The Preppie Murder (TV 1989)

This is the story of a young woman who was found dead. Now the police investigate, and evidence points to a man she was seen leaving a party with. Now when questioned, he claims that her ... See full summary »

Director:

John Herzfeld

Writers:

Irv Roud (story), John Herzfeld (teleplay),

Stars:

Danny Aiello, William Baldwin, Joanna Kerns

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Danny Aiello	...	Det. Mike Sheehan
William Baldwin	...	Robert Chambers
Joanna Kerns	...	Linda Fairstein
Lara Flynn Boyle	...	Jennifer Levin
Dorothy Fielding	...	Phyllis Chambers
James Handy	...	Detective Joe Brady Quinn
William Devane	...	Jack Litman
Allan Arbus	...	Arnold Domenitz, Grandfather
Christine Healy	...	Ellen Levin, Mother
Herb Mitchell	...	Robert Chambers Sr.
J.C. Quinn	...	Jack Dorrian
Alan Blumenfeld
Thalmus Rasulala	...	Judge Bell
Alan Rosenberg	...	Dan Levin, Uncle
David Spielberg	...	Steven Levin, Father

Storyline

This is the story of a young woman who was found dead. Now the police investigate, and evidence points to a man she was seen leaving a party with. Now when questioned, he claims that her death was accidental, as a result of rough sex. Now her family doesn't believe this, so they press the district attorney's office to try him for murder, but he has a good lawyer who plays his defense right down to putting the dead girl on trial.

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Plot Keywords:

death | sex | trial | murder | police | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English French

Release Date:

24 September 1989 (USA)

Also Known As:

Asesinato en Central Park

Company Credits

Production Co:

Jack Grossbart Productions, Preppie Productions, Spectacor Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

"Wicked Game" by Chris Isaak is featured in several scenes, including discos and Robert playing it in his bedroom, but the song was not released until 1989, 3 years after the murder.

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Connections

Features A Current Affair (1986)

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Soundtracks

"Wrap It Up"
Performed by The Fabulous Thunderbirds

User Reviews

She's awkward! She's gauche! She's Lara Flynn Boyle!

She (Boyle) is a nice, pretty girl but needs a little polish; he (Billy Baldwin) wears shirts by Ralph Lauren. You can see there's trouble a-brewing.

This movie is probably, unfortunately, of greatest interest for The World of Hibernia magazine cover girl Boyle before she developed her familiar sexy vamp persona. In fact, she seems like an older version of some of those early hair-twisting Winona Ryder characters. Her part is really only of newcomer size. That's sad to say since Boyle's Before and After are so different from one another.

As for Baldwin, he plays a plausible prep perp. Sandra Bullock has rather a small part, as the girl with the ankh earring. Not much of a characterization there.

This crime story plays much like a lesser, and fairly routine, episode of "Law & Order", with Danny Aiello standing in for Jerry Orbach and Joanna Kerns doing a blonder version of Michael Moriarty.

Aiello's experienced flatfoot is the central character. The script tries to humanize him, not entirely successfully, by showing his "pedagogic" side I'll call it. That gives him a certain degree of warmth, but it's really up to Aiello to lend the role his usual identifiability.

I think it all comes down to how much you like Danny Aiello. It happens I do, but don't consider that a recommendation.