Murder in Greenwich (2002)

The story of Martha Moxley, 15 year old girl murdered in Greenwich in the 1970's, her murder going unsolved for 25 years.

Director:

Tom McLoughlin

Writers:

Mark Fuhrman (book), Dave Erickson (teleplay) (as David Erickson)

Stars:

Christopher Meloni, Robert Forster, Maggie Grace

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Christopher Meloni	...	Mark Fuhrman
Robert Forster	...	Steve Carroll
Maggie Grace	...	Martha Moxley
Toby Moore	...	Tommy Skakel
Jon Foster	...	Michael Skakel
Andrew Robertt	...	Stephen Weeks (as Andrew Mitchell)
Liddy Holloway	...	Dorothy Moxley
Theresa Healey	...	Hildy Southerlyn
Michael Saccente	...	Dr. Baden
James Beaumont	...	Robert Mathers
Carolyn Bock	...	Caroline Fuhrman
Sally Martin	...	Charity Foster
Renée Ellwood	...	Lucy Duke (as Renee Ellwood)
Tim Adam	...	Morris Banks
Bruce Hopkins	...	Lancaster

Storyline

In 1974, the teenager Martha Moxley moves to the high-class area of Belle Haven, Greenwich, Connecticut. On the Mischief Night, eve of Halloween, she was murdered in the backyard of her house and her murder remained unsolved. Twenty-two years later, the writer Mark Fuhrman, who is a former LA detective that has fallen in disgrace for perjury in O.J. Simpson trial and moved to Idaho, decides to investigate the case with his partner Stephen Weeks with the purpose of writing a book. The locals squirm and do not welcome them, but with the support of the retired detective Steve Carroll that was in charge of the investigation in the 70's, they discover the criminal and a net of power and money to cover the murder.

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Plot Keywords:

murder | 1970s | mischief night | investigation | death | 

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Taglines:

Money built walls around the truth. One man knocked them down.

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Genres:

Crime | Mystery | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some violent images

Details

Official Sites:

USA Network

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 November 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

Dominick Dunne Presents: Murder in Greenwich

Filming Locations:

Auckland, New Zealand

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia TriStar Domestic Television,Bernard Sofronski Productions,Carlton America

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

The real identities of several of the protagonists are replaced with pseudonyms in this adaptation. These include: - The Skakel family tutor/supervisor, Ken Littleton (in the film called Morris Banks); - The Moxley's neighbor, briefly suspected of the murder, Ed Hammond (Rob Mathers); - The Skakel family relations whose house several of the Skakel brothers visited that night, the Terrians, including Jimmy Dowdle/Terrian (The Morgans / Larry Morgan); - The family who lived across the street from the Moxleys, the Ix family (the Fosters), in particular Mildred "Cissy" Ix (Constance Foster) and Martha's friend Helen Ix (Charity Foster); - The 11-year old who accompanied Martha and Helen while they listened to music with Michael Skakel in the Lincoln, Geoffrey Byrne (in the film called Paul Joyce, and made a similar age to Martha and Helen/Charity, with whom he "makes out" in the back seat of the Lincoln, contrary to real life events); - Skakel family gardener Franz "Frank" Wittine (Alex Grafton); - Jim McKenzie, a Great Lakes Carbon junior lawyer who "babysits" the Skakel children following the discovery of Martha's body and prior to Rushton Skakel's return (Jackson O'Connor). In addition, the character of Hildy Southerlyn in the film is a fictional device, enabling the introduction of information from several real-life sources. Similarly, Martha's "best friend" Lucy Duke is a fictitious character, probably representing an amalgamation of Christy Kalan, Tory Fuchs and Margie Walker.

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Goofs

There is steam from electric trains in the train station scene.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Martha Moxley: My name is Martha Moxley. My friends call me "Mox"
[laughs]
Martha Moxley: . In 1974, my family moved to Belle Haven, which is in Greenwich, which is in Connecticut. It was the richest neighborhood in the richest town in the richest country in the world.
[pause]
Martha Moxley: This was our house in Walsh Lane. And across the street, over on Otter Rock Drive, that's where the Skakels lived. They were our neighbors, they were rich and they were Kennedys.
[pause]
Martha Moxley: This was the morning after Mischief Night, we called ...
[...]

User Reviews

A strained, choppy true tale of a cold murder case re-examined

Murder in Greenwich (2002)

A movie that tries too hard and isn't all that well made, but got some attention because of it's very high profile story, based on true events in Greenwich, Connecticut. Not recommended, especially given all the other movies in this genre that are much better. Kennedy family obsessors might enjoy it for how it depicts various known people.

The most famous character of all is the ex-police officer who blows into town to solve a two decade old unsolved crime: Mark Fuhrman. I'm guessing anyone under forty won't know this guy--he was a cop who was in the middle of the O.J. Simpson trial and later was convicted a perjury. This is years later and Fuhrman is a relentless, and tactless, private investigator who is basically hated by everyone, even, at times, himself (he seems weirdly unhappy as played by Christopher Meloni).

So, that's the whole package. Because it's actually a straight forward cold case kind of situation, the movie tries to mix it up a bit with flashbacks and with a corny voice-over by the victim, who faces the camera. The cinematography is competent--and in fact the basic "look" of the movie is one of its moderate strengths--but the editing is awkward at times. Certainly the story itself gets unwieldy fast, with a lot of characters and a seeming presumption that the view might know who many of these people are beforehand.

Not me. But I hung in there and saw the shenanigans of these very rich people as they squirrel their thoughts and testimonies and the detective bulldozes his way into the old and creaky facts. Eventually someone is nailed--though there is debate (to this day) about whether the right person went to jail. It's not all that enjoyable watching this movie, there is not a single sympathetic character (including the victim, who is just blonde and bland), and it's a spasmodic experience for the viewer.