursts. But there is also power in the detail, the parallel story of Stacy's mum with a no good boyfriend and how Stacy's friends react to her after she had shut them out when she started dating Bobby.

Now it has to be said that Candace Cameron Bure is the star of "No One Would Tell" but then you certainly have to be impressed with Fred Savage. Savage plays Bobby and is not the sort of character you expect him to play but he does it well, bringing the controlling side of the character across. It's not that Savage makes Bobby an out right nasty character but a very unsettling, deranged one and also a true one when it comes to a moment of violence is always followed by a moment of generosity.

What this all boils down to is that "No One Would Tell" is in style typical of TV movies from the 90s especially those which focus on a teen drama. But it is also a well acted and powerful movie based on a true story.


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