A Small Town Murder
When the body of a local woman is found hacked to pieces by axe in her own home it leaves a small Texas town shell shocked but they end up even more shell shocked when local woman Candy Morrison (Barbara Hershey); a church going wife and mother is charged with the crime after discovery of an affair she had with the victim's husband. Now Candy finds herself on trial and reliant on her lawyer Ed Reivers (Brian Dennehy) to prove her innocence. The question is not only whether or not he will get her off but what other shocking revelations will be revealed in this case of brutal murder.
It has been over 30 years since the actual murder which "A Killing in a Small Town" is based upon and in fact over 20 years since this made for TV movie was made and so I will try and avoid spoilers but if you do want to find the gritty detail it is easy to find online. So yes that does mean we are in true movie territory and one which whilst having the specifics of the actual true story is another one where we have some one accused of a murder and the movie basically dramatizes the facts.
Now for the most "A Killing in a Small Town" is okay, we have a fascinating character in Candy who is wonderfully played by Barbara Hershey and we have Brian Dennehy delivering another solid and often commanding performance as lawyer Ed Reivers. But at the same time it often feels like it is meandering, delivering scenes which never take the story anywhere but only reinforce what we are already aware of when it comes to Candy being ordinary. It makes it feel drawn out and painfully slow in places.
What we also get is the technique of showing Candy in faux documentary style interviews which are not only very dry and uninteresting but are suggestive which for those who watch unaware of how the true story played out will spoil things slightly.
What this all boils down to is that "A Killing in a Small Town" just didn't do it for me as whilst the true story on which it is based is interesting the movie itself is slow, dry and often hard going because of it seeming to be going nowhere fast.
