Murder in New Hampshire: The Pamela Smart Story

98 I was a freshman in college when the Pamela Smart trial was all the rage on television, radio, newspapers, etc. I followed the proceedings with great interest, and when the TV film "Murder In New Hampshire" premiered on CBS, I watched with anticipation. I wanted to know what drove this young woman to be so treacherous. For those of you not familiar with this true story, 23 year-old Pamela (Wojas) Smart married her college sweetheart, Greg Smart. They resided in Derry, New Hampshire. Pam's and Greg's parents lived nearby. Exactly one year after Pam and Greg were married, Greg was found dead in the couple's home. He was sprawled out on the carpet, having been brutally shot to death. Pam gets her just desserts as this bizarre (but true)story ends.

What followed was a sad saga. Pamela Smart, who came from a wealthy family and was always popular, arranged the murder of her husband Greg by hiring four teenage boys to proceed with the murder plot. Billy Flynn was 15 years old and was a student at Winnacunnet High School, where Pam was employed as "media director." Pam encouraged Billy, along with teens Raymond Fowler, JR Lattime, and Patrick "Pete" Randall, to murder Greg. Another student, Cecelia Pierce, 15, worked at Pam's office for school credit and knew all about the murder plot but was skeptical because Pam would just matter-of-factly fill her in on the details as if it was one big joke.

This movie about what at the time was considered one of the most horrific murders ever because of the circumstances, was a waste of time. Helen Hunt was game in the role of Pam Smart, but everything else in this movie was so terrible. Chad Allen as her teen lover was an embarrassment, I couldn't see any reason why they would go head over heels for each other in real life by the way these two actors went pedestrianly about their way. A very big waste of time for anyone who watches this after reading this review.

I enjoyed this movie and even bought it for my collection. Remember Billy was only fifteen years old and was experiencing his first sexual encounter. He was, understandably, easily manipulated by an "older" woman.

While I liked Helen Hunt's portrayal of Pam Smart, I still do not understand what was her reason for getting rid of her husband. According to the movie, Greg wasn't cruel or abusive to her, he seemed to love her very much, they lived in a lovely condo, and was supportive of her career decisions. His parents also seemed to love Pam like a daughter. Pam was crazy about Greg when he was a Van Halen look-alike but when he cut his hair and started to dress corporate (to work for an insurance company)did her feelings for him start to change then? She was very into heavy-metal but was she afraid that her "rocker" husband was transforming into Mr. Yuppie America?

I went ahead and bought a paperback about this case and hope to find out what has driven Pam to this extreme.

The movie was a typical TV movie of the week. The actors did well with the script they had to work with but they really didn't have much to work with. I wouldn't rate the movie as high as I do if Chad Allen didn't look so cute in it. All in all I'd say it was a pretty average to slightly above average made for TV movie.

Based on a real-life incident, this film begins with a young woman named "Pamela Smart" (Helen Hunt) marrying her boyfriend "Greg Smart" (Hank Stratton) and then settling down to live a life happily ever after. At least, that is what Greg is led to believe as, less than a year later, Pamela becomes dissatisfied with their marriage and begins to have an affair with a young high school student named "William Flynn" (Chad Allen). Naturally, being much more experienced and mature than William, Pamela easily becomes the dominate figure in their relationship--to the point that she manages to convince him to kill Greg so that the two of them can be together. What Pamela fails to take into consideration, however, is that there are other high school students familiar with what is going on and they are not willing to shoulder all of the blame by themselves. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was an interesting movie which covered the main points of the story in a thoughtful and concise manner. The problem, however, is that the made-for-television format resulted in a rather generic characterization which limited it's overall impact. It needed more passion and suspense. Even so, I suppose it passed the time well enough, and I have rated this movie accordingly. Average.