The Abused Dad (1983 film)

Theatrical poster

**The Abused Dad** is a 1983 American drama/horror film written, produced, and directed by Theophile Patterson. It stars Michael N. Richardson, Lizbeth Washington, Mark Chavez, and Robert Reed. Patterson produced the film for $900,000 ($2,600,248 adjusted for inflation) and he hired Michael N. Richardson, who recently came out of retirement after 9 years, to play the role of Coby's abused stepfather, Vince.

## Plot

On a Sunday night in 1978, Vince and Karen Rogers kidnapped the two children, Coby and Emily Webb from their parents; everyone thought that they adopted by them and lived in a broken house in the fictional suburban town of Dangarnon, Maryland. Five years later in 1983, they still lived here with his adopted parents. They had three children, Kevin, Ryan, and Alex Rogers.

Vince tells Coby to do the homework. He will do the homework. While he was working on his homework, he remembers his biological parents were nicer than his evil adopted parents. Then all of a sudden, Andy arrives at the house. Vince tells him to keep it eye on both Coby and Emily; he agrees to do this. In Coby's room, Andy begins a relationship with Coby. He had a nice chat with him. Andy helps him get his homework done. After his homework is done, Andy tells Coby about his favorite things; he likes video games, watching TV, and all that stuff. Andy responds nicely and said to him, "Seems like you did a nice soft-spoken boy." He gives the game that Coby wanted and he tells Andy to thank him for giving him this game. and Andy tells him, "You're welcome." and leaves for Emily's room. Vince comes to Coby's room and angrily tells him not to play this game. Andy tells him why did he do that, He responded by saying that he was drunk. Andy was shocked that he said that, he tells Vince that he cannot talk to Coby like that, he also tells him that Vince is being child abused, but he doesn't know what it is, Andy responded by saying that child abuse is a failure to act on the part of the parent that results of death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploitation.

Vince tells him that he had bad memories of his father named Harold Rogers torturing him when he was a kid, and his mother named Mopsa Rogers tried anything to stop him from torturing his son, by getting a divorce and kicking him out of the house but those plans never work because he has a quick reflex. By the time when Vince was 14 years old, his mother Mopsa used her husband's gun to kill him, as she was about to kill him, Harold attack his wife aggressively, Mopsa asked her son to call the police, and 14-year-old Vince ran to the telephone to call the police. When the police arrive, officers tell Vince where's his mother, Vince's finger points to his parent's bedroom. As offices reach Vince's parent's bedroom, his father kills her. A few moments later, he was arrested not only for child abuse but also murder his wife and charged with murder, Harold kill himself in prison. Andy was shocked and horrified that Vince's father did to his son.

At Andy's house, his helpful housemate tells Andy that Coby and Emily were not Vince and Karen's adoption children; they killed the two other children prior, and take the two kids away from their biological parents in 1978, with changing their last names to prevent them from finding it.

Realizing that Vince was going to abuse and kill them, Andy told his housemate to borrow his car to drive back to Vince and Karen Rogers' Dangarnon House. Coby has a lot of homework before school tomorrow, While he at homework, Alex doing a crazy thing in his room, and Kevin interrupted him by saying shut up. Emily tells dad that he saying the S-word. After Coby leaves the bathroom upstairs, Alex making a mess with the bathtub using his body wash, Vince angrily tells Coby to do more homework. As Andy drives to Vince and Karen's Dangarnon House to take Coby and Emily away from their abused parents, the Neighbor asks Andy not to go to that house, but he tells him that he's gonna enter the house and tells Vince that Coby and Emily were not adopted.

While he and the neighbor are talking, They heard Vince and Coby arguing, Andy was about to enter Vince's house, but it was locked by Karen. The neighbor asks Andy to call the police using a payphone nearby, He goes to his house to call Webb's parents to confirm that Coby and Emily in Rogers' house for five years. While Andy was on the payphone to call the police, Alex tricks his dad to tell him that Coby put all his body wash all over the bathtub, although he did not do that. Andy tells Dangarnon Police Officer that if they didn't arrest Vince and Karen then things will get worst, he will arrest them for kidnapping their two children, and Andy thanks him for answering. Vince thinks that it was Coby's fault for putting all his body wash all over the bathtub, he yells at him for this, causing him to cry. He tells his dad that Alex did this, but Alex claims that he did not.

As Vince was about to break his portable game system (Game & Watch) and kill his two children, Dangarnon Police Officers knocks on the locked door and yelled, and the crying stopped, They tell Vince to unlock the door so they gonna talk to him. So Vince unlocks the door and Dangarnon Police Officers tell him about some questions, after answering some questions including Vince's father was drunk and abused like his son, Dangarnon Police Officer tells Vince that he kidnapped Coby and Emily, He calmly replies by saying "Yep, I did kidnap those two". His family except him was shocked by his answer, Dangarnon Policeman tells him and Karen that they were arrested for kidnapping those two children five years ago, so the Officers arrested Vince and Karen for that. and Andy came in to see two abused parents in the police car, he told Vince and Karen that they should not abuse and kidnap those children.

As the police car leaves Andy tells Coby and Emily, that he is an undercover cop. they hug and thank him for saving their lives. Andy takes Coby and Emily back to their biological parents' house using his housemate's car and drives away from Rogers' house one last time.

After the credits, Vince and Karen are in prison at the thunderstorm where he plans to kill himself the way that his father did, but he had a second thoughts about it, and he and his wife plan to escape prison.

