True Crime Movies

[sdreid]

Hi Celesta,

I remember that one and it was good.

Throw in Westerns and Gangster films based on actual crimes and I could probably come up with a top one thousand list - NO THANKS!!

[needler]

Small Sacrifices

Celesta,

You're right; I had forgotten this one.....SMALL SACRIFICES, that is. Farrah Fawcett really surprised me and it's very true to the book, which also surprised me! Except for the tweaking the director did to tighten up her surrogacy and relationship with the husband, the basics are there, and Downs is one scary killer. Her story reminds us that the female can be deadlier than the male, and quite frequently is!

ALL MALES TAKE NOTE...........

Cheers,

Judy

[kensei]

[QUOTE
Kensei-Is that Ted Bundy film the one with the rather graphic electric chair prep scene?[/QUOTE]

Yes, with Michael Reilly Burke as Bundy. That scene was obviously meant as a treat for people who really wanted to see Bundy suffer.

I should also mention a movie for people who've heard that Ed Geine was the inspriation for "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "Psycho" and would like to see his real story. A surprisngly good straight-to-video film simply titled "Ed Geine" (I think by the same producers as did the Bundy film) stars Steve Railsback as Geine. He played Charles Manson in "Helter Skelter," and had a brief recurring role on "The X Files," an actor who's been around a long time but never really became a big star. He plays crazy very well.

[Mike Covell]

Not a serial killer movie but True Crime nonetheless, "The Bank Job"!!

I bought this as it was pretty cheap and watched it recently with the wife, who also enjoyed it.
Set in London during the 1970's during the 1971 Baker Street Bank Robbery and is a plot worthy of Guy Ritchie, with the MI5, MI6, Royal Family, Revolutionaries, Porn Kingpins, Coppers, Bent Coppers, And our unlikely rag tag bunch of hero's!!

There is a cast list worthy of the gods, starring Jason Stratham, David Suchet, and just about every BBC/ITV star from years ago!

Check the IMDB page here,

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0200465/

[evilina]

I haven't seen the Bogle Chandler one. Is that an Australian release?[/QUOTE]

Yes from the ABC - starring Rhys Muldoon and with Hugo Weaving as the narrator

[sdreid]

Thanks for the information Evilina.

Kensei-That Ed Gein is very good, I agree. I might even have it around here somewhere. Gein was supposedly the inspiration for a character in Silence of the Lambs as well.

Mike-I don't remember seeing that one. My favorite caper movie, although there is a murder in it, is Fool's Gold about the Brinks Mat robbery. Sean Bean is outstanding in this, even though the first time I watched the movie, I needed closed captioning to understand half of what he was saying.

[Celesta]

Celesta,

You're right; I had forgotten this one.....SMALL SACRIFICES, that is. Farrah Fawcett really surprised me and it's very true to the book, which also surprised me! Except for the tweaking the director did to tighten up her Yes, I surrogacy and relationship with the husband, the basics are there, and Downs is one scary killer. Her story reminds us that the female can be deadlier than the male, and quite frequently is!

ALL MALES TAKE NOTE...........

Cheers,

Judy

Hi Judy,

Yes, I also thought it was pretty true to the book. Fawcett surprised a lot of people with her acting skill in Small Sacrifices and in Burning Bed and in that movie where she turns the tables on her rapist. She also did a good job in---just went blank here!---the movie about the Houston horsewoman who married John Robinson, the plastic surgeon. (I used to ride my bike through the ritzy neighborhood, where they lived. It's a big white house on a corner. They never did prove he killed her. Mind you, I didn't live in that neighborhood, just near it. It was perfect for bicycling.) It's as if everyone was thinking "Oh, she's so cute and wholesome-looking, she just has to be an air-head and thus a poor actor." Wrong. I had read the book, Small Sacrifices, before the movie came out, and I can't visualize anyone else playing that part, now. A strange woman that Diane was. She enjoyed being pregnant and she was so man-crazy, she got rid of her children. That's a simplistic way of putting it, I know. It's been a long time since read the book or saw the movie.

Best,

Cel

[Mike Covell]

Thanks for the information Evilina.

Kensei-That Ed Gein is very good, I agree. I might even have it around here somewhere. Gein was supposedly the inspiration for a character in Silence of the Lambs as well.

Mike-I don't remember seeing that one. My favorite caper movie, although there is a murder in it, is Fool's Gold about the Brinks Mat robbery. Sean Bean is outstanding in this, even though the first time I watched the movie, I needed closed captioning to understand half of what he was saying.

The Bank Job has only just been released in the UK on DVD, not sure of it's release details across the pond.

I am a Yorkshireman and can't understand a bloody word Sean Bean says!! I like him as an actor though, always raw and unforgiving, with a severe intensity from his eyes!!

I saw him in Essex Boys, which was about the drugs trade and based on the landrover shootings many years ago. He played quite a charector, and at one point through a guy from a first floor window, out onto the street. He also through acid over some guy who had testified against him!

[sdreid]

Thanks Mike, I'll keep my eyes pealed for that one.

[Mike Covell]

It's worth watching Stan and I bought the movie and the book, which was a powerful expose of the British Drug trade, and the underworld bosses that keep it going!

[Celesta]

Hi Stan, Judy, and everybody,

I was trying to describe a movie to Judy earlier but couldn't remember the name of it. The movie was Murder in Texas about Joan Hill Robinson and Dr. John Hill, and Ash Robinson, Joan's father. Joan was a Houston socialite and an award-winning horsewoman. John Hill was a plastic surgeon. Ash was a Texas wildcatter, who struck it rich. The movie was made from Ann Kurth's book. Ann was married to Hill, as his second wife. A better version of the story is by Tommy Thompson, Blood and Money. Joan died of toxic shock. In those days, toxic shock from tampons was not well known. At the time of Joan's death, it was not known how she got the toxic condition and the story-line is that John Hill gave her infected pastries. To my knowledge, it has still not been established beyond doubt just how Joan got the bug that killed her. John Hill was shot to death in the same house that he lived in with Joan and later Ann. The house was a gift to Joan as a wedding gift from Ash. The house, when I knew it, was a multistory white house, on a corner in the ritzy River Oaks. The same neighborhood where Terms of Endearment was set. (I lived near but not in River Oaks! No fat cats here!)

In the movie, Sam Elliott, (my heart be still!) plays Hill, while Farrah Fawcett plays Joan, and Katherine Ross plays Ann Kurth. Andy Griffiths is excellent as the feisty Ash Robinson, who never gave up trying to get Hill convicted.

I found the story fascinating and highly recommend Thompson's Blood and Money followed up by Kurth's book. There has been a controversy around John Hill because people who knew him saw him in Mexico shortly after he was gunned down. That won't make any sense to you unless you see the movie or read the books.

Best to all,

Cel

[dougie]

"Rise of the footsoldier" anyone? grim ,gritty and true to life I thought........cant think of guys name who it was based on .....but it was very good..better than I thought it was going to be when I rented it......just recalled it was based on the life and criminal career of carlton leach....watch it if the opportunity arises...thats an order
regards

[sdreid]

Hi Cel,

Yes, I remember that one and wrote a brief synopsis over on TheCrimeWeb.com. Hill was thought to have perhaps killed as many a five if I remember correctly.

[sdreid]

YES SIR! Dougie

[sdreid]

My favorite gangster movie is Mobsters, about the rise of the syndicate mostly in New York. It's pretty much as accurate as you'll get also.

True crime western - Tombstone