Perfect Murder, Perfect Town: JonBenét and the City of Boulder (2000)

Movie based on true events and the novel by Lawrence Schiller (who also directed) about six year old Jonbenet Ramsey and her family on Christmas Day 1996 and the horrible events that would ...

Director:

Lawrence Schiller

Writers:

Lawrence Schiller (book), Tom Topor (teleplay)

Stars:

Kris Kristofferson, Marg Helgenberger, Ronny Cox

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kris Kristofferson	...	Lou Smit
Marg Helgenberger	...	Patsy Ramsey
Ronny Cox	...	John Ramsey
Ken Howard	...	Alex Hunter
John Heard	...	Larry Mason
Peter Friedman	...	Peter Hofstrom
Scott Cohen	...	Steve Thomas
Deirdre Lovejoy	...	Detective Linda Arndt
Sean Whalen	...	Jeff Shapiro
John Rubinstein	...	Rev. Hoverstock
Jane Powell	...	Kit Andre
Dennis Boutsikaris	...	Chief Koby
J.C. MacKenzie
Murphy Guyer	...	John Eller
Margo Martindale

Storyline

Movie based on true events and the novel by Lawrence Schiller (who also directed) about six year old Jonbenet Ramsey and her family on Christmas Day 1996 and the horrible events that would transpire.

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Plot Keywords:

colorado | child murder | adaptation directed by original author | based on true story | based on book | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 February 2000 (USA)

Also Known As:

Crime na Cidade Perfeita

Filming Locations:

Boulder, Colorado, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fox Television Studios, Lawrence Schiller Productions, PMPT Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

178 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

User Reviews

Now let her rest in peace

Since this week has become quite slow at the movies this week I thought I would give my thoughts on the CBS Mini-Series that premiered last weekend. The mini-series is based on the controversial book of the same name detailing an insider's viewpoint of what actually went down. I personally have been following the overwhelming media coverage that is "the JonBenet Ramsey murder case". I have watched and waited to find out the whole story since it broke in Christmas of 1997. An angel left our world that day and I guess I was one of those thousands that wanted someone to blame. Last Sunday night Part One of the mini-series debuted and it was great to see author Lawrence Schiller was the shows producer and director. And he did do a wonderful job with displaying the facts, misunderstandings and rumors that almost crippled the Boulder, Colorado police. From a media perspective we really never saw these people as human beings but as people working to far outside of their means. The tension and factual displays were reminiscent of last year's "The Insider". In some retrospect you could say this film was TV's version. The mini-series wasn't afraid to bring about any of the suspicions or angles on the case which brought for amazing TV. This was a delight after watching such a blatant disregard for the case that Fox displayed in their one-hour special "Getting Away With Murder: The JonBenet Story". I would really be interested to see a fan of murder novels take on this film.

The performances in the film were more in the style of a documentary and made the audience closed to the actual investigation. Well except for Marg Helgenberger's screaming and unbalanced Patsy Ramsey. An enlightening aspect was the side of the story brought forth by Lou Ritt (Kris Kristofferson) who to this day says the Ramsey's are innocent and will do all he can to find the real killer. Have to admire that devotion and honor. The country and most of the police had already convicted the Ramseys. I liked this version of the happenings and its delivery of the facts without banging us over the head that law enforcement let "so-called" parental child killers loose.

Having made the above statements I have noticed that this film has been dogged by critics and the public. Mostly due to people being sickened by the tragedy and not wanting to relive it. All they scream is let the little angel rest in peace. I agree let her rest in peace but it was still nice to see the viewpoint of the police and that they to were victims of the media machine. (3.5 of 5) So Says the Soothsayer