Starkweather (2004)

In 1958 Nebraska 19 year old garbageman Charles Starkweather goes on a murder spree with his 14 year old girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate killing 11 people in three months, introducing America to spree killing.

Director:

Byron Werner

Writer:

Stephen Johnston

Stars:

Brent Taylor, Shannon Lucio, Jerry Kroll

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Brent Taylor	...	Charles Starkweather
Shannon Lucio	...	Caril-Ann Fugate
Jerry Kroll	...	Sheriff Merle Karnopp
Lance Henriksen	...	The Mentor
Steven K. Grabowsky	...	The Dark Man
Rodney Ballard	...	Young Charles
George Lindsey Jr.	...	Guy Starkweather
Keir O'Donnell	...	Bob Von Buch
America Young	...	Barbara Fugate
Justin Ipock	...	Bobby Colvert
Al Sapienza	...	Deputy Dale Fahrnbruch
William Knight	...	Robert McClurg
Marianne Emma Jeff	...	Velda Bartlett
Fred Russell	...	Marion Bartlett
Sierra Paris	...	Betty Jean Bartlett

Storyline

Since childhood, Nebraska farm-boy Charles Starkweather has a schizophrenic Mr. Hyde side, a nameless dark figure, who inspires him to be cruel for the kicks. Having grown up to a 19 year old garbageman and fallen in love with weird girl 14 year old girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate, he gets completely out of control, killing of her entire family and various other singles of groups during their ensuing inter-state car-chase, hunted down by sheriff Merle Karnopp and a growing army of cops and press, then unprecedented.

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Plot Keywords:

nebraska | serial killer | father son relationship | road movie | abuse

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Taglines:

Before Dahmer...Before Bundy...He was the most feared.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Horror

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence and some language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 September 2010 (Belgium)

Also Known As:

Gyilkos tinik

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bookmark Pictures, NovelFilms, Starkweather Films LLC

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

Toward the end of the movie when the Sheriff's Deputy in the marked patrol car recognizes Starkweather on the side of the road he turns his emergency lights on and makes a u-turn. Through the back window we see red and blue flashing police lights. In the 1950's police vehicles did not use blue emergency lights.

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Connections

Version of Murder in the Heartland (1993)

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Soundtracks

"No More Sunshine"
Performed by Buddy Lee
Written by Lee Silver

User Reviews

Very low budget film with too many mistakes

First off, I have lived in Lincoln most of my life and I lived through the days of the killings. I know what went on. Now let's get down to the film. This is a very low budget film and it shows in every way possible. You are forever seeing microphones and set people on the screen. The cars are the wrong years. The killings started in December of 1957 and ended in January of 1958, yet the trees and other plants all have green leaves on them even though Nebraska is very cold in winter. They have Lincoln in the desert of what could be Arizona or Nevada while Lincoln is in fact located in typical Midwest farm country and is hundreds of miles from the nearest desert. They show Lincoln as a very small town when it was around 100,000 or more people at the time of the killings. The one real picture of Lincon in the film shows the capital building with fountains in front of it, even though the fountains were put in on what was once 15th street and is now called Centennial Mall many years after the killings. It shows Starkweather being captured in Nebraska by the Lancaster County Sheriff when in fact he was captured near Douglas, Wyoming by local Wyoming law enforcement. I could go on and on. There are just too many mistakes in this movie to list. To it's credit they did get the names and order of events right, but that's about all they got right and that's why I gave it two stars.

The story of the killings does deserve to be told in a movie and one that would be factual and show the fear the killings put in the people who lived though them, but this is not that film. If you want to learn about the killings and what they did to the city just do a web search for the name Charles Starkweather and you will learn the real story. If you want to watch a movie with so many mistakes you'll be laughing at it from beginning to end then watch this movie.