A Matter of Justice

I just finished watching this movie on Lifetime. I must have seen it 15 or 20 times, but it is truly one of those movies that seems to get better each time. Patty Duke, and the program itself, were not only robbed of Emmys, but also of nominations. It is an ongoing injustice with the TV Academy. A miracle of some sorts was made with this movie. It was produced in the middle of the true crime tv-movie phase, where one movie looked like another, but this one stands apart on its own.

If you are a fan of Ms. Duke's or of real gutsy characters, check this one out!

A matter of Justice is an excellent movie featuring outstanding performances by Patty Duke, Martin Sheen, and Charles S Dutton. The true tragic events the story centers around were dramatized to make the movie a little more interesting, instead of making up scenes the director should have spent time on facts. The glaring mistakes to me are the military prison which could have been better represented, and the NIS scene. She calls it Naval Intelligence Service, actually it was called Naval Investigative Service, until 1996 when it became NCIS. Overall the movie contains excellent performances by the leading and supporting actors, Hollywood could spend a little time working on a remake to fix small mistakes.

I say this because(for a long variety of reasons) I do not often care for TV movies, or take them very seriously. I'm not saying that this was a huge exception to the rule, but I suppose there have been worse.

Patsy Duke, Martin Sheen and Jason London are the loving Brown family, who live happily in the South until son Christopher(London)joins the army. It is there that he meets Dusty(Alexandra Powers)and they fall in love and get married, even though Ma and Pa Brown know that Dusty is bad news. And she does turn out to be. Money-hungry and selfish, Dusty ends up creepily killing Christopher for his money. She pretends she played no part in it, even though Ma Brown knows the truth(how? She just knows), and because of that, she gets money and full custody of Chris's and her daughter, Christine. Ma and Pa Brown are furious. They don't care about the money, but they know that if Christine is left alone with Dusty than she won't be properly cared for. Thus begins their brave struggle to capture Dusty, who goes on the lam after Ma and Pa try to fight her, and let their granddaughter have a little love from them.

The story is pretty stereotypical, complete with court room scenes, femme fatals and the whole bit, and Mrs. Duke and Mr. Sheen's Southern accents are well, grating, but the script is fairly entertaining, and in the course of seeing this twice, I was intrigued the first time(I was also 11 or something)and simply more entertained the second time. At least it has staying power.

Patty Duke plays an amazing character who will stop at nothing to see her son's murderer brought to justice and to gain custody of her grandchild.

Duke does the role complete justice. No matter what gets in the mother's way, she is not stymied. Her eye never veers from the ultimate goal, and she keeps at it until she wins, channeling the anger over her son's death into positive action. You truly root for her all the way.

Patty Duke has made so many TV movies that it's sometimes difficult to sort them out. But her work is always outstanding and usually, so are the films. I sometimes wonder if that's because of her or if the stories are really that good - I think it's a combination. She has excellent taste in roles.

One of the reviews mentioned that she was robbed of another Emmy. In my opinion, she has been robbed of many. She is always worth watching.

This TV two-parter is actually very well made. The casting is really good. I find no real fault with the performances. I've been a fan of Sheen since The Subject Was Roses, and Duke has been a TV staple for a reason...she's more than a fine actor. Even the music adds a nice touch, as do the efforts of all others who worked behind the scenes.

You'll find some great reviews on IMDb, so I won't add much more. I will say, however, that it's important to remember that all those TV movies allegedly based on a true story so popular in the 80s and 90s did not adhere to the facts 100%. It's television, for God's sake; and television, my friends is NOT reality.

This led me to do some internet research about the case. What's kind of a tell-tale sign of the perpetrator's true character is what transpired after her release from prison. Her legal troubles did not end with her initial convictions of conspiracy to commit murder and murder in the second degree. Several other charges were levied against her afterwards unrelated to the murder case. The woman was obviously troubled and damaged.

It's my hope that the surviving daughter of the murder victim is living a healthy, happy life with a family that she can call her own.

Worth a watch if you're into these kinds of TV crime dramas that are "based on a true story".