Heart of the Beholder

Heart of the Beholder is a 2005 drama film that was written and directed by Ken Tipton. It is based on Tipton's own experience as the owner of a chain of videocassette rental stores in the 1980s. Tipton and his family had opened the first videocassette rental stores in St. Louis in 1980; their business was destroyed by a campaign of Christian fundamentalists who objected to the chain's carrying the film The Last Temptation of Christ for rental.

Heart of the Beholder
Film poster
Directed by	Ken Tipton
Written by	Ken Tipton
Produced by	Darlene Lieblich Ken Tipton Jeanette Voluturno Arnon Manor
Starring	Matt Letscher Sarah Joy Brown John Dye Anne Ramsay Michael Dorn Jason Wiles Greg Germann Ken Tipton Arden Myrin Silas Weir Mitchell Tony Todd Chloë Grace Moretz Priscilla Barnes
Cinematography	George Mooradian
Edited by	Dana E. Glauberman
Music by	Peter Rafelson
Distributed by	Beholder Productions
Release date	September 30, 2005 (2005-09-30) (Westwood)
Running time	106 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	US$500,000

The film showed at the 2005 Westwood Film Festival.^[1] Critic Ryan Cracknell summarized the film, "There's no shortage of material for writer-director Ken Tipton to work with here. That alone makes Heart of the Beholder a film of interest. It is in many ways a politically charged film as it touches on issues of freedom of speech, religious beliefs and all out fanaticism. Still, I didn't think it was charged with enough balance and I think a large part had to do with the film's inconsistent pacing."^[2]

The film won the best feature award at the 2005 New Hampshire Film Festival and the directors choice award at the 2005 Bluegrass Independent Film Festival.

Cast

• Matt Letscher as Mike Howard
• Sarah Joy Brown as Diane Howard
• Greg Germann as Bob Harris
• Anne Ramsay as Reeba Holings
• Michael Dorn as Lieutenant Larson
• John Prosky as Reverend Brewer
• Arden Myrin as Patty
• Silas Weir Mitchell as Lester
• Priscilla Barnes as Miss Olivia
• Chloë Moretz as Molly
• Jason Wiles as Deetz
• John Dye as D.A. Eric Manion
• Carrie Armstrong as Vesta
• Conrad Bachman as Rudy
• April Barnett as Rhonda
• Katelin Chesna as Marci
• Patty McCormack as Helen
• Roseanne Benjamin as Vicky
• Daphne Duplaix as Detective Deborah Burbach
• Susan Johnston as Joan
• David Kelsey as Murphy
• Michelle Paradise as Denise Weston