Murder One (1988)

User Rating:

5.3/10   

Director:

Graeme Campbell

Writer:

Fleming B. Fuller (writer)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Murder One... and the rest come easy

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Rape Scene | Restaurant | Gun | Road | Youth

Cast

Henry Thomas	...	Billy Isaacs
James Wilder	...	Carl Isaacs
Stephen Shellen	...	Wayne Coleman
Errol Slue	...	George Dungee
Susan Bayliss	...	Mary
Warren Van Evera	...	Ned
Roger Barnes	...	Jerry
David MacKay	...	Jimmy
John Fox	...	Aubrey
John Lefebvre	...	Shuggie (as John LeFebvre)
Peter Faussett	...	Richard
Tracy Brett	...	Cheri
Kirsten Kieferle	...	Lori
Tim Burd	...	Angel
Kim Bourne	...	Sylvia

Runtime:

Spain:84 min | USA:82 min

Country:

USA | Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Canada:R (Ontario) | Australia:R | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Company:

M-One

Soundtrack:

CRAZY

As a southwest Georgian, not impressed

I grew up 20 miles from where those murders were committed. I am anti-death penalty. But if anyone ever deserved to be executed, it was Carl Isaacs. He and his friends murdered 5 unsuspecting men and 1 pregnant woman who was also raped her and left her to die in an ant bed. All were members of the Alday family of Seminole Co., GA.

Even into the late 1980's (the murders took place in 1973), he said that the only way the Aldays "stood out" was "being killed by me." His frequent use of descriptions like "rednecks" and "backwoods" to describe the innocent and unsuspecting people that he and his friends murdered as well as their survivors, only added to salt to the deep wounds of an entire community. For 30 years, through appeals, not on grounds of innocence but on technicalities, a town of 2,800 people was forced to continue to pay for administrative costs during the many court procedures introduced on behalf of an admitted and unrepentant murderer. Meanwhile, because the men of the family were all executed by Isaacs and his gang, the surviving widows and children saw their lives fall into bankruptcy because they couldn't farm their land alone. For them, the pain of those events from that night lasted not just that one night, but for 30 years.

This movie's depiction of local people played right into Carl's description. Instead of showing good, decent, honest, hard-working, community-building people, they show a goober type of fellow waving stupidly from a tractor as a Isaacs and his gang drove by.

The movie doesn't spend much time on the Aldays, the only innocent people in this movie. Instead, it almost seems to invite sympathy for people who either murdered and raped or served as accomplices to all crimes committed on that fateful night.