Sorry the post is later this week/weekend. I started working on it a couple of days ago but didn't manage to get it finished yesterday. :)
Back in 2016 I did a post about my Top 10 true movies (films based on true stories). I also wrote a follow-up in 2017. I'd had it in my mind to do a 3rd post and had saved a post in my Drafts, but didn't get round to it, lol. I felt inspired to finish it though, so here are some more true movies! :)
Check out the previous posts here:
Top 10 True Movies: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2016/05/top-10-true-movies.html
More True Movies: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2017/07/more-true-movies.html
Trigger warning:
As with the other posts, most of the films are based on crimes (often murder or abuse) and I
realise these are difficult subjects, so read with caution if you're
sensitive to these type of films.
Unless otherwise stated videos are trailers. Please note that post contains spoilers. :)
Till Murder Do Us Part (1992)
Also known as A Woman Scorned and Her Final Fury: Betty Broderick's Last Chapter, this is based on
the story of Californian woman Betty Broderick (played by Meredith Baxter), who is bitter and angry after her husband,
lawyer Dan (Stephen Collins) divorces her and marries his legal assistant Linda Kolkena (Michelle Johnson, who also had a small part in Death Becomes Her).
Their marriage
has been troubled for a long time and Betty suspected Dan of cheating with Linda, but after the divorce
Betty's behaviour becomes increasingly erratic. This is especially
upsetting for her and Dan's 4 children. She rants about Dan and Linda, and
behaves strangely around the kids. Things go from bad to worse, culminating in Betty becoming so enraged she breaks into Dan and Linda's
house and shoots them both in their beds.
This is a
two-parter. The first part (originally titled a Woman Scorned) concentrates on the breakdown of Betty and Dan's
marriage and Betty's personal breakdown, ending with the murder of Linda
and Dan. The second part (Her Final Fury) deals with the trial and is also seen from the
point of view of the prosecuting lawyer, herself a mum.
Watch the film on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrjS_2Guiyg
Update 12/3/22: The video above is now gone but here's a trailer:
Till Murder Do Us Part shows Betty behaving irrationally and harassing Dan and Linda, but it is revealed in court that Dan hasn't treated her so well in the past, saying horrible things to her and it seems likely that was involved with Linda before they divorced. She also claims that Dan and Linda deliberately wound her up.
The murders happened in November 1989 , two days before Betty's 42nd birthday. Her first trial ended with a hung jury but at the second in December 1991, she was convicted of 2 second degree murder counts and sentenced to 32 years to life in prison. Betty was diagnosed with Narcissistic Personality Disorder and it was thought that this contributed to her actions. As of 2019 she is still serving her sentence, having been denied parole twice.
Read more about the case here:
Original article written in 1990: https://www.latimes.com/la-me-broderick3jun0390-story.html
Betty Broderick Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Broderick
Woman With a Past (1992)
The
story of Dee Johnson (played by Pamela Reed) who has a comfortable life with
her husband Mike (Dwight Schultz) and her sons Todd and Brian (played by Adam Faraizl who also appeared as Eddie in IT ) and Nick Stahl) from her first
marriage. But her life is turned upside down when her past catches up
with her and she is arrested for escaping from prison.
As Dee
explains what happened to Mike and her boys, we learn the story of her past
life as Virgina (Ginny) Porter- how she lived in a trailer park with her
abusive first husband and father of her sons Wayne (Richard Lineback) in West Virginia, who then kidnapped
Todd and Brian after they separated.
Desperate to find them, Ginny
never gave up the search, becoming involved with an old friend Merle (Paul Le Mat) who
said he could help her. After paying a private detective who Merle put her
in touch with, Ginny ran out of money and she and Merle turned robbery to get
more. Still failing to find her sons, Ginny slipped into alcoholism and Merle
left her. She attempted to rob a jewellery shop on her own while drunk, got
arrested and was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Bu that wasn't
the end of the story. Ginny eventually managed to escape one day while on work release and and
went to California, where she made herself over and started a new life as an estate agent. After
she'd married Mike, she managed to track Wayne down and he let her take their sons back. But
she always has to watch her back as a fugitive, and now the life she has
built up is danger of tumbling down.
Watching this you really sympathise with Ginny/Dee (at least I do!) even though she has broken the law. She was just trying to do what was best for her children. The verdict seemed a bit harsh to me but I suppose the judge couldn't her let get away with escaping from prison. I won't give everything away but you can find a summary on the IMDB page!
I think the real Dee was Kay Smith. I found a couple of articles online but unfortunately I can't access them due to GDPR regulations. :( If you're outside of the EU (despite the Brexit mess the UK is still in the EU currently, and some of us never wanted to come out in the first place!), you should be able to view the LA Times article here: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-02-23-vw-244-story.html
Note: I can access some LA Times articles such as the Betty Broderick story (see above), but not others.
Update 12/3/22: I am able to access the above link now!
Texas Justice (1995)
This is a TV mini series based on the book Blood Will Tell: The Murder Trials of T. Cullen Davies
by Gary Cartwright, which tells the story of Texas oil heir T. Cullen Davis (played by Peter Strauss) who was accused of murdering his
ex-wife's 12 year old daughter Andrea (played by Hayley Miller) in August 1976. Priscilla (Heather Locklear) was Cullen's second wife and she had previously been married
twice. She also had another daughter, Dee from her first marriage.
At
the time of the murder Priscilla and Cullen had separated and were going
through a divorce. Priscilla claimed that Cullen had abused her. It was
ruled by a judge that Priscilla was allowed to stay in their mansion
and receive money from Cullen for living and legal expenses. She had a new
boyfriend Stan Farr (Brad Leland) who was living with her. On 2nd August Andrea was
in the house by herself when she was shot by an intruder. Priscilla and
Stan came back home and were both shot as well. Stan died but Priscilla
managed to escape. Family friends Beverly Bass and Bubba Gavrel arrived at the house and Bubba was shot. He survived but was paralysed.
Priscilla
told police that the killer was Cullen dressed in black and wearing a
wig. He was tried for Andrea's murder and found not guilty. Two years later
he was tried again and also accused of hiring a hitman to kill Priscilla, the judge in charge of the divorce case, and several other people. He
was found not guilty again.
This is just so sad, and you see how heartbroken Priscilla is, especially because she never gets justice or closure. It seems quite amazing to me (not in a good way) that Cullen got away with it, at the very least not being charged for attempting to hire a hitman. It shows how unbalanced the justice system can be. Of course we can't know for sure that it was him but the evidence does seem to indicate that he was involved in some way. Read more about the real life case here: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/48-hours-cullen-davis-case-mansion-murders-did-a-texas-millionaire-get-away-with-brutal-double-killing/
Here's an article about Cullen from March 2000 when he was living in Colleyville, Texas with his 3rd wife Karen and had a new life as a devout Christian and skin cream salesman!: https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/blood-will-sell/
Random fact: Peter Strauss is married to Rachel Ticotin who played Sandra in Falling Down, which I featured in the 2013 post More Films I Like.
Fifteen and Pregnant (1998)
The story of Tina Spangler (played by Kirsten Dunst) who becomes pregnant at 15 by her boyfriend Ray Wood (Daniel Kountz). This sends shockwaves through Tina's family, her parents Evie (Park Overall, and Cal (David Andrews) who separated after he had an affair, and her younger sister Rachel (Julia Whelan) and brother Adam (Zach Sherman/Zachary Ray Sherman). With little support from Ray, Tina decides to keep the baby and turns to her family to help her be the best mum she can.
Fifteen and Pregnant was 11 years before the popular reality show, 16 and Pregnant, its spin off Teen Mom and the newer series Unexpected. And before this there was also Daddy/High School and Pregnant in the late 80s, which I featured in my More True Movies post. It shows the reality of teen pregnancy. The film ends after Tina has given birth to her son, so you don't get to see how she coped as a young mum.