## Cast

* Michael N. Richardson as Vince Rogers
* Lizbeth Washington as Karen Rogers
* Mark Chavez as Coby Webb
* Donald Pleasence as Andy
* Robert Reed as Dangarnon Policeman
* Gino Rivera as Kevin Rogers
* Joseph Watson as Ryan Rogers
* Falstaff O'Moore as Alex Rogers
* Chancellor Rivera as Emily Webb
* Theophile Patterson as Neighbor

## Production

### Casting

Many big movie stars of the era were considered for the role, but they were turned down, or film directors turned them down.

#### Vince Rogers (Coby's abused stepfather)

Jensen Farley Pictures originally wanted Michael N. Richardson to play Vince Rogers, but at that time, he was unavailable because he went to focus on both his family and their marriage, so instead of him, they had a list of actors that the studio was considering for the role, Richard Knott was considered to play Vince Rogers. Patterson thought that Knott was too old to play the role of a middle-aged stepfather. Dennis Simmons was offered the role of Vince, but he turned down the role because he said "I don't like playing the role of abused stepfather, and I also don't like the script of it."

Dustin Hoffman was also offered the role of Vince Rogers, but he also turned down the role for similar reasons. Jensen Farley Pictures felt that Jack Nicholson would be a perfect fit for the role, but Patterson said that hiring him would cost too much money. James Brolin was considered for the role of Vince, but Patterson turned him down because he thought that Brolin was too aggressive.

Leslie Nielsen was also considered for the role, but Patterson also turned him down.

George Johnson, who later went on to play the role of Francis in Left 4 Dead, was considered for the role of Vince. He was cast. At the time when Johnson's departure, Richardson returned to acting after 9 years, Johnson's abused stepfather character eventually ended up being played by Richardson, who was Johnson's longtime friend.

#### Andy

Jason Miller was the first choice to play the role of Andy, but he turned down the role. George C. Scott was offered the role, but he turned down the role. Donald Pleasence eventually cast the role.

#### Karen Rogers (Coby's abused stepmother)

Jensen Farley Pictures wanted Sissy Spacek for the role of Karen Rogers. But Patterson was worried that this movie would become "another Spacek horror movie".

Betty Anderson was offered the role of Karen, but she turned it down, That decision she later ended up regretting after returning her acting career.

Lizbeth Washington was an audition for the role of Karen. And thus she was cast.

#### Coby Webb

Derby Matthews was asked to audition for the role, but his mother Emily Matthews declined.

Many young actors that the studio was considering for the role of Coby, like Peter Billingsley, Oliver Robins, and Anthony Michael Hall, but they have turned down the role. And even both Joseph Watson and Falstaff O'Moore auditioned for the role of Coby Webb, but they failed their audition, but instead, they played Ryan and Alex.

Mark Chavez's mother asked his son to audition for the role after she found and saw the script, And thus her son was cast as Coby.

#### Emily Webb

Dana Plato was offered the role, but she turned down the part. Finally, they hired Chancellor Rivera for the role of Emily.

#### Neighbor

Malcolm McDowell was offered the role of Vince's neighbor. But he won't star in the film unless it was filmed in London, so the director Theophile Patterson decided to cast the role by himself.

### Filming with Johnson

In late August 1982, filming began in various areas around Albany, New York, while Johnson play the role of Vince Rogers.

The few cast members first thought that this was going to be a comedy movie.

In a 1999 interview, Chavez describes Johnson as "The nice person to work with than Richardson."

He filmed most scenes of him while his wife, Emily Matthews was in England on vacation. In early September 1982, she later find out that her husband was working on it. He was rejected from the role by his wife. On the following day, Patterson informed Johnson that he was no longer a part of the film. He landed the role of Bad Guy from Episode 45 of Minky Momo instead with the same mustache.

After Johnson rejected the role of Vince Rogers, the production was put on hold until late October 1982, when Michael N. Richardson signed the role of Vince. After that, they had to reshoot Johnson's scenes except for the shot of Vince and Karen running away from Webb's family home after they captured Coby and Emily.

### Filming with Richardson

Richardson's first day on set was in early November 1982.

During filming some Vince and Coby argument scenes, Richardson actually cursed in front of Chavez and was ad-lib while filming those scenes.

In early December, production was wrapped. The cast and crew were excited and hopeful when this movie came out. After that, Richardson finally apologized to Chavez for ad-libbing the scene.

## Release

This film was shown during the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival in 1983. The film's official premiere was at Mann's Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, on September 14, 1983. It was attended by Michael N. Richardson, Lizbeth Washington, and Theophile Patterson.

The film was released in Britain on January 16, 1984, by ITC Film Distributors. it did not become a hit in the UK. It was also released in El Kadsre on April 14, 1984, by El TV Kadsre Films.

## Reception

The film received mixed reviews from the critics upon its release. While some praised the film for its realistic portrayal of domestic violence and Michael N. Richardson's powerful performance as Vince, others criticized the film for its graphic violence and disturbing imagery. Despite the mixed reviews, the film was a commercial success, grossing over $23 million at the box office and becoming a cult classic among drama fans.

## Sequel

In 1997, 14 years after the first film came out, they made Abused Dad II: The Final Chapter.

## Gallery

Main article: *The Abused Dad (1983 film)/*Gallery

## Transcripts

*Main article: The Abused Dad (1983 film)/Transcripts, and The Abused Dad (1983 film)/Trailer transcripts*