Martha Behind Bars (2005) (TV)

Director:

Eric Bross

Writer (WGA):

Charles F. Bohl (written by)

Release Date:

25 September 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A dramatization of Martha Stewart's recent trial, and her subsequent five-month prison sentence. |

Plot Keywords:

Sequel | Character Name In Title

Cast

Cybill Shepherd	...	Martha Stewart
Gale Harold	...	Peter Bacanovic
Sabine Singh	...	Lexi Stewart
Jonathan Higgins	...	John Cuti
Alan C. Peterson	...	John Morvillo
David Alpay	...	Douglas Faneuil
Julie Khaner	...	Mariana Pasternak
Lori Hallier	...	Susan Lyne
Jackie Burroughs	...	Big Martha
Alec McClure	...	Kevin Sharkey
Deborah Tennant	...	Ann Armstrong
Robert Verlaque	...	Sam Waksal
Kyra Harper	...	Doris
Karen LeBlanc	...	Joanne (as Karen Leblanc)
Karen Robinson	...	Jackie

Runtime:

120 min (including commercials)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

UK:PG | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Colonel Samuel Smith Park, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS)

Quotes:

Prisoners: Bad girl. Martha was a bad girl. Bad girl, bad girl. Martha was a bad girl. Bad girl, bad girl. Martha was a bad girl.

Movie Connections:

Follows Martha, Inc.: The Story of Martha Stewart (2003) (TV)

Boring crap.

I can only assume that they let this stinker follow Cold Case so as to get viewers who were too lazy to change the channel.

It's the epitome of bad TV-movie making. And above all, it takes itself WAY too seriously.

The way the movie is edited, you'd think halfway through that either (a.)Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jean Claude Van Damme are just going to burst onto the scene and have a nunchaku fight, or (b.) Sam Waterston is going to come crashing through the door with the Law & Order cast behind him. If you watched this thing, you'd think from the proceedings that Martha had gone on a homicidal rampage across three states and killed 97 people. The hilarious dramatics of the trial lawyers are so overdone and melodramatic that it's hard to believe CBS bought this material from whatever hacks wrote it and produced it. Then she's sentenced and the "bells of justice" ring and all this horrid dramatic music in the background, while the actors mug ridiculously in front of the camera. Hack is too kind a word for the writers/producers/directors/actors. You'd have a more interesting film (with better production values) if you watched a Wal-Mart security tape.

It's celebrity sensationalism, and not only that, it's LATE sensationalism. Y'know, it's just too bad that most Americans have such small lives that they have to take such joy in a celebrity's failings. We all sit back on our sofas, smug and secure in the fact that none of us have ever made mistakes. We like seeing a "perfect" celebrity fail. It makes us feel better about our woefully inadequate and unaccomplished lives. Perhaps before you judge bad old spawn of Satan Martha, you ought to look at your own lives.

If this ever comes out on DVD (God forbid) or airs again, do yourself a favor: turn the channel to the first blank channel and watch that instead of this pathetic, sensationalist, libelous, politically-motivated tripe.