For a look at life as a teenage single mother also based on a true story, check out the 1997 movie When Innocence Is Lost starring Keri Russell. (May write more about that one in a future post!).
Video Voyeur: The Susan Wilson Story (2002)
Susan Wilson (Angie Harmon) moves back to her hometown with her husband Gary (Dale Midkiff) and their kids. At first their next door neighbour Steve Glover (played by Jamey Sheridan who is also the dad in one my fave Christmas films, All I Want For Christmas!) seems nice and friendly, helping them all settle in. But it soon becomes clear that he's overfriendly and more than a little obsessed with Susan.
She and her family are horrified when they discover that he's been secretly video taping them in private moments. They seek justice but have a fight on their hands, since videotaping people without their consent is not currently a crime in their state of Louisiana.
In Video Voyeur you see how violated the family (and Susan in particular) feel. Her teenage daughter is also really affected. Your home is somewhere you're supposed to be safe but Steve has taken that away.
This was quite a landmark case at the time (1999). Nowadays it seems strange that videoing people without their knowledge or permission wasn't a crime, but times have changed and with the internet and smartphones a part of everyday life we need to have strict laws on virtual/online stalking.
For an article on the real life case visit this link: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/making-video-voyeurism-a-crime/
I saved this article on the story a while ago but
Jodi Arias: Dirty Little Secret (2013)
Jodi Arias (Tania Raymonde) meets Travis Alexander (Jesse Lee Soffer) at a conference in Las Vegas where he is a speaker, and they sleep together. They start casually dating and Jodi even moves from Palm Desert, California to Mesa, Arizona to be with Travis. But it soon becomes clear that she's more invested in the relationship than he is- Travis just doesn't seem to see her as wife material and has always imagined himself settling down with a Mormon girl. Jodi feels rejected and sick of being treated like Travis' "dirty little secret", while he is bothered by her becoming more possessive.
The couple break up and Travis starts dating a Mormon friend, Katie (Leah Pipes). But Jodi doesn't want to let him go and starts stalking both him and Katie. Things escalate but when Jodi drops in on Travis one night to tell him she's moving back to California, they agree to put things behind them and be friends. However, one thing leads to another, and they end up in bed together again. The next morning while Travis is in the shower, Jodi finds a text from Katie on his phone, and it pushes her over the edge when she realises he still doesn't want anything serious with her, leading her to murder.
I first watched this in 2013 I think, when we'd just got Lifetime* in the UK and they showed a load of true movies. While the murder happened in 2008, Jodi wasn't sentenced until 2015, and I think when I've seen the film more recently (after 2013) they've updated the end credits to reflect that. Jodi was initially found guilty of first-degree murder but the jury was undecided about whether she should receive a death sentence or life in prison. She was given a life sentence in 2015. The case was very high profile and closely followed in the media.
Although of course Jodi committed a crime, I did feel a bit sorry for her, at least
the Jodi that was portrayed in the film because Travis just didn't seem to
value her and kept stringing her along. They both seemed addicted to each
other.
Read more about the real story and its similarities to the Lifetime movie here: https://www.today.com/popculture/true-or-false-lifetime-takes-liberties-jodi-arias-movie-6C10345062
I watched a documentary on this last year called Jodi Arias: An American Murder Mystery. I think the film was quite true to the real-life case, even down to the way Jodi acted in the police interview room when left alone. One of the bizarre things about this is that she had been photographing Travis just before she killed him, and there were some pictures of him after she shot and stabbed him.
You can watch a video of Dr. Drew (of Teen Mom fame!) analysing Jodi's behaviour here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGHhg-gj7PM
*12/3/22: I got an antivirus warning when clicking this link, I think it's because the Lifetime UK site is now gone.
Hope you enjoyed the post! :) There's more I could write about but I'll leave them for another time. What are your favourite true movies?
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