[Full Movie] Murder in the Heartland (ABC, 1993) - Tim Roth, Fairuza Balk
[Full Movie] Murder in the Heartland (ABC, 1993) - Tim Roth, Fairuza Balk
Murder in the Heartland is a television miniseries that aired on ABC in 1993. It was based on the 1957–58 murder spree carried out by 19-year-old Charles Starkweather throughout Nebraska and Wyoming. Starkweather is played by Tim Roth. The first half of the miniseries covers the murders. The second half covers the trials of Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate, his 14-year-old girlfriend accomplice. Their increasingly disparate versions of events are contrasted as the trials unfold.
The film received strong praise from critics and Emmy nominations.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_in_the_Heartland
- the whole miniseries in one video (the link from above): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zS0E2m1qm04
- another copy - part 1 of the miniseries: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkCyzL8m9oE
- another copy - part 2 of the miniseries: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOkWB33RTtw
This was pretty good, for a TV movie/miniseries. It was done in what later became the "Law and Order" fashion; first showing the crime being committed, the perps getting busted, then the trial. The script apparently sticks fairly closely to the "true story" it's based on, but there are a couple Rashomon-like flashbacks that differ based on who's recalling things.
But it really stands out in terms of acting. Tim Roth (Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Rob Roy) does a great job of rendering a character who is easygoing, charismatic, and unpredictably vile. Fairuza Balk (The Craft, American History X) is someone I always thought should have been an even bigger star; she must have been like 18 at time of shooting and did an excellent job of portraying a 14-year old's conflicting emotions and reactions to extreme trauma. Plus she always has some amazing/hilarious facial expressions.
Randy Quaid, Brian Dennehy, and Renee Zellwegger are among the supporting cast. Dennehy and the cinematographer got Emmy nominations.
Fairuza Balk playing a catgirl in The Island of Doctor Moreau made me realize weird things as a teen boy.
She has a brief but memorable part (slightly NSFW) in Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans you may be interested in if you haven't seen it.
Nice. Just been watching Tim Roth in Last King Of The Cross, and I was thinking I should hunt down some of his classic stuff.
Check out "Made in Britain", his first role from 1982: