Compliance (2012)

Compliance is a 2012 American thriller, based on true events, written and directed by Craig Zobel, and starring Ann Dowd, Dreama Walker, and Pat Healy. The plot focuses on a prank caller who pretends to be a police officer and convinces the manager of a fast-food restaurant that one of her employees committed a crime, and gets her to carry out intrusive and unlawful procedures on the employee. It is based on the Bullitt County McDonald's strip search prank call scam. Dowd's performance as Sandra was very positively received and won her the National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress.

A message displayed before the action starts refers to the Milgram experiment, and says that the story, inspired by real events, is so shocking it is hard to believe, but that nothing was exaggerated.

Synopsis

Sandra, a manager of a fast-food restaurant in the ChickWich chain, receives a phone call from someone identifying himself as Officer Daniels: he claims to be in contact with the regional manager about a customer whose purse was allegedly robbed by an employee that day. Daniels claims that he is searching the suspect's residence, but will remain on the phone while Sandra detains and searches the employee until the police can arrive. Sandra identifies Becky as the possible culprit based on the caller’s description, and the caller confirms this is the name he was given.

Actors