A Death of Innocence

This story is an interesting portrait of a really evil young lady and what makes it more interesting is that it's seen through the eyes of her very naive parents. The story begins with the parents (Shelly Winters and John Randolph) flying to New York City to meet with a lawyer (Arthur Kennedy). It seems their daughter Buffy (Tisha Sterling) is being held for murder and the parents are absolutely positive it's all a misunderstanding, as their sweet girl never could have done anything so wretched. However, through the course of the film, the mother starts to see another side to her daughter--a side that seems far more concerned about her boyfriend (also charged with murder) and whose biggest concern is what her parents can buy her!

This is an excellent film and it is an excellent look at what would no doubt be considered a Depent Personality with Antisocial features (or, possibly an Antisocial AND Dependent Personality). I used to be a psychotherapist and unfortunately worked with many people like this. Such a person is an individual whose sole concern is the person they depend upon---other things just aren't important. What their partner wants or demands, they do. And, since they also are antisocial (since they lack a conscience), they don't mind using or killing someone in order to keep the person loving them. In essence, if the man (or woman in many other cases) says 'kill'....they do, lest they lose the man because they disobeyed! Sick? Absolutely...and absolutely detestable. But the way the film let this out slowly and showing the mother's reaction...that what made this a very special made for TV movie. Very well done and chilling to see a murderer with this little regard for her actions.