And Never Let Her Go

To those who have not followed the Anne Marie Fahey Murder case. You are missing out one of the saddest yet complicated murder of all. The murderer is popular Delaware attorney, Tom Capano and the victim is the Delaware Governor's Scheduling Secretary, Anne Marie Fahey. Their relationship was a well-kept secret until her disappearance and murder. She wanted to leave him but he just wouldn't let her go so easily. On the other hand, he had a mistress and a wife and four daughters. Where did he find the time to have two mistresses and a domestic family life? Besides, the case is extremely complicated and fascinating for a four hour mini series. While the actress who plays Ms. Fahey does a fine job, she does not have her dark long hair. His other mistress is definitely more attractive than the actual woman. Mark Harmon is better looking and does an Emmy award winning performance as Tom Capano. It would be better with actual Delaware and Philadelphia locations. With Ann Rule's executive producing, she adds accuracy to Anne Marie's characteristic of organization and her personal battle with an eating disorder. These bits of information might be overlooked by any other executive producer or director. If you have not read the book, it is well worth it. Ann Rule is a fascinating storyteller of true crime. It is ironic that Mark Harmon plays Tom Capano. He also played Ann Rule's former friend and subject, Ted Bundy in an another book adaptation many years ago. He was brilliant then and now. He does an above average job with an amazing story. Even President CLinton offered his assistance in the Anne Marie Fahey case. And now, the former Governor Tom Carper is now the United States Senator for Delaware who defeated longtime, popular incumbent Senator Richard Roth in the November 2000 election. IF you don't think the movie is interesting, then the read Rule's book.

I can see where the other review could be coming from when they viewed this mini-series. However, I can't stress more that you should read the book by Ann Rule. There have been at least two other books published on this case, "Fatal Embrace" and "Summer Wind", and none of these authors have ever doubted that Tom Capano was guilty of murdering Anne-Marie Fahey. There is just too much evidence, circumstantial and otherwise. If the case interested you, do yourself a favor and buy the book. Don't buy the above reviewer's opinion that this trial was solely in the prosecution's favor. It's extremely difficult to prosecute a murder charge without a body, which is exactly what the state did. There's a reason Tom Capano is sitting on death row. He deserves it.

But it's very good. It's a notch above the average fare in this genre. You do have to remember it's just a made for television movie - or miniseries to be more exact. About three and one half hours running time.

And no, it's not going to have the continuity of a 'real' movie, not with it's continual fade outs for barrages of advertisements.

But given that the genre is severely handicapped - and that interest in features such as this is most often rather prurient, this one does very well.

Harmon is so good he's really disgusting and you really get to hate him by the end. Too bad for Mark: it's going to be hard to get glamorous movies where he can cut to the chase with Meg after things like this and the Bundy one.

Rachel Ward is simply excellent; Morris is very convincing; they're all very good and the screen writing is above average too, as is the camera work.

It's a very tragic and very gripping story and well worth the time spent to view it.

I have to say I'm a little put out by the first review I read here which sort of blames the victim.

First of all, Anne Marie Fahey wasn't cheating on her boyfriend. She met him and broke it off with Capano, who continued to harass her.

Secondly, it wouldn't matter if she HAD cheated on her boyfriend, had an affair with a married man, or threw a rock through his window -- she didn't deserve to be murdered.

Okay, that's out of the way. I know a little about the Anne Marie Fahey case from news shows; also, Capano just died last year of cardiac arrest. Capano's death sentence was commuted to life - I can't remember why -- but his life turned out to be fairly short.

Mark Harmon is Thomas Capano, the man with everything - position, money, a beautiful family, a mother who doted on him, and two brothers who depended on him. The family was dysfunctional but that's beside the point. He had a lot going for him.

When he met the shy Anne Marie Fahey, she fell into his trap immediately and believed that he and his wife didn't have much of a marriage (though the film doesn't mention it, he seems to have either been separated from her or have been in the process of separation when he met Fahey).

First it was friendship, then it was love, and then she couldn't get rid of him. When she started seeing a psychiatrist, met someone else, and fell in love, Capano wouldn't let her go. Then she disappeared.

In the meantime, he had another longstanding girlfriend, played by Rachel Ward.

It took a while to bring Capano to justice, as he was a smart attorney as well as arrogant, and he felt that he was above the law.

This is an excellent story, and Mark Harmon is so darn handsome and charming, you can understand why someone, be it a girlfriend, a wife, or a family member, would believe everything he says. Kathryn Morris was just right for Anne Marie (although I think she looked different physically from the real Anne Marie), playing her as shy, frail, and confused.

Unfortunately if you follow true crime shows, there are just too many of this type of case, where murder seems to be the solution of choice -- the Scott Peterson and Drew Peterson cases come to mind, as well as others. "And Never Let Her Go" is a very sad story, about a girl from a loving family who wanted to meet Mr. Right, fell for Mr. Wrong, and paid the price.

I thought this movie did a good job of telling a very sad story that was told in Ann Rule's book of the same title. The movie as well as the book, and more importantly Anne Marie Fahey's life, conveys the ever important lesson, of self acceptance and love. I was very sad when the story of Annn Marie Fahey first became public. There was something so very sad and beautiful about her. It was disturbing that all her secrets were made public in the book and movie, something I think none of us would want for ourselves. I think that it is so important then, that those of us who look at this story, take away a gratitute to the life that was lost, and learn the lesson, to let no one make us feel we deserve to be manipulated and berated as Tom Capano did to Ann Marie Fahey.

We simply can not just watch this as "entertainment" but rather as a labor of love from all who knew and loved Anne Marie. For any of us to make any kind of judgements such as "bux" did, is indeed an indication that we miss the true point of why this movie was made.