Cruel Doubt (TV 1992)

A college student and two friends are accused of murdering one's stepfather and injuring his mother whom refuses to believe her son had anything to do with the attack.

Director:

Yves Simoneau

Writers:

Joe McGinniss (book), John Gay (teleplay)

Stars:

Blythe Danner, Matt McGrath, Denis Arndt

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Blythe Danner	...	Bonnie Von Stein
Matt McGrath	...	Chris Pritchard
Denis Arndt	...	Leith Von Stein
Adam Baldwin	...	Det. John Taylor
R.D. Call	...	District Attorney Mitchell Norton
Dennis Farina	...	Tom Brereton
Miguel Ferrer	...	Lewis Young
Travis Fine	...	James 'Moog' Upchurch
William Forsythe	...	Police Chief John Crone
Louise Latham	...	Polly Bates
Ben Masters	...	Frank Johnston
Neal McDonough	...	Neal Henderson
John C. McGinley	...	Attorney Jim Vos Burgh
Jim Norton	...	Dr. Billy Royal
Gwyneth Paltrow	...	Angela Pritchard

Storyline

In 1988, North Carolina college student Chris Pritchard is arrested, along with two of his friends, for the murder of Chris' stepfather and brutal beating of his mother. Chris's mother, Bonnie, refuses to believe that Chris had anything to do with the murder, despite mounting evidence about Chris' debauched lifestyle of drugs and video games.

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Plot Keywords:

two part tv movie | based on book

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 May 1992 (USA)

Also Known As:

Doute cruel

Company Credits

Production Co:

NBC Productions, Susan Baerwald Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

187 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

The perpetrators are supposed to be fanatical Dungeons & Dragons players, yet their books and dice are like new rather than worn with play - and the dice set one character plays with is incomplete.

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Connections

Version of Honor Thy Mother (1992)

User Reviews

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Two hours worth of movie in a six-hour package. The screenwriter must have just typed the book verbatim into script. It takes a real effort to make such a riveting true story into such a bland and unprovocative flic. About three quarters of this belonged on the cutting room floor.

Gamers might want to watch it just for the fun of seeing how ineptly the script and prop folks handled Dungeons & Dragons. But other than that, there's not much point.

Another major source of annoyance -- or, in this case, gross-out -- was the way the male lead's nose ran whenever he was distraught. Who wants to watch snot run out this guy's nose?

If you want to learn about the case, read the book.