Greetings,
I love people who are legendary for a reason and for a good reason. One of those people would be Patty Duke. She is truly a treasure and that is because she is fantastic at what she does and always has done as an actress. And, as an actress, she has done more than her share of TV movies. If you ask me, she is one of the faces that adds legitimacy to the entire genre. So it seems only right to include a TV movie that features her. It was tough to pick one, because many of them are very good, but I decided on one based on a true story, A Killer Among Friends.
In this movie, Patty Duke plays Jean Monroe, mother of three, with one grown son, one teenage son, and in the middle, a teenage daughter named Jenny. Jenny is played by Tiffani (Amber, at the time) Thiessen, proving early on in this small but pivotal role, that there has always been more to her as an actress than Kelly Kapowski. Remember the awesomely wicked Valerie Malone. Moving on. Jean is very close with her daughter, as well as all of Jenny's friends. She's kind of the cool, understanding mom that all the kids go to when their having trouble with their own mothers. Sadly, this idyllic life is shattered when Jenny is murdered, her body discovered in a quite a gruesome manner for TV at the time, I think.
The film follows Jean's desperate search for her daughter's killer with the help of Detective Patricia Staley played by Loretta Swit of M.A.S.H. fame and Jenny's best friend and single mom, Ellen Holloway played by Margaret Welsh. I love Patty's performance in this, because she perfectly shows the intensity that any mother would have in this situation without acting over the top like other actresses might. As time goes on in the story, we are pretty much drawn in to this amateur investigation of hers and Ellen's, giving us false leads and red herrings, enough that we are pretty stunned at the reveal of the true killer. Am I going to tell you who that is? Well, no. First, because they still show this movie on TV occasionally and, second, it's done so well, I don't want to ruin it for anyone. For that reason, I can't really give a ton of details about what happens in the plot either. There isn't exactly an out of the blue, killer reveal. All the pieces begin to appear and come together, almost forming a bridge to get us to the ending. And I love that.
While I can admit that at the reveal of the killer, you might say "I knew it!", but really that's not something you'll say in the beginning and then just wait for confirmation. The film does a great job of building the tension, where you have your suspicions, but then those perfectly placed red herrings throw you off enough that you get off track. That succeeds in letting the ending be kind of shocking. So this is basically just a very, well crafted, murder mystery. Even though it's true.
Every time this movie comes on, I definitely stop and watch. Though I've seen it several times and know the ending, I just can't pass up on the fantastic performances of the cast. Much like Patty Duke as an actress, this is certainly a TV movie that bumps up the genre in the area of credibility. So if you're ever channel surfing and come across this film, you should definitely stop and watch.
Love and full moons,
Becky the Writer
