Murder at 75 Birch (1999) (TV)

Director:

Michael Scott

Writers (WGA):

Richard T. Pienciak (book)
Dan Levine (teleplay) ...

Release Date:

9 February 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Thriller

Plot:

Fact-based story about a woman (Melissa Gilbert) who aids the police in exposing her brother-in-law (Gregory Harrison), who is a suspect in the murder of his wife and in staging a burglary to cover up the murder.

Plot Keywords:

Based On Book

Cast

Melissa Gilbert	...	Gwen Todson
Gregory Harrison	...	Rick Todson
Vyto Ruginis	...	Dave Todson
Wendel Meldrum	...	Pat Todson
Jack Blessing	...	Detective Todd Holman
Judith Scott	...	Detective Carter
Melissa Pace	...	Carla Forest
Liliana Cabal	...	Maggie Barrows (as Lilliana Cabal)
Bill Mondy	...	Stan
Courtnie Bull	...	Erica Todson
Kelsi Copier	...	Tracy Todson
Anne Cullimore Decker	...	Pat's Mother
Jesse Bennett	...	Pat's Father
Thom Dillon	...	Doctor
Marjorie Hilton	...	Gwen's Mother

Also Known As:

Murder at 75 Birch Street (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

86 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

UK:12

Filming Locations:

Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

Company:

Nicki Film Productions

Trivia:

The story was inspired by the 1986 murder of Betty Wolsieffer, who was killed by her husband Glen, a Pennsylvania dentist.

Don't smoke in the car.

Pat is married to a handsome dentist named Rick. They live with their daughter Tracy across the street from Rick's little brother Dave, his wife Gwen and their 7-year old daughter Erica. One morning Rick is found badly beaten in his kitchen and Pat is in the bedroom, dead. Gwen follows the police officers to learn that Rick is under suspicion for killing Pat, but Rick claims he is innocent and that a burglar had broken in and attacked him. After Dave reveals a secret to Gwen (Which we don't get to hear the secret until later) he dies in a car accident while trying to light a cigarette. Gwen and Rick lean on each other for support, but when he tries to cross the line, she backs away and he asks her to move to Montana with him since his practice is going down the drains, but then she finds out that she isn't the only one he has asked to move to Montana with him. Gregory Harrison looks stunning as always and portrays Rick perfectly as the town playboy Rick, but somewhere in the middle of the movie you just start to hate his character because he is so smug and he sleeps around, cheats on his wife every 5 minutes and then tells her about it too, acts like God's gift to women (He is though...)and then makes a pass at his sister in law! Melissa Gilbert does a great job as Gwen, but the whole grieving widow gig didn't last too long.The whole plot unfortunately wasn't a murder mystery because you can guess who the killer is in the first 20 minutes of the film. There are way too many flashbacks revealing the plot too quickly, and the whole murder didn't make much sense